Chocolate Brittle

Dark chocolate, sultanas, dried apricots + cranberries, cashews and sugared ginger add up to a lovely dessert

Love this quick and easy dessert from Ina Garten.  (But most of her recipes are quite simple with major flavor that look and taste like you have slaved in the kitchen when you really did not.)  Perfect to bring over to a dinner party with a bottle of port.

Toast the cashews in the oven for 8-10 minutes, just to brown them and bring out their nutty flavor, try to use salted cashews or add some salt after toasting, the combination of sea salt and chocolate is great

Chop 7-8 ounces of dark chocolate and bittersweet chocolate, I like Green + Blacks 

Mix the chopped chocolate together and temper in the microwave watching it like a hawk, there is nothing worse then overcooked chocolate you have to throw away

After the chocolate bits are just melted continue to stir, stirring makes the chocolate glossy

Smooth out the melted chocolate onto your parchment lined baking sheet

Add the toppings in a specific order: ginger, cashews, cranberries (cherries are better, but I only had cranberries on hand) finally apricots and sultanas

Let the chocolate harden, I probably have too much toppings for the amount of chocolate I used, but that's okay

After the chocolate hardens break into pieces, this would be a great gift too, as it looks beautiful