French Chocolate Mendiants

A delicious French Christmas tradition. These crunchy little chocolate disks are super fun to make and customizable with any toppings you enjoy! I love to use a combination of peppermint sticks, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and candy. It is a fun activity for the whole family to enjoy garnishing their very own mendiants. They look stunning and intricate but are so easy to make.

Bon Appetit!

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Prep Time 45

Total Time 45

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Servings 12 servings

Calories 95 kcal

Ingredients

4.4 oz bar of dark chocolate
4.4 oz bar milk chocolate

Topping Ideas (Optional)

walnuts, pecans, crushed peppermint sticks, cranberries, pistachios, M&Ms, chopped apricots,dried strawberries, dried mangoes, etc.

Instructions

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
Prepare all of the toppings you want to use and set aside.

Melting the chocolate in a double boiler (bain-marie)

Place 3 to 4 inches of water in a medium saucepan over low heat and let it simmer.
Break the chocolate bars in small pieces, place in a heatproof bowl (Pyrex) and place the bowl in the saucepan on top of the water (make sure water does not enter the bowl). Let the chocolate slowly melt over the steam by continuously stirring with a spatula.
When the chocolate has almost fully melted, take the bowl out of the saucepan and remove from heat. Continue stirring until all the chocolate pieces are fully melted. Place the bowl over a pan or bowl filled with iced water and continue stirring for 1 minute to slightly lower the chocolate temperature.
To form the mendiants, drop 1 tablespoon of the melted chocolate on the parchment paper, use the back of the spoon to thinly flatten and form about 2 inch wide circles. Continue to do this for all of the chocolate, you should be able to form about 15 chocolate circles. Make sure to work quickly to be able to add the toppings while the chocolate is still in liquid form.
While the chocolate is still slightly liquid and hasn't hardened yet, place the toppings of your choice on top of the circles.
Let the chocolate mendiants set at room temperature for one hour or in the fridge 30 minutes. Then, carefully remove from the parchment paper. The mendiants will keep for up to 2 weeks in an air-tight container.