Mendiants

by Eddy Van Damme on February 6, 2012

Of all the chocolates Mendiants are one of the easiest and fastest to make and are very much appreciated by our clients. Traditionally they are made with dark chocolate and a variety of nuts and candied fruits but the ones featured here are made with Valentines in mind.

Since many of our customers are not excited about white chocolate you may decide to add some additional flavoring to enhance it to your standards. For these I added vanilla bean to the white chocolate as it blends very well with the freeze dried strawberries, dried cherries, cranberries and macadamia nut.

Freeze dried strawberries will get soft when exposed to a refrigerator or high humidity. Packaging these is recommended.

 

Mendiants

 

17 oz White chocolate 500 g
½ Vanilla bean ½
40 pieces Freeze dried strawberries, dried cherries, dried cranberries, macadamia nuts 40 pieces

1.Crystallize the white chocolate.

2.Pipe 8-10 disks at a time of chocolate just large enough to hold one piece of each fruit/nut.

3.Immediately place the dried fruits onto the chocolate disks. If desired decorate with gold leaf.

4.Store dry and at room temperature.

 

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

ghizlane February 6, 2012 at 3:41 pm

Hi chef
so beautiful and sample
thank you

Yue Cheong February 6, 2012 at 4:27 pm

Love the simplicity of this little sweet :)

Mandi February 7, 2012 at 6:49 am

Vanilla bean adds an elegant touch! Nice!

elaine hong February 7, 2012 at 9:24 pm

hi chef eddy, i was wondering where can i find freeze dried strawberries? i could only find the regular dried strawberries. thanks!

Savanna Cunningham February 8, 2012 at 9:18 am

chef eddy what brand of white chocolate would you use? i have worked with store brands and they just don’t cut it, what would you recommend?

Trendalynn Austin February 8, 2012 at 5:26 pm

Nice recipe!!! Now since this recipe needs to be stored dry and at room temperature, and for instance if you are not going to eat this right away how long can you leave this out or can you store in a refrigerator?

Niah Clark February 10, 2012 at 6:16 pm

Very simple, and easy if you have company coming over.

Eddy Van Damme February 11, 2012 at 7:20 am

Easily a full week.
Eddy

Eddy Van Damme February 11, 2012 at 7:22 am

Either will work,
Eddy

John Cantu February 11, 2012 at 6:03 pm

Elegant appeal, looks irresistible. I sure it would be a delight to eat.

Raymond Estrada February 15, 2012 at 1:47 pm

how are you doing chef? I am doing fine…. I am just finishing my school from now on…

Huong Kim Le February 15, 2012 at 9:25 pm

Its a very simple yet so elegant. All your work is so AWESOME!! (:

Eddy Van Damme February 16, 2012 at 4:56 pm

Huong,
Thank you very much!
Eddy

Diana Wallace February 26, 2012 at 10:52 am

These are always my favorite!! Great job!

Clarissa Jasmin March 12, 2012 at 3:56 pm

My first time making Mendiants was at Chef Anna’s class about 3 weeks ago and it was really easy. We used dark chocolate, but I can’t wait to make some more with white chocolate and the strawberries! I just love the combination of it.

jessica raymond May 7, 2012 at 10:51 pm

this are so simple to make and really you can just use what you have on hand to create something on the fly.

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