Chocolate Recipes for Chinese New Year

Chocolat Chocolate Snake

恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy! Chinese New Year begins today. This is the Year of the Snake. Chinese food is not usually known for chocolate, but there are actually many chocolate treats to make or buy to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year!

This is the Year of the Snake! According to a Chinese saying, a snake person in the house is a good omen because it means the family will not starve. This is because snake people, being intelligent, cunning and wise, are good in business. Not only this but this year’s black water snake is also yin in nature and females often are more willing to make sacrifices to protect the family. No big surprise there.

To celebrate the Year of the Snake, you can buy Chocolate Snakes at Morkes Chocolates  or Chocolate Snakes at Chocolat. I have a lot of chocolate molds, but not snake molds.

There are also several recipes you can make, not necessarily snake related!

Lora Brody has a recipe for Chinese Noodle Nut Clusters at Epicurious. It looks like ChowMein, but tastes sweet and salty.

Hint: Using chocolate chips instead of bar or block chocolate makes a better "batter" that makes  clusters easier to form. You can find cans of Chinese chowmein noodles in the Asian food section of the supermarket. The ones you want are cooked and ready to eat like crackers.


CHINESE NOODLE CHOCOLATE CHOWMEIN

Ingredients
2 cups (10 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons sweet butter
2 cups (about 4 ounces) Chinese chow-mein noodles, broken into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces (vary the sizes)
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) dry-roasted salted peanuts, shaken in a sieve to remove excess salt

Directions
Line baking sheet with wax paper, parchment paper, or aluminum foil. Set aside.
Melt chocolate chips and butter together in metal bowl set over, but not touching, saucepan of simmering water, or in microwave-safe bowl in microwave oven. Stir mixture until smooth.
In large mixing bowl, toss noodles and peanuts together.
Pour  melted chocolate mixture over them.
Working quickly before chocolate hardens, use rubber spatula to mix and coat noodles and nuts with chocolate.
Use 2 soup spoons (or teaspoons, depending on how large you want  clusters) to scoop up portions of mixture.
Set clusters on prepared sheet.
Set baking sheet in a cool place (not refrigerator) until chocolate hardens.
The clusters can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Pichet Ong and Genevieve Ko had a recipe for Chocolate Kumquat Spring Rolls at Epicurious. Haven't made these yet, but you might want to try them on Sunday.

Want to bake? Chronicle Books Blog has a recipe for Chinese Five-Spice Chocolate Chiffon Cake. It's made with cinnamon, aniseed, cloves, ginger and fennelseed.

O.K. You know I'm always looking for the easy way out. You can always dip fortune cookies in chocolate? How easy is that? Want to be more festive. Dip the chocolate covered fortune cookies in sprinkles or colored sugar near the end)

Chocolate Covered Fortune Cookies

Ingredients
15 to 20 fortune cookies
1/2 cup dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Directions
Line baking sheet with wax or parchment paper. Place chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) in top of double boiler or in saucepan on top of another saucepan with simmering water on bottom. Heat until melted.
Holding fortune cookie by its end, dipping rounded bottom of cookie into chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip off (then roll lightly in sprinkles if you want).
Place chocolate covered fortune cookie on wax or parchment paper. Continue with remainder of cookies.
Put cookies in refrigerator to cool. Store in airtight container or eat. I would eat them right away, really... Candy brings joy, and maybe your fortune will be good. :-)

Gung Hay Fat Choy!