Homemade Chocolate Covered Grapes. An Easy and Surprising Chocolate End to a Dinner Party!

Here's a recipe for an after meal chocolate that you can make in 10 minutes, that is dead easy and that will surprise and delight everyone at your table.

I love a culinary surprise, and one of the most enjoyable things about being a chef is watching the reaction on people's faces as they bite into something that isn't what they thought it was going to be (At least when it happens in a good way!!!).

Serve a bowl of these chocolates after dinner and everyone will think they're being offered a lovely homemade truffle. Not bad in itself, but hardly surprising. Now watch their faces as they bite into it and experience the cool tang of a seedless grape nestled inside good rich dark chocolate!

Before I go any further, I gotta' fess up that these are not my creation. I have been devouring Chef Michel Richard's beautiful cookbook, "Happy in the Kitchen" which has proven education, surprising and a lot of fun…even to a jaded cookbook reader such as myself! Well worth a read!!

Homemade Dark Chocolate Grapes

• 1 100 gram bar of good quality dark chocolate. Use a 60-70% cocoa percentage chocolate for this recipe. The cheap but very good Lindt 70% bar is a great workhorse chocolate.
• 1 lb of seedless grapes
• 2 Tbls of cocoa powder

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or in a microwave with an attentive eye) until melted. Let cool down until the chocolate is merely warm (or at body temperature tips Richard in his book.)
2. Take all the grapes off of their stems and place them gently into a large bowl. Add the chocolate to the grapes spoonful by spoonful, stirring the grapes gently between additions to coat.
3. When you have added all the chocolate to the grapes, place the grapes on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and sprinkle them all over with the cocoa powder.
4. Refrigerate until cold and the chocolate is set. Serve the same day they are made.

Will make enough for a surprising chocolate finish for a large dinner party.

A lot of fun and very good.

Other fruits that go very well with chocolate

If you're feeling creative and the above recipe inspires you, here are a few other fruits that are a natural match for chocolate:

• Orange
• Banana
• Melon
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Prunes
• Kiwis
• Raisins
• Cherries

Melt up a batch of chocolate and have fun playing with fruit and nut pairings.