Raisin Clusters

Let’s continue our peek into January magazines. How do chocolate raisin clusters sound to you?

In the Woman’s Home Companion January 1941 issue, the magazine’s home service center’s Dorothy Kirk talks about how to include seedless raisins in your cooking. Kirk mentions that raisins are great for making almost any dish look festive. She suggests adding them to cereal, plum pudding, Banbury tarts, or warmed-over gravy. I’ve never added raisins to gravy, so I’m definitely making a note to try that in the future.

Raisin Clusters

• 1 c semisweet chocolate broken into small pieces
• 1 c raisins
• 1/2 c sliced Brazil nuts

Put the semisweet chocolate pieces in the top of a double broiler. Place over hot (not boiling) water to melt the chocolate. Remove it from the hot water and put it over cold water. Stir until the chocolate starts to thicken. Add the raisins and the nuts and mix well. Drop the chocolate mixture in small mounds onto a tray or shallow pan lined with wax paper. Put the clusters in the refrigerator or other cool, dry place to allow them to dry. Makes 2 dozen clusters.

Results

My testers and I had mixed feelings about these raisin clusters. If you like dark chocolate, you’ll probably enjoy these candies. Those of us who are not as fond of dark chocolate would have liked them better with milk chocolate. We thought the semisweet chocolate was too bitter. I also think that a few more nuts would help add more interesting texture and flavor. The candy needed something crunchier to break up the softness of the raisins and the chocolate.

These raisin clusters were easy and quick to make. They’d make a nice addition to a holiday dessert plate and would be easy to pack in a pretty box for Valentine’s Day. This recipe is also flexible. You can experiment with other ingredients that you might have on hand in your pantry.

Let me know if you try these and if you change the recipe any. I’d love to see what you come up with.