Mendiants are a traditional French sweet, made by topping a disc of chocolate with dried fruit and nuts.
According to Wikipedia, four toppings were used on these confections, with each representing one of the four mendicant or monastic orders. The colour of the fruit or nut used represented the robes of a particular order, “raisins for the Dominicans, hazelnut for the Augustins, dried fig for Franciscans and almond for Carmelite”.
These days, we use a much wider assortment of toppings, including these fabulous glacé figs, apricots and pears that we bought recently at Harkola…
I tempered 400g of Amedei “9”, a delicious 75% cacao blend of nine different beans that I bought from Lario International, then set the bowl on a heat mat. For more information on how to temper chocolate, please refer to our Chocolate #101 tutorial.
The tempered chocolate was ladled into ma’moul moulds (or you could use muffin tins) and the sliced and chopped fruit and nuts were arranged on top…
The big advantage of the ma’moul moulds is that you end up with a decorated underside in addition to the fruit laden top…
This technique also produces pretty bejeweled bars of chocolate…
Once you’ve got the knack of tempering, mendiants are an easy gift to make. They’re attractive and festive – perfect for Christmas!
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In a similar vein, my friend Carol, who has taken to chocolate tempering like a duck to water, makes a darkened milk blend and then tops the discs with hundreds and thousands. Here are her and Justin’s homemade chocolate freckles…
I thought these would make a brilliant Halloween treat, so I lined my patty pans and mini muffin tins with paper cases. I had a small bowl each of Callebaut Crispearls and hundreds and thousands ready to go.
Coincidentally, I was drinking a fabulous 1985 Warre’s (vintage Portuguese port) while I was making these – it was sublime, but it didn’t help my hand-eye co-ordination…
A generous teaspoonful of tempered chocolate (50/50 milk/dark blend) was dropped into each paper case. The trays were tapped gently on the bench to spread the chocolate evenly, before the toppings were added.
As the tempered chocolate sets quickly, it’s worth having extra hands to help with the sprinkling process…
Once set, the paper peeled off easily, leaving an attractive fluted edge…
The paper cases allow the chocolates to be stacked for storage…
These are Justin’s favourites! Too sweet for me, but if you’re planning a party, they’d be a wonderful lolly bag stuffer!
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Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Absolutely fabulous Celia. I might add one or two of those moulds on my Sydney shopping list. BTW I have just eaten another handful of callets.
Glenda, you’re too funny! You’d love the moulds, and you could use them to make your ma’mouls as well. So, when are you coming? :)
April :)
Gorgeous. I’ll take a bar with apricot, please!
No problem Em. (makes note on Christmas list..) :)
You are a great little chocolate maker. There are as lovely as anything I had in my chocolate shop years ago. :)
Karen, you had a chocolate shop? That’s fabulous! Do you have lots of photos from back then? I’d love to see them!
I would have come trick n treating to try those!
Tandy, thank you, they were very popular! :)
I’ll have one of the bars, please. I’ve seen similar ones in Harris Farm with rose petals and what not, so pretty!
Saucy, I saw bars like these at Koko Black in Melbourne and thought they were such a clever idea!
Beautiful as always, Celia. Just the thing for Fergus’s upcoming third birthday. (Have had my head in New York time as we plan a trip for next year but seeing as it’s not until April I had to snap out of it!)
Jo, a trip to New York! That’s very exciting! I’d have trouble thinking about anything else as well! :)
oh wow… what a great post. Making chocolates is something I’ve always been a litle scared of for fear of not heating the chocolate right and ruining the texture. These look divine, and inspiring.
Leah, I have a post coming up on just that topic – it’s hard to “ruin” chocolate, because you can always reuse it! :)
ooo, thats exiting. I look forward to learning and trying my hand at it. :-)
The mediants are stunning- and an interesting history to go with them. Alas, I don’t think I have the patience to make these lovely treats.
Francesca, thank you, it’s a great story, isn’t it? I love reading about the history of things..
I think most adults I know would be pretty thrilled with all of the above – let alone any kids! Yet again, you inspire, Celia.
Amanda, you’re always so kind, thank you! I did have to smack big hands away from the freckles before Halloween.. :)
I think I could gobble up a few of those freckles no problem! I’m still having trouble finding my big chunk of chocolate. Must look harder!
Claire, I knew you’d like the freckles! :)
I have adored freckles since childhood, nice one Celia!
Lizzy, I hadn’t thought about them for years until I saw Carol’s, and then I had to try and make some! :)
Very beautiful! The freckles would be our favorite!
Manuela, thank you! My boys loved them – they’ve been eating them by the stack! :)
beautiful as always Celia :-)
Thanks Brydie! Hope your little ones enjoyed Halloween!
So…have you thought of starting your own chocolate business Celia? Because I really think you’d be kept very busy if you did! These are amazing :)
Kari, that’s very kind, but if I did that, I’d just have to make the same things over and over, and where would be the fun in that? :)
That’s a very old port, Celia. Is there any left? I hadn’t heard of these types of chocolates with all the fruits on before. And your friend is certainly good at making chocolates – these look very pretty xx
Sadly, the bottle’s empty, but it was a ripper, Charlie. I’ve got quite a thing for old Oporto. And Carol has hit the ground running with chocolate making! :)
I swear I have to learn how to do this but I’d better wait until the 5 kilos come off. Your chocolates are to die for! I like the sprinkly ones too.
If you let me know you reach your goal, I’ll make you whatever chocolate you like, to order! :) xx
I adore that chocolate mold! It looks as if you have that magic touch. One day, I’ll learn to temper chocolate!
Pamela, given what an amazing chef you are, I reckon you could temper chocolate standing on your head. :)
Those fruit enhanced chocolates look marvelous- thanks for sharing their history. I’ve only seen the chocolates covered with white non-pariels. I love your name for them. The wafers we have are thin disks of dark chocolate.with what we call sprinkles.
Heidi, over here a popular kids birthday party dish is “fairy bread” – sliced white bread, spread with butter and dipped into a bowl of hundreds and thousands. It’s a tradition! :)
So pretty!
Thanks Sandy! :)
I love your style – vintage Portuguese port and chocolate making – a wonderful creative combo. Four year old EllaDee loves the colours of the hundreds and thousands chocolates :)
ED, the port was an absolute beauty – it had ullaged quite badly, so it “needed” drinking. :) After the second glass, I was sprinkling 100s and 1000s with abandon… ;-)
They’re gorgeous Celia, and what a great use for the mould! I love hearing the history behind a dish- I think it makes it special and of course taste better :) xox
Becca, isn’t the history of food amazing? I’m very grateful to wiki (and regularly donate small sums of money to them), there’s always so much info on there about how certain dishes and meals came about!
The chocolate bars in particular look as though they are exotic gifts from somewhere along the Silk Road. How wonderful they look and what a Wiz you are.
Jan, thanks darling. I love that my friend Carol who’s been tempering for all of ten minutes came up with the chocolate freckles idea! :)
You’re such a talented chocolatier, Celia. These chocolates all look so very good. “Bejeweled bars of chocolate … ” is right! How wonderful to be on the receiving end of any of these chocolates. If you ever quit your day job, I bet people would line up for these treats. Add mail oder to your business and I’ll be the first to place an order. :)
I would happily make some for you when you come to visit, John! :) Thank you, you’re always so kind. xx
Those look almost too good to eat Celia – I did say ALMOST. I agree with John that you’ve got a potential business in the making. How long have you been doing this?
Diane, a few years now. :) Turning a hobby into a business is always a dangerous path to walk down. I like being able to make different things all the time, and it’s hard to do that when you’re doing it as work!
Very true. I once thought of doing something with my sewing but then thought that it would change what was fun and relaxing into work. It’s also different doing these things for other people who might have different expectations. I’ve done sewing favors for people who don’t understand sewing and felt upset when they were angry about the results. You know like asking me to change a neckline but not realizing its connected to the bodice which changes too and that they didn’t want the change after the material was cut.
Those first moulds are beautiful – I have a feeling I would thoroughly enjoy a rummage through you kitchen cupboards Celia! And the fruit topped bars do look wonderful, I’m going to pin it to try at some later point when I know I have a free kitchen and solitude to concentrate (I’ve never tempered chocolate before), that might be years from now!
Woow celia! Such beautifully made chocolates! Very inspiring.