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dark chocolate maple leaves with sea salt

During our first year of marriage I was ecstatic to learn how to bake. I grabbed this recipe and spent an entire Saturday making my first totally from scratch cake. It took forever! Although, I’ve never made the entire cake or marzipan pumpkins again, I did fall for the idea of making chocolate leaves and have enjoyed a batch of them every year since.

This year I used dark chocolate to make the leaves and sprinkled sea salt on top. They are hands down my favorite fall snack, and a really fun treat to bring to parties. Everyone is always surprised at how real the leaves look, but since they are molded on actual maple leaves, they have all the indentions and imperfections of a real leaf.

To make the leaves – first, collect a stash of pretty maple leaves, wash thoroughly and let dry. Melt dark chocolate melts according to package directions. Use a plastic brush to brush on a layer of chocolate on one side of the leaf, and sprinkle on sea salt if you prefer (it’s really great, I promise!). Set on wax paper and let dry for a few hours. Once the chocolate is completely dry, begin carefully peeling back the leaf. It will break off in pieces. Once removed, it will leave you with an awesome chocolate leaf chip to enjoy.

Last year I collected leaves from this same tree and painted them pretty colors – for the record, they did not taste as good!

Photography done in collaboration with Erin Holland.

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