Desert rose (Rose des sables)
September 10, 2012 • Category: Candy, Mezze/Appetizers, Dessert
Growing up I was fascinated with a beautiful rock that was on display on a glass shelf at home; my mother had brought it back from one of her trips; it had fine pointed edges and it was called rose des sables (desert rose).
It looked like a rose made of stiff sand. I would stare at it every day wondering how it was ever formed.
Well, later on, a candy was invented by a genius pastry chef (or was it the marketing gurus at McDonalds or General Mills?), with corn flakes dipped in chocolate sauce and it was named rose des sables, too.
In that candy, chocolate, butter and sugar are combined into a rich sauce and the corn flakes are dipped into it and lumped into little mounds.
My version today looks more like a candy the French call mendiant, which means beggar, but looks like a coin on which two or three nuts or dried fruits are studded. I thought that looked more elegant.
It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and they wait patiently for you in the fridge for the snack attack moment to hit.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 bar of chocolate of your choice, preferably good-quality (3 oz)
- 1 cup of cereals
- a few dried fruits, if desired (I used a few candied orange rinds)
- Melt the chocolate (cut it in squares first) in a skillet over very gentle heat. Stir with a wooden spoon as soon as it starts to melt and remove from heat; the residual heat will melt the rest of the chocolate. (Can be done in the microwave as well)
- Place a large piece of foil on a baking sheet; take small spoonfuls of chocolate and drop in several places. When the chocolate has been used up, grab a few flakes of cereals and fruit (if using) and gingerly set on top of the chocolate mounds.
- Set in the fridge to harden until serving time. Store in the fridge in a covered box once they have hardened.
Comments
6 Comments • Comments Feed
domi says:
Délicieuse petite fleur gourmande….
On September 10, 2012 at 10:38 am
kouky says:
hummm!! je prendrai bien cette petite gourmandise avec mon café!! merci Joumana de nous gâter!!
On September 10, 2012 at 10:52 am
swati says:
so easy and great! yum.
On September 11, 2012 at 3:34 am
Diane says:
I tried to get into this post yesterday and I got the message that this site did not exist, wonder where it went to – on holiday perhaps.
I am a huge chocolate fan and I will certainly try this out, it sounds very yummy, thanks. Have a good week, Diane
On September 11, 2012 at 4:05 am
Jeanne @ CookSister! says:
How funny – I bought a piece of desert rose tock at a shop as a kid because I was also fascinated by beautiful rocks and stones. I spent ages wondering how you could “make” a piece…! These cookies seem like a far easier (and more delicious!) option…
On September 13, 2012 at 6:29 am
Susan says:
This makes me smile to think of all of the cereal-related desserts I have eaten over the years. Yours brings it to another level! So beautiful.
On September 13, 2012 at 6:39 pm