Give Your Fall Desserts A Natural Flair With Chocolate Leaves

Get ready to turn up the dial of your culinary creativity this fall with edible plants dipped in chocolate. The right placement of a delicate mint leaf coated in dark chocolate or a basil leaf dipped in milk chocolate can add serious oomph to your desserts. Plus, the impressive appeal of chocolate-coated bits of nature adorning your dishes will earn appreciative murmurs from those you serve. Though creating chocolate-coated leaves requires some effort, your attention to detail will be worth it as you carry your dessert to the table with pride.

Whether you're putting the finishing touches on a flourless chocolate torte or adding extra pizazz to a chocolate cream pie, chocolate leaves can bring a touch of autumn to your creations. With a range of styles and designs to choose from, you can be on your way to building a dessert that has both family and friends reaching for their phones to take photos before picking up cutlery.

Simply coat both sides of the leaves of your choosing with melted chocolate. You can use chocolate candy coating that you've heated in the microwave or double-boil the chocolate. Let your fully coated or partially dipped leaves rest on either parchment or wax paper in your fridge until hardened. In a half hour, you'll have decorative chocolate leaves that can be placed directly onto desserts. Alternatively, you can use the chocolate-coated leaves as foundations for colorful swashes of edible paint or sprinkles of edible glitter. 

While you can make leaf decorations in advance and keep them at room temperature for a week or two, try to reduce the amount of time your hands come in contact with the chocolate coating. The warmth from your palms can melt the chocolate and cause the leaf to peak through the coating.

While collecting edible leaves for your project, make sure the leaves are free of pesticides and additives and that they are both washed and fully dried before you bring chocolate into the equation. The outline of the leaves you choose will be visible once the chocolate coating has dried, so keep patterns and textures in mind as you set about picking the leaves for your decorative endeavors.