Dear Coco,
Thank you for inviting me in to your chocolate world, transporting me with your rich and unique truffles and bold global flavors! With every bite of your premium artisan chocolates, I am taken on a journey to exotic locales and my taste buds are completely transformed.
Thank you!
Kitchen Tested
Dear Coco is an kosher artisan chocolate company owned by a family who loves to eat chocolate! Their commitment is to provide all chocolate lovers (I’m talking about all of us) with fresh, quality handcrafted chocolate truffles designed to transport us around the world through our taste buds. Sometimes these destinations are familiar, sometimes fun, sometimes exotic, but always delicious. One of my favorite things about Dear Coco are the truffles of the month, which are designed to offer you the best of the holidays and seasonal celebrations! The month of August is dedicated to Jamaica and Dear Coco has graciously sent me a box of 12 gorgeous truffles to taste. You can actually win your own box of Around the World collection chocolate truffles in the giveaway at the bottom of this post! Montego Bay Rum Raising (Jamaican rum, dark chocolate and plum dark raisins) and Kingston Coconut Jerk (Jamaican jerk seasoning, dark chocolate and toasted coconut) are the truffles of the August and I am in awe of Dear Coco’s originality and guts with the intense flavor combinations. I was so inspired while eating the truffles that I just had to jump in my kitchen and try my hand at creating my own unique recipe using similar ingredients. I couldn’t be any more excited to tell you about the results, specifically inspired by the Kingston Coconut Jerk truffle! Please don’t be scared by the list of ingredients; there is a lot of repetitiveness to the different steps in the recipes and most of the directions are just to combine and stir.
Jamaican jerk Chicken Nuggets
makes 15-20 nuggetsÂ
1 whole chicken
enough water to cover the chicken
Jamaican jerk seasoning (recipe listed below)
1 egg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Jamaican jerk sauce (recipe listed below)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup shredded coconut
Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
Just mix together:
2 Tbsp dried mince onion
2 1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Jamaican Jerk Sauce
Puree all together:
1 large bunch green onions
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp scotch bonnet hot sauce (you can also use 2-3 scotch bonnet peppers)
1 Tbsp salt
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp dried minced onion
1 Tbsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 cloves garlic, minced
I started by making the Jamaican jerk seasoning. Do you see what I mean about there being a lot of ingredients but almost no directions? Just mix the spices in a bowl and your done! I placed the chicken in a large pot and sprinkled on the jerk seasoning. I poured the water over the chicken and brought to a boil over high heat. I lowered the temperature to medium and poached the chicken in the boiling water for 1 hour. After the hour was up, I took the chicken out of the pot with a slotted spoon and placed on a plate to cool until easy to handle with my hands, around 15 minutes.
While the chicken was poaching, I pureed the ingredients for the Jamaican jerk sauce in a food processor then poured in to a bowl. Don’t clean your food processor at this point! I took the skin off of the chicken then pulled off every last bit of the meat (snacking a bit on the delicious chicken along the way) and placed in the food processor. I chopped the chicken in to very small pieces, until it looked like ground chicken. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just start with ground chicken, I wanted to poach to infuse every last bite with intense flavor.
At this point, you can taste the chicken and make sure the flavor is to your liking. I didn’t have to add any extra spices so I added the egg and flour to the chicken and mixed until thick. I scooped out 2 tablespoons at a time, rolled in to balls, flattened to the shape I wanted and placed on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can shape your nuggets however you want! Hearts, circles, rectangles, etc. I went with the traditional chicken nugget shape.
I placed the jerk sauce in a small bowl then combined the coconut and panko in a second bowl. You can quickly chop the coconut/panko mixture in your food processor for a finer coating. I dipped each nugget in the jerk sauce then coated in the coconut/panko mixture. I place the nuggets back on the baking sheet.
I baked the chicken at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes then flipped the nuggets and baked for another 5 minutes. The coconut was toasted and the chicken was firm.
At this point, you can just eat the chicken nuggets on their own or you can dip in chocolate BBQ sauce! Since we are trying to achieve the incredible flavor of Dear Coco’s Kingston Coconut Jerk truffles, you just have to try the chicken with a savory chocolate sauce!
Chocolate BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate
I heated the olive oil over medium heat then sauteed the onion and garlic until tender, around 5 minutes. I stirred in the lemon juice, salt, pepper, chili powder, cinnamon, cumin and hot sauce and simmered 5 minutes. I reduced the heat and added the ketchup, vinegar and chocolate, stirred until melted then simmered for 15 minutes. I stirred occasionally so the sauce wouldn’t burn.
The combination of the deep richness in the BBQ sauce and the spice and sweetness of the chicken nuggets is a match made in heaven, just like Dear Coco’s chocolate truffles.
All Dear Coco premium artisan chocolate truffles are dairy-free, naturally gluten-free, vegan-friendly, certified kosher pareve and 100% handcrafted in small batches without corn syrup, trans fats or preservatives. Always fresh. Always delicious. They consist of healthier ingredients as far as desserts go (no heavy cream, no butter, no white sugar, no white flour, only dark chocolate) so you can feel better about eating them! Enter the Dear Coco giveaway below for a chance to win a package of 12 Jamaican Collection truffles, worth $25.50.
