Chocolate Mendiants

A mendiant is a traditional French confection composed of a dark chocolate disk studded with nuts and dried fruits. Historically Mendiants represented the four mendicant or monastic orders of Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites. Each nut or fruit representing the color of monastic robes. Raisins for the Dominicans, Hazelnut for the Augustians, dried fig for the Franciscans and almond for the Carmelite. Although recipes for this confection have veered away from the traditional combinations, Kakawa has a large variety of flavors including Dark with Salted Almond, Milk chocolate with Salted Peanut and Dark with Papaya, Coconut and Nibs .