Thanks to Café Bustelo for sponsoring this post! 

I don’t think it’s any secret that I have a sweet tooth. Honestly though, who doesn’t? The older I’ve gotten though, the more I like my sweet with a little bit of savory. Often, this means dark, dark chocolate and coffee. Since I have a lot of Café Bustelo on hand, I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate it into something for dessert—but to also keep it light and springy. I discovered the delicious glory of dried oranges and knew I had to do something with them. But what? Then, I remembered how much I love the chocolate-covered oranges that come out around Christmas, and that I once made an orange mocha back in my barista days. It was settled: I’d put some of my favorite flavors together to create the ultimate springtime dessert-slash-snack. 

The best part? You can prepare them in less than 20 minutes—and you can totally use the microwave. 

First things first, what do you need? 

• Café Bustelo Espresso Ground Coffee 

• 1 Cup of Dark Chocolate Chips

• 10 Dried Orange Slices*

• Unsalted Pistachios

*for the sake of simplicity and the fact that my oven needs a good deep clean, I bought pre-packaged dried oranges. However, you can easily dehydrate your own by slicing them into quarter-inch thick slices, lightly sprinkling them with sugar, the putting them in the oven at 200F for two and a half or three hours. 

You’ll also need a bowl, a spoon, parchment paper, and a microwave.

Begin by melting chocolate in the bowl. You can do this with a double boiler, or in the microwave. To make sure you don’t burn it, heat it up on half power in increments of 30 seconds, stirring between each. You’ll know it’s melted enough when it’s a silky consistency with no lumps. Stir in a tablespoon (give or take—depending on if you want it to have a strong coffee flavor or not) of Café Bustelo ground coffee.

Dip orange slices and lay on top of parchment paper. While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle with crushed pistachios. (As many as you want.) Put it in the fridge for at least a half hour before enjoying.

What do you think? I had so much fun coming up with something a little different. Here’s to more Café Bustelo-flavored sweets!

xo, e.m.