Savory Chocolate Sea Salt Crostini – Sooner Rather Than Later

The biggest challenge with presenting this chocolate sea salt crostini recipe is getting people to stop thinking, "dessert," and start thinking, "great special occasion savory snack." Not that there's anything wrong with this as a dessert (it's actually Michele's "favorite" dessert), but for my money it makes for a better, and very unique, hors d'oeuvre.

Speaking of money, you're going to need a little bit extra to do this recipe right. For this to work as a savory bite, the chocolate must be very dark, bittersweet, and world-class. Look for names that are hard to pronounce, and labels with percentage symbols are always a good sign (the higher %, the better for this).

For the bread, you're going to want to find your town's best baguette. The extra virgin olive oil should robust, peppery, and of the highest quality. Lastly, the salt must absolutely be the crystallized, flaky sea salt shown herein.

Once all these ingredients are assembled, the actual procedure is quite simple, and produces an impressive bite. The marriage of warm, crispy-edged bread, peppery olive oil, bittersweet chocolate, and briny sea salt is sublime. I think this is perfect for a holiday cocktail party, served right along side the rest of the savory appetizers.

Of course, if you're just not a chocolate hors d'oeuvre kind of person, and want to adapt this for a sweet treat, feel free. In that case, you can use a slightly sweeter chocolate, and maybe an olive oil from the lighter, fruitier end of the spectrum.

By the way, special thanks to my buddy Linda, from Salty Seattle, for the amazing homemade sea salt used in the video. I knew she had mad skills working with animal and vegetable, but mineral too? This makes her one of the rare, triple-threat foodies.

Just in case you don't have friends that make you sea salt, most gourmet grocery stores will carry several varieties. My personal favorite is Maldon, which can also be ordered online. Anyway, find these ingredients, plan a party, and share something extraordinary. Enjoy!