Pomegranate Chocolates

NOTE: When making chocolate candies, the quality of the chocolate is very important. I would suggest going to a specialty culinary store and paying a few dollars extra to get the professional grade stuff - Hershey's and Ghirardelli just aren't going to melt and reset evenly.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, 60 - 66% dark
  
• 1 orange
• ~8 green cardamom pods, freshly ground with the shell pieces removed
• 3 pomegranates, arils only (the red seed casings)
  
• Sugar
  

Directions

1. In a small pot, simmer the pomegranate seeds with juice of one orange until juicy
2. Add some sugar, to taste
3. Simmer until the pomegranate mixture becomes syrupy
4. Remove from heat and blend thoroughly, the pomegranate seeds probably won't blend very well
5. Strain the pomegranate mixture with cheesecloth to remove all of the seeds. The final mixture will be very thick and will probably be reduced to 1/8 cup (or less) total volume
6. In a double boiler, gently melt 3/4 of the chocolate, zest of one orange and cardamom powder until smooth and creamy
7. Remove from heat and add the reserved 1/4 of the chocolate, mixing until melted
8. Before the chocolate sets up, lay out a sheet of wax paper over a cookie sheet
9. Using a spoon, spread out small half-dollar sized portions of chocolate, being careful to use up only a little less than half of the total chocolate mixture
10. Let the first layer cool and set. You may want to place the cookie sheet full of chocolates in the refrigerator for a few minutes to prevent the remaining mix from setting up
11. Using another spoon, spread a very thin layer of the pomegranate mixture over the cooled first layer of chocolate. This should be a very thin layer because the pomegranate mix is so concentrated
12. Cool this second layer as well
13. Cover the candies with another layer of chocolate, being sure to seal in all of the pomegranate filling
14. Wrap each piece in candy paper or aluminum foil when they have cooled and set completely