continued…

Spoon the final tempered chocolate into the molds and coat all sides while vibrating the mold to prevent air bubbles. Then turn the molds upside down on cooling racks for a minute to drain the excess chocolate and create a cavity for the filling. This is a really messy process so be prepared with parchment paper to cover the countertops. The molds are also messy with chocolate so I used a bench scraper to scrape them clean and return some of the chocolate to the each shell - you need to be speedy but you might want to drain the excess one final time. After the molds are cleaned up and filled with a hollow shell, give them a little time to set up. At this point it’s safe to use the fridge to set them. Remember though, the shells are FRAGILE so don’t shift the molds or slam them back onto the countertop (excuse my ignorance of your intelligence).

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fill with ganache…

I found it much easier to pipe the ganache into the shells than scooping, as long as it’s not too firm. This also allows you to leave the perfect space for sealing. After you have filled the chocolates and left a little room for a seal, the already tempered chocolate can be heated, to spoon over the tops. It is important to be tidy during this step to prevent leaks. I used a bench scraper but you could manage with a spatula or flat edge of a knife to smooth the excess chocolate on the bottom. Let this chocolate set up and invert the molds.

The silicone was an interesting situation and worked well for the most part but a couple of the shapes were not cooperative. It helped that I was making a small final batch so I could keep working until I ended up with perfect specimens. I had enough bad ones in the end to give someone a really nice box of screwed up, broken and leaking chocolates.

I decorated each chocolate with something fairly indicative of its filling. For the Cœur caramel, the hearts were sprinkled with cocoa powder and Fleur de Sel; I then heated the end of a sharp knife on the stove and touched it to the corner of the chocolate to adhere a dried rose petal. The lemon had cocoa powder and a small dried orange petal. The rosemary received a brush of gold candy paint, cocoa powder and a piece of pecan. The ginger pyramid was dusted with champagne colored luster and topped with a small piece of lustered ginger candy. The first coat of luster was added to the molds when they only contained the set cocoa butter. I realized this wasn’t quite enough and even though I liked the finish, I tapped a little more dust onto them. The most tedious was the Earl Grey which I brushed with candy paint and while it was still tacky (insert joke here), applied a few “tea flowers” that I had extracted from the loose leaf tea.

As far as flavors after construction, I was satisfied with all of them, although lemon oil tastes just like that. The caramel hearts won for best flavor. I made a last minute decision to add pieces of broken blue corn tortilla chips dipped in dark chocolate. This may sound trashy/insane but the combination of crunchy, sweet, and salty is fantastic. I would definitely make at least those again.

I hope this post has taken away some of the mystique of handmade candy, and also proven that making chocolate in molds doesn’t have to be cheesy cartoon lollipops or solid shapes (even though a heart was involved).