Chief
10-17-2007, 07:14 PM
Last year I sprung for a pair of decent chocolate molds, and this year I bought 2 more, so I'm making some different filled chocolates for the holidays as well.
The mainstay of the chocolate I use is the buld dark and mild chocolate that Winco sells for a couple of bucks a pound. It isn't bad by itself, and I always augment it. Both are excellent for ganache, and can make nice shells if augmented and properly tempered. I am using Lindt 99% cacao to melt into the Winco bulk stuff, and the end result is excellent. It comes out nice aand shiny, and crisp when you bite into it.
I have four fillings that I am using.
The first is a berry syrup that has been reduced by half, sweetened with granulated sugar, and stiffened with gelatin. I thin the stiffened filing with grain alcohol, 195 Proof Everclear, so that I end up with about 20% alcohol by volume, or about 40 Proof. the berry absorbs the alcohol very nicely, and there is little alcohol bite left.
The second is a toasted hazelnut and frangelico dark chocolate ganache.
Next I made a dark chocolate and cayenne pepper ganache. It's a bit sweeter than the others, and the flavor of the cayenne and chocolate is amazing...
The fourth one is a milk chocolate and Disaronno Amaretto...the shells are dark chocolate.
In that same shell I am also making milk chocolate shells with my homemade peanut butter as filling. (The wife keeps sneaking tastes of my peanut butter so I have to get the chocolates filled while there is still some left...)
The leftover ganache fillings will get formed into truffles and dipped in the chocolate that's left.
I also have a whole large jar of Maraschino cherries that I poured out the juice from, and replaced it with a whole pint of Hood river Kirschwasser, or cherry schnapps. It is kickass stuff, and I intend to make fondant from the booze and juice, wrap the cherries in it, then double-dip them in chocolate. My daughter is a fiend for chocolate covered cherries, so these are a must.
I did a test batch this evening with the new molds to get used to them. the trickiest one is the rose, and you have to actually brush the chocolate into the molds in order to get all the air bubles out of the betals. It's picky work, but spectacular presentation if it's done right.
Stay on my good side...
;D
The mainstay of the chocolate I use is the buld dark and mild chocolate that Winco sells for a couple of bucks a pound. It isn't bad by itself, and I always augment it. Both are excellent for ganache, and can make nice shells if augmented and properly tempered. I am using Lindt 99% cacao to melt into the Winco bulk stuff, and the end result is excellent. It comes out nice aand shiny, and crisp when you bite into it.
I have four fillings that I am using.
The first is a berry syrup that has been reduced by half, sweetened with granulated sugar, and stiffened with gelatin. I thin the stiffened filing with grain alcohol, 195 Proof Everclear, so that I end up with about 20% alcohol by volume, or about 40 Proof. the berry absorbs the alcohol very nicely, and there is little alcohol bite left.
The second is a toasted hazelnut and frangelico dark chocolate ganache.
Next I made a dark chocolate and cayenne pepper ganache. It's a bit sweeter than the others, and the flavor of the cayenne and chocolate is amazing...
The fourth one is a milk chocolate and Disaronno Amaretto...the shells are dark chocolate.
In that same shell I am also making milk chocolate shells with my homemade peanut butter as filling. (The wife keeps sneaking tastes of my peanut butter so I have to get the chocolates filled while there is still some left...)
The leftover ganache fillings will get formed into truffles and dipped in the chocolate that's left.
I also have a whole large jar of Maraschino cherries that I poured out the juice from, and replaced it with a whole pint of Hood river Kirschwasser, or cherry schnapps. It is kickass stuff, and I intend to make fondant from the booze and juice, wrap the cherries in it, then double-dip them in chocolate. My daughter is a fiend for chocolate covered cherries, so these are a must.
I did a test batch this evening with the new molds to get used to them. the trickiest one is the rose, and you have to actually brush the chocolate into the molds in order to get all the air bubles out of the betals. It's picky work, but spectacular presentation if it's done right.
Stay on my good side...
;D