Almost eight years ago and a “must” to remember (and to remake) 🙂
“Yesterday evening, back from gym, I wanted to test my new silicone molds for chocolates.
Chocolates preparation can be very easy, simply melting a good quality chocolate in the microwave and filling the molds or, slightly longer and more complex, starting with chocolate tempering.
Tempering can be done using different techniques (for insemination, in microwave, by bain-marie into cool water or on a marble worktop), I chose the method on a marble or steel worktop.”
Ingredients for 20 chocolates:
150g white chocolate
20g chopped walnuts
Caramel (or ready dulce de leche in jar):
150g sugar
120ml cream
20ml water
20g butter
A few lemon drops
For caramel:
– Melt sugar with lemon and water into a small non-stick pan with high sides over low heat.
– When caramel browns, take it off the heat and add cream, butter and salt. Stir fast to avoid sugar to solidify and to separate from cream.
– Put it back over heat and finish to thicken.
– Keep it in the fridge into a glass jar.
For chocolates:
– Melt the chocolate chips by bain-marie bringing it to a temperature of 45c (always check with a cooking thermometer).
– Once it’s melted, put half of the mixture into another bowl and pour the other half on a marble or steel worktop. Spread the chocolate out with a stainless steel spatula until it gets to a temperature of 25c.
– Join this mixture to the previous one then, so getting a temperature of about 30c.
Now your white chocolate is ready to be used.
– Fill half of each mold, move it to spread the chocolate around sides and pour the exceeding mixture into the bowl.
– Let them cool down and fill with walnut grain and caramel.
– Pour the remaining chocolate to close everything.
Tempered chocolate doesn’t need to be put in the fridge, it should be kept at room temperature waiting to solidify (in my own experience, chocolates before kept in the fridge used to soften and loose sparkle when at room temperature).
Why tempering chocolate?
Non tempered chocolate tends to bring those white streaks we normally see to surface, due to fats crystallization (cocoa butter). By tempering it, we manage to pre-crystallize the mass in a permanent way.
Sommelier suggests: Hauner, Malvasia delle Lipari Passito selection Carlo Hauner 2006
