Chocolate Part 1

 Chocolate

I mentioned that I learned how to make chocolate in my second to last post. I wanted to make a post dedicated to my journey of learning how to make chocolates. What influenced me to try chocolates was what content I was watching on YouTube. My liking for chocolate also solidified my interest in learning how to make them myself. So, once I was finally immersed enough in chocolate making that I could do it on my own, I bought a mold and tried it out. The first mold I got was a heart mold, I got it from Hobby Lobby for about 5-6 dollars, so it was pretty worth it and it is very easy to use. My sister got me the flower mold for me for Christmas from Hobby Lobby and I bought the round mold from Amazon.

Left to right; flower, heart, and circle molds

 

THM Chocolate 

 THM stands for "Trim Healthy Mama", which is an eating lifestyle that helps keep your blood sugar stable and helps you lose weight. I would totally recommend it. I'm not currently following the plan, but I do enjoy many of the sweet treats; bonus because they are sugar and gluten-free. When I first tried chocolates, I used a hard plastic ice cube tray. They popped out nicely without having to grease it. 


They really melt in your mouth due to the coconut oil being the main component. Per the recipe, I tried the "Treeces", which was coconut oil and peanut flour layered with the dark skinny chocolate, which tasted very good. I haven't made it in a while because it's not ideal for room temperature chocolate because "Skinny Chocolate" is made with coconut oil(which is liquid at room temp). Because of all the coconut oil, Skinny Chocolate in excess makes me feel weird. 

Flavors

So far, I have made 4 flavors of filled chocolate. Peanut butter caramel(Adapted from This recipe), Mint Chocolate, Dark chocolate Ganache, and Dark Orange Chocolate ganache. I also made a Rice Krispy truffle. The recipe called for Nutella, but I made a peanut butter chocolate spread instead. It was so much better than I had expected. They were supposed to be Ferrero Rochers, but I'm not so sure.

I also found a great way to make sugar free chocolate that is better than skinny chocolate. I used Baker's chocolate and a Monk Fruit sweetener in a 1:1 ratio: 1 oz chocolate to 1 tablespoon Monk Fruit. It is also very important that you grind the Monk fruit sweetener into a powder so that it is not so grainy. The most recent time I did it, I added a little bit(marble-sized) chunk of cocoa butter into the chocolate because it was very, very thick. It was great besides the fact that it didn't temper. Not sure why, but It'll be good later on. 
Another recipe for milk chocolate I made is with 3oz bakers chocolate, 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, 2 T Monk Fruit sweetener, 1.28 oz milk powder(use a scale), and 2 Tablespoons cocoa butter. It doesn't temper, but it tastes really good. Note: you will have to put it in a blender and grind it until it is creamy and smooth. It might take a minute or two. If you don't blend it, the graininess ruins the whole experience.

Hot Chocolate Bombs

We were introduced to Hot Cocoa bombs by a friend who made them for his business. Once I realized what they were(and that a similar concept was used with truffles), I tried it. My first try proved difficult. I used a silicone mold that we got for Christmas in 2019 that had snowflakes, snowmen, a bell, and some other Christmas designs. Thankfully, they were big enough. It took me about 4 tries to get the snowflake right because I didn't coat the mold correctly and my coats were too thin. Remember, 2 thin coats are better than one thick coat. Once you get the right coat, it is so easy and fun to do. 
Order (Top, Middle Right, Bottom Right, Top Right, Bottom Left)

How I make Hot Chocolate Bombs + Packaging some

This time, I used the small flower mold for the bombs to make single-serve bombs. They were significantly easier to coat than the snowman and snowflake. 

Materials


Make double-boiler(bowl on top of pot of water)


Almond Bark

Chop Chocolate

Melt Chocolate


Use 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate for each mold cavity

Coat sides of the mold

Place in the fridge for about 3-5 minutes


Second layer and chill for 5 minutes

Push slowly out of molds

Chocolate rose


Melt Edge of shell


Flat bottomed shell


Add Peppermints

Add 1 Teaspoon cocoa mix(you can also add mini marshmallows)

Gently melt the other edge and push them together gently.

Seal with Chocolate

Embellish

Wrapped in plastic wrap

I placed them in an egg carton with cupcake liners under them and secured them with plastic wrap. 

It's amazing that even when Covid was around, I learned a lot. 
 

Glossary

Ganache is a creamy filling used for chocolates made with chopped chocolate and heavy cream in a 2:1 ratio.
Cocoa Butter is a type of "oil" commonly used to make chocolate. Unlike coconut oil, Cocoa butter is stable at room temperature. It smells like chocolate.
Coconut Oil is an oil that can be used to make chocolates. Because it is so very liquid when melted, the bits of cocoa powder doesn't mix in well. Coconut oil chocolate is not stable at room temperature and must be stored in the fridge.

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