Chocolate Work

This past week I have been working on chocolate. Ecole Chocolat, Assignment 5: Develop Your Signature Chocolates was due today. Feels like I spent three days spent continuously stirring melted chocolate, it took all my will power not to just drink the whole bowl. Here are the recipes I developed:
　

 Milk Chocolate Malt enrobed in White Chocolate

Mint Creme Fondant enrobed in Dark Chocolate

Dark Chocolate Caramel enrobed in Dark Chocolate







 

Cashew Brittle with Cashew Gianduja

This was a great experience and gave me a new appreciation for the craft of making chocolates. Also made me realize that chocolatier may not be the career path for me. The amount of time involved and that once I started the process, it required my complete involvement, no stopping to do anything else at all. On the 1st day I made the caramel and brittle gianduja centers. Gianduja is made by combining nut butter or paste with melted chocolate, think Nutella. The 2nd day I made the molded chocolates, this was 5 hours of non-stop work. I started by tempering the chocolate to coat the molds. To temper dark chocolate (temperatures for Milk & White Chocolate are lower)you melt it and heat it to 120 degrees, then remove it from heat add in 25% more chocolate and stir until the temperature drops to 85 degrees. According to Chocolates & Confections at Home with the C.I.A. this should take either 10 - 15 minutes or 15 - 20 minutes, my experience it took more than 30 minutes. My arm was tired. Once it reaches 85 degrees, you check the temper by coating a spoon & letting it dry for 8 minutes. If properly tempered (this means it stays solid a room temperature and snaps when you break it) you heat it back up to 89 degrees and then it can be used any way you desire. Once it had the molds coated one in dark chocolate and one in white chocolate, I made the fondant flavoring it with peppermint, then spooned it into the mold prepared with dark chocolate. Next was the chocolate malt truffle filling in white chocolate. The amazing part was my creations dropped from their molds undamaged and beautiful with a minimal amount of banging. Day 3 I made the ganache truffle filling and tempered more chocolate to enrobe the cashew & caramel fillings. This is when I learned that the heat from the single light bulb above my work area was enough to significantly slow down the tempering process, even though it was on the cool side of 68 degrees in my kitchen. Chocolate making is also very messy, and since it requires undivided attention the dishes pile up.

The photo on the left shows the dishes piled in the sink!

Frustration with photo placement continues, photos are not in the order I placed them. Not sure what I am doing wrong. If anyone knows how to get the photos to go where I want them, please let me know.

Next up the Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Experiment! in search of the best recipe for the quintessential American Cookie.

Toasted Almond & Cinnamon Milk Chocolate Truffle coated with Crushed Toasted Almonds & Cocoa Powder
(?not sure how this ended up down here?, should be 1st chocolate you see)