Filled Chocolate Hearts ~ The Daring Bakers Challenge August 2011

Dark chocolate heart bonbons filled with marzipan & nougat, salted caramel and coconut. Indulge in chocolate!


This months daring bakers challenge was quite fun and different. We were supposed to make candies; chocolatey and non-chocolatey. And I can not remember to have made any thing near to candies since I was in my teenagers and loved to experiment with caramels and stuff. I was really excited at first and decided to make french nougat or fudge for the non-chocolate candies and chocolate bonbons filled with marzipan, raspberry jelly and nougat for the chocolate candies. But as expected I ran
out of time at the end of august and keeping too many balls in the air, I ended up with making only chocolate filled bonbons with three different fillings. I must admit myself, I am pretty much satisfied with the results and tempering chocolate for the very first time in life (even hearing the term for first time), it did not turn out wrong (although I would want them more shiny and smooth at them bottom)!

These beautiful chocolate heart bonbons were garnished with royal icing and almonds to give them a more professional and elegant look, for then to be packed into a black selfmade giftbox with my very own logo on and wrapped in pale pink ribbon to finish a elegant look. A cute cardnote with text was attached on.

Most of the recipes in here are from the daringkitchen and I have just copied and pasted, perhaps halfed some of the recipe. Although the marzipan and nougat filled
bonbons is my own recipe. I know it seems like a lot of text and instructions, but it is not as difficult as it looks like when you have read through it all. Homemade chocolates, bonbons or any other eatable gifts are a pleasure to give and a joy to receive.

How to temper chocolate using the “seeding” method


Tempering Ranges:


Celsius
Dark: 45°C-50°C > 27°C > 32°C
Milk: 45°C > 27°C > 30°C
White: 45°C > 27°C > 29°C


Fahrenheit
Dark: 113°F-122°F > 80.6°F > 89.6°F
Milk: 113°F > 80.6°F > 86°F
White: 113°F > 80.6°F > 84.2°F


Chocolate is melted and heated until it reaches 45°C / 113°F. Tempered un-melted chocolate is then stirred and melted in until it brings the temperature down to 27°C/80.6°F. It is then put back over heat and brought up to its working temperature of 32°C/30°C/29°C /// 89.6°F/86°F/84.2°F depending on the chocolate you’re using. It is now ready for using in molds, dipping and coating.


• Finely chop chocolate if in bar/slab form (about the size of almonds).
• Place about ⅔ of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl
• Set aside ⅓ of the chocolate pieces
• Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water)
Tip: Make sure that your bowl fits snuggly into the saucepan so that there’s no chance of steam forming droplets that may fall into your chocolate. If water gets into your chocolate it will seize!
• Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate so that it melts evenly
• Once it’s melted, keep an eye on the thermometer, as soon as it reaches 45°C / 113°F remove from heat (between 45°C-50°C / 113°F-122°F for dark chocolate)
• Add small amounts of the remaining ⅓ un-melted chocolate (seeds) and stir in to melt
• Continue to add small additions of chocolate until you’ve brought the chocolate down to 27°C/80.6°F (You can bring the dark chocolate down to between 80°F and 82°F)
• Put it back on the double boiler and bring the temperature back up until it reaches its working temperature of the chocolate (milk, dark or white) as seen in the above chart. (32°C/89.6°F for dark, 30°C/86°F for milk and 29°C/84.2°F for white)
• If you still have a few un-melted bits of chocolate, put the bowl back over the simmering water, stirring gently and watching the thermometer constantly.
• IMPORTANT: You really need to keep an eye on the temperature so that it doesn’t go over its working temperature


It’s now tempered and ready to use


Tip: Another way of adding the "seed" is by dropping in one large chunk of tempered chocolate (the seed). That way you only need to fish out one piece of unmelted chocoalte and don't need to fish out several small bits of unmelted chocolate once the chocolate has reached temper.

How to make filled chocolate with molds


Tempered Chocolate
Various Colored Cocoa Butters (optional)
OR Food Grade Cocoa Butter colored with powdered food coloring


Other Equipment:

A small brush
Chocolate molds
A Ladle
Bench or plastic scraper
OR
A small brush or spoon


Directions:


1. If using colored cocoa butter and plastic molds, paint designs at the bottom of the wells in each mold. Let dry. You can also use lustre dusts mixed with a bit of extract, instead of colored cocoa butters for a nice sheen. Let painted molds dry.


2. When coating the molds with the tempered chocolate, I like to do it how the chocolate pro’s do it (much faster and a lot less tedious). While holding mold over bowl of tempered chocolate, take a nice ladle of the chocolate and pour over the mold, making sure it cover and fills every well. Knock the mold a few times against a flat surface to get rid of air bubbles, then turn the mold upside down over the bowl of chocolate, and knock out the excess chocolate. Turn right side up and drag a bench or plastic scraper across so all the chocolate in between the wells is scraped off cleanly, leaving you with only chocolate filled wells. Put in the fridge to set, about 5 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, you could take a small brush and paint the tempered chocolate into each mold, or spoon it in if you’d like.


3. Remove from refrigerator and fill each well with the filling of your choice. Again take a ladle of chocolate and pour it on top of the filled chocolate wells, knocking against a flat surface to settle it in. Scrape excess chocolate off the mold with the bench scraper then refrigerate until set.


4. When set, pop your beautiful filled chocolates out of each well and enjoy!

Caramel Filled Chocolate Bonbons


Makes about 20 - 25 medium bonbons


Dark or milk chocolate melted, preferably tempered, about 1 lb / 450g
1 cup (225g / 8oz) Granulated White Sugar
1/2 cup (125ml / 4 fluid oz) Light Corn Syrup
1/2 cup (125ml / 4 fluid oz) Water
4 Tbsp (60g / 2 oz) Unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp (30ml / 1 fluid oz) Heavy Cream
1/4 cup (60ml / 2 fluid oz) Passion Fruit Puree
1/2 Tbsp salt


Equipment

2 or 3 quart, heavy-bottomed pot
Candy thermometer
Whisk


Directions:


1. Place the sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Set over medium-high heat and stir to combine.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until dark amber in color 310°F-315°F / 155°C-158°C, about 5 minutes.
4. Use a pastry brush, dipped in water, to wash down sides of pan to prevent crystallization as the mixture boils.
5. Remove saucepan from the heat and gradually whisk in the passion fruit puree, heavy cream and butter.
6. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool.
7. Transfer cooled caramel to a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip or a squeeze bottle.
8. Coat the molds with chocolate using the method mentioned above.
9. Fill chocolate coated molds with caramel. You can use a spoon too but it’s less messy and goes a lot quicker with either of the two aforementioned methods.
10. Finish off with a layer of chocolate as mentioned in the method above for making filled chocolates with molds
11. Once fully set, carefully knock the chocolates out of the mold




Marzipan and Nougat filled bonbons


Makes about 10 bonbons


150 g marzipan
50 g nougat


1. Follow the first three steps on "How to make filled chocolate with molds"
2. Fill 3/4 parts with nougat and press down a piece of marzipan so it covers the mould hole
3. Follow from step 3 on "How to make filled chocolate with molds"

"Bounty" Coconut Filled bonbons


50 ml heavy cream
150 g sugar
125 g heavy cream flavored margarine (you can substitute it with regular margarine)
125 g dessicated coconut
75 g dark chocolate
1 Tbsp oil (for chocolate)


1. Put cream, sugar and diced margarine in a saucepan and heat everything until it comes to a boil
and let boil for about 5 minutes
2. Remove from heat and stir in coconut
3. Line rectangular baking pan with a baking paper and pour the mass inside. Leave in the fridge for atleast 2 hours or overnight
4. You can cut it in cubes and dip them in chocolate the next day, or you can take a small spoonful of coconut mass and press
it into the moulded chocolate holes and follow step 3 and 4 on "How to make filled chocolate with molds"




A great gift for any occassion..