Magic & Science (chocolate)

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Yum, a chocolate candy tutorial. This is about using your head, and the intelligence you were blessed with. Too often, we simply cook by what others have taught us. I like to think about the processes that go on with whatever is is that I am making, be it pasta sauce, or in this case, tempered chocolate.

Now I have looked up, and followed proper technique, using coverture chocolate, a double boiler, and candy thermometer taking great care to exactly follow instructions. And I learned from the experience. I learned the proper temperatures to bring g the chocolate to, why stirring is required ( it organizes the sugar crystal structure), and so on. Over the years, I also (learned that mixing coverture chocolate with lesser chocolate (still has to be high quality, real chocolate with no added waxes or other fats than cocoa butter) can turn the whole batch into properly tempered chocolate, with that perfect, shiny gloss, wonderful snap.and silky smooth texture.

As I stated in a previous post, I made candies this morning. And I didn't use a double boiler, meat thermometer, or whisk. I simply used a microwave safe dish, some candy molds, and a little know ow.

The human body maintains an average temperature between 97.5 and 98.9. Temperatures below that range feel cool to the touch, as energy is leaving the body. Temperatures above that range feel increasingly warm, as thermal energy is entering the body. Using that info, and knowing that to temper chocolate, it must be brought to about 110 degrees, F., then cooled to a working temp of between 96 yo 100 degrees, I went to work. Here are the ingredient i used for the milk chocolate candies:
1/2 bag of Ghiradeli milk chocolate morsels (not coverture chocolate)
1 large Lindt milk chocolate bar (coverture chocolate)
1 large Lindt White chocolate bar (coverture chocolate)

I broke up the bars and added the chips all in a microwave safe bowl. I heated at highest power for 40 seconds, just enough to start the chocolate melting. I stirred it until all chocolate was blended, and took note of how warm or cool the chocolate felt to my fingers through the bowl. The bowls was a fairly thin,hard, thermo-plastic that allowed me to feel the chocolate temperature. It was a little cool, so back in the microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir and again evaluate temperature. Back in for 30 more seconds, just starting to feel hot. Uncomfortably hot temp for my fingers is about 112 degrees F. It was close, and so was just right. I stirred it again and put it into candy molds to set.

There was chocolate left, and so I added this:
1/2 bag Ghiradelli White chocolate morsels (not coberture chjocolate)
4 drops orange extract
I stirred it all together and the extract was too strong, and so I added another half bag of white chocolate morsels, reasoning that the orange extract required the sweetness of the white chocolate to tame it. I heated it again to about 110, and again stirred it until smooth. The stirring for all of this helps develop the proper sugar crystal structure for tempering chocolate.

I tasted it and the flavor was spot on. I filled another set of chocolate molds with the mixture. I placed both trays in the fridge for an hour to cool. When I turned the molds upside down, the chocolates came right out. I foil-wrapped them and placed in zipper freezer bags for DW. They were shiny, and had the tempered chocolate snap and silky texture.

Next batch of chocolate candies that I made:
1 bag Gniradeli Dark chocolate chips
1 86% Cacao, large Lindt bar
1 lagre Lindt White Chocolate bar
1/4 cup crisp rice cereal

Same procedure as first candies. After final stir, fold in crisp rice cereal. Pour mixture into foil lined square cake pan. Chill for 30 minutes.

Again. i got the texture and flavors I wanted.

So, you don't need magic, or a lot of fuss. Simply pay attention to what's going on. Once you know the basics, you can be all kinds of creative. Using this tempered chocolate, you can make filled chocolate truffles, solid chocolates of any shape and size, and chocolate bars.

You can blend different flavors of chocolate together to get you own favorite flavor, or add flavor extracts, such as pineapple, raspberry, almond, orange, mint, etc. and can add macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, etc., of different cereals, or even pralines, or brittle's, nougats, and cream fillings.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you just think about the process, and how it all works, it opens a world of creativity, and turns difficult into easy.

I nope this helps bring out your creative candy making skills, the skills you might not even know you have.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[gerardj]

You'll find problems creeping in doing it that way, the chocolate isn't tempered unless you cool it to 84 then raise it to 91F.
Done this way it become stable at room temperature, what you did will start to bloom unless its kept chilled.

You can successfully melt chocolate at up to 100F degs without it losing temper. From there just cool to 91 and work with it, it will produce perfect results without going through the whole process.

The drawback is its difficult to get it to 100F quickly with accuracy, I used to do it by leaving it in the holding machine overnite with the thermostat set to 100F.
We worked with solid slabs, its a bit easier with callets or chips.
Still, its faster to do the whole process, melt to 115, cool to 83, warm up to 91, agitating constantly. The machine makes it easy but its also quick if you use a bowl of cold water for the cool down, or tablier it.

When I worked in restaurants and needed tempered choc on the fly I'd microwave in bursts using my hand on the bowl to guesstimate the warmth, then seed with more choc to cool it down once it began to feel warm and melt. It works but it can't compare to accurately tempered choc.
If you need choc decorations right now its ok, if you're making decorations for future use it will begin to show fat bloom in a day or two.

But as you say, you get a feel for it.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

GerardJ, you are quite knowedgeable with candies. And you are absolutely correct about chocolate bloom. I one made Easter Bunny decorations using a plastic mold, and coverture white, and dark chocolate disks, using paste coloring with the white chocolate. I used the proper method toheat, cool, then reheatto working temperature. I used a toothpick to color flower petals, leaves, and the bunny clothing, even coloring the eyes and inside ears. They came out spectacular, and were used at a local restaurant as showpieces. The were shiny, crisp, proper tempered chocolate that held upfor a week. What happened to them after that, I don't know.


I made the same chocolate bunnies for my family/grandkids. They needed to be shipped through the mail, as the grandkids lived a minimum of 6 hours distant. I placed the chocolate bunnies, after completion, into pretty foil, and into the fridge until
I had enough to send. Where they were going to be sent to was still winter weather, sub freezing. Though the chocolate worked without blooming when chilled, exposing it to freezing temps caused it to bloom badly, and lose its temper, becoming grainy. is there anything I could have done differently to avoid this problem?

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[gerardj]

GerardJ, you are quite knowedgeable with candies. And you are absolutely correct about chocolate bloom. I one made Easter Bunny decorations using a plastic mold, and coverture white, and dark chocolate disks, using paste coloring with the white chocolate. I used the proper method toheat, cool, then reheatto working temperature. I used a toothpick to color flower petals, leaves, and the bunny clothing, even coloring the eyes and inside ears. They came out spectacular, and were used at a local restaurant as showpieces. The were shiny, crisp, proper tempered chocolate that held upfor a week. What happened to them after that, I don't know.


I made the same chocolate bunnies for my family/grandkids. They needed to be shipped through the mail, as the grandkids lived a minimum of 6 hours distant. I placed the chocolate bunnies, after completion, into pretty foil, and into the fridge until
I had enough to send. Where they were going to be sent to was still winter weather, sub freezing. Though the chocolate worked without blooming when chilled, exposing it to freezing temps caused it to bloom badly, and lose its temper, becoming grainy. is there anything I could have done differently to avoid this problem?

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

when frozen, chocolate is more likely to sugar bloom.
It shouldn't even be chilled, just cooled to around 55F.
You might have gotten both , fat and sugar bloom, its not hard to do.
The white coating is more finicky, I avoid it if possible.