Chocolate Candy Making is No Easy Task!

For years I have made homemade chocolate candies for the holidays!   I would simply buy the candy wafers at the hobby store, melt them down and pour them into the candy molds.   I have been creative at different times and added swirls or peanut butter inside and even made turtles one year with pecans and caramel.   Everyone  loved the creations and I was always proud!  

I rarely indulged in the creations since I found the candy wafers too sweet for my liking.   So this year I got to thinking ….. maybe I should make some good “gourmet” chocolate and I started researching.

This candy book I had picked up some time ago and never really looked at it.   Now I find it listed as a collector item ….. and it has my attention!   I also ordered these books recently and realized that working with chocolate is an art and takes quite a bit of skill!!

The chocolate wafers I have been using are actually a coating and not the real stuff.   The good gourmet chocolate can be purchased over the internet and does cost quite a bit more than the wafer coatings.   I also learned a very important major difference ….. a process called tempering.   This is where you melt down the good chocolate to a specific temperature, let it cool to a specific temperature and then heat it back up slightly in order to work with it and give it that gloss and crunch that goes along with a good chocolate bar.   There are also various fillings and caramels and techniques that need to be mastered and I fully realize that Chocolate Candy Making is No Easy Task!

There are truffles and fudge and candy molds to fill ….. but to be very honest, I think if I have even one more tiny teeny piece of any kind of sweet stuff right now I will lapse into a shivering blob of sugar.   What I really, really want to do is create the ultimate healthy gourmet candy and infuse it with basils, lavenders and all things that remind me of the flavors from gardening!   I do miss my garden once again ………..

Hoping everyone enjoyed the first round of holiday festivities and Wishing you all a  ………  Happy New Year!!!

Lolli Pots – candy creations!

Years ago I made everyone in the family candy as a Christmas gift – all kinds!  I spent  hours and money on tons of molds and created all types of combinations … it was a huge success.  Since that time I will pick up candy melts on occasion and make some sweet treats.  We are bringing a meat and cheese tray as our addition to the Christmas feast at my sister’s this year and I decided to make up some candy also.  The candy melts are manufactured by Wilton and they were on sale so I couldn’t miss the opportunity.

I had lollipop molds and the sticks so I created what I call Lolli Pots.  I painted a terra cotta pot deep red and you can paint any design of your liking on the pots.   I painted family names along with all the names of the family members.  These will be gifts for the families with children. 

 Lolli Pots

The procedure for making lollipops is quite easy.  Melt the candy melts in the microwave for about a minute and then fill the candy molds with the melted candy, insert the stick and place in the refrigerator for about a half hour.  Pop them out of the mold and cover with a little plastic bag and insert in pot (I placed a square of foam in the pot first).  Then I attempted to make these chocolate bowls which was a bit more challenging.

After a few attempts I did end up with a dozen good chocolate cups that I intend to fill with vanilla pudding and little graham cracker critters.  Here is a picture that came with the mold and fruit would be good also, but at this point I refuse to go to the grocery store any more!!!