Chocolate Candy Recipes

Temper Fugit

All chocolate that is available to the public is tempered and ready to eat. The trick is to melt the chocolate without un-tempering it. The easiest way to accomplish this is to melt your chocolate in a Bain Marie over a low heat. Don’t try to rush this part of the process because if your chocolate gets too hot, it will lose temper and then you will have to go through a rather elaborate process to re-temper it. If you happen to have an instant read thermometer, and you should always have one handy, do not let the chocolate go higher than these temperatures.

• Dark Chocolate – No higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit
• Milk Chocolate – No higher than 89 degrees Fahrenheit
• White Chocolate – No higher than 88 degrees Fahrenheit

The reason we want the chocolate to keep temper is that tempered chocolate sets quickly without streaks of cocoa butter and is hard and shiny. Un-tempered chocolate will set slowly, have pale streaks of cocoa butter, and will be soft and dull.

Chocolate Candy Equipment

Making chocolate candy recipes can sometimes require specialized equipment such as molds and scrapers but it can also be as simple as just using a fork to dip a ball of ganache or filling into your melted chocolate. A good place to find chocolate molds is your local arts and crafts store. Not only will you find some generic molds, but you are certain to find seasonal molds as well so you can create Christmas themed chocolates or Valentine’s day themed chocolates or whatever holiday happens to be on hand. Chocolate molds are usually made of thick, sturdy plastic that can be reused innumerable times and withstand some rather sharp knocks. If you are going to be making chocolate candy, you will be giving your chocolate molds some good solid thwacks.

Once you have your chocolate molds in hand, take a quick trip to the local hardware store. What you want here is a paint scraper. I happen to like the ones that have plastic handles and metal blades. I tend to avoid the paint scrapers that have wooden handles because I feel the plastic handles sanitize better.

Bring your molds into the store with you and make sure the blade of the paint scraper is wide enough to scrape off the chocolate from the top of your mold.

Take your new gear home and wash everything thoroughly. Then, using a piece of cheesecloth or the softest clean cloth you can find, buff the inside of the chocolate molds. The cleaner and dryer they are, the better your chocolates will pop out of the molds and the shinier the chocolates will be. Place the chocolate molds into your freezer and let them chill for a few hours. These directions are for commercial chocolate molds but your molds may not need to be chilled, so check with the instructions that come with the mold.

Chocolate Candy Recipes

Let's start with the simplest chocolate candy recipe there is--unfilled chocolates.

Ingredients

• One pound of your favorite chocolate (milk, bittersweet, or semi-sweet)

Instructions

1. Melt the chocolate slowly over a Bain Marie until it is completely melted and smooth.
2. Take your mold out of the freezer and use a ladle to pour enough chocolate to fill each candy mold.
3. Using your scraper, scrape the excess chocolate off the top of the mold.
4. Give the mold several good hard whacks with the side of the scraper to force any air bubbles out.
5. You may have to do this for a minute or two.
6. Replace the mold back in the freezer and let the chocolate set.
7. Once the chocolate is set, take the mold out of the freezer and turn the mold over a clean towel.
8. If any of the chocolates stick, you can try to loosen them by hitting the mold with whatever is handy. I use a large spoon.

Filled Chocolate Candy Recipes

You can fill your chocolates with ganache if you like to make them a truffle filled chocolate.

Ingredients

• One pound of chocolate melted over a Bain Marie
• One ganache recipe (6 ounces of chocolate and 6 ounces of cream heated over a Bain Marie until the chocolate melts. Mix well, let cool.)

Instructions

1. Fill your molds with chocolate as before, but this time pour out whatever chocolate does not immediately cling to the sides of the frozen mold.
2. Scrape the top clean.
3. Refreeze the chocolate-coated mold for a few minutes.
4. Fill the individual chocolate forms with the ganache, about 2/3 filled.
5. Pop the mold back into the freezer for a few minutes.
6. Take the mold out of the freezer and pour melted chocolate into the mold again.
7. Re-freeze the mold for about fifteen minutes and then un-mold the chocolates.

Alternate Filling

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ pound (one stick) of butter at room temperature
• 2 ½ pounds of powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon of your favorite extract (vanilla, almond, mint, maple, anise, etc.)

Instructions

1. Mix everything in your stand mixer.
2. Press the mixture into the mold after you have coated the inside with chocolate, about ¾ filled.
3. Pop the mold back into the freezer for a few minutes.
4. Take the mold out of the freezer and pour melted chocolate into the mold again.
5. Re-freeze the mold for about fifteen minutes and then un-mold the chocolates.

You could also dip the filling into melted chocolate for a simple, round chocolate candy.

Hints and Tips

• Every time you pour chocolate into your mold, you should scrape the top of the mold off to make sure the top is clean. This will make removing the chocolates easier and give you a cleaner looking candy.
• Be sure to scrape the molds over the Bain Marie and reuse the chocolate.
• Any unused chocolate can be poured into a clean container and reused the next time you want to make a chocolate candy recipe.
• You can add a little pizzazz to your candies by taking some of your melted chocolate and putting it into a piping bag with a small plain tip. Then just drizzle the chocolate onto the candies for a flashy effect.
• For a classic Bon Bon, try filling your chocolates with ice cream.