Chocolate Heaven

Saturday night was chocolate time. I dried a bunch of strawberries and raspberries that I picked from Sauvie Island about a month ago ($1/lb). I got the molds from the Decorette Shop this weekend ($1.99 ea) and picked up the 70% dark chocolate from Trader Joe's at $3.49/lb. Not bad at all.

Cut up the 1.5 lbs of chocolate into tiny pieces with an 8" chef knife and melted it over a double boiler until smooth, then allowed it to cool such that a drop of chocolate touched to your bottom lip feels just warmer than room temperature, but not by much. I thought that this was tempering, but I just read that I missed the last reheating step. Oh well.

Made three kinds: one dark chocolate with dried strawberry pieces. Inspired by Cocoa Pete's version of the same flavor. One dark chocolate with dried raspberries. And a batch of peanut butter cups. As for the fillings, here's how I made them:

Strawberries: Pick strawberries and remove the cap. Slice thinly and place on food dehydrator at 155 degrees until dry, around 6 hours. Before adding to chocolate, use scissors to cut into small pieces before mixing with chocolate. think I used 1/3 c strawberries with 3/4 c chocolate (approx, but would use more strawberries in retrospect).
Raspberries: Pick and place whole on dehydrator overnight at 155 degrees. They will retain their shape and be very crisp. Crush with fingers into smaller pieces before mixing with the chocolate. (used 1/2 cup raspberries with 1 cup chocolate)
Peanut Butter Filling: Mixed 1 cup of chuncky peanut butter with 1 cup smooth peanut butter. Add 1 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar and about 1/8 cup melted butter. Mix well.

When the chocolate was cool to the lip, I tried two different ways:
1. brushed the molds with a paintbrush dipped in chocolate. (For the peanut butter cups, I did two layers on the bottom and sides, allowing the chocolate to cool in the fridge briefly between layers.) Added the appropriate filling on top.
2. Didn't brush the molds with chocolate but just added the filling directly to each cup, using a spatula to move it between molds. wanted to see if the time-consuming painting was needed.

In both cases, I "banged" the chocolate-filled molds on the counter a couple of times to dislodge air bubbles. Then I let the chocolates sit out on the counter overnight to harden. As for the peanut butter cups, I used my fingers to press the peanut butter mixture into the molds then topped it with chocolate. Pretty easy. I had leftover peanut butter filling that I rolled into balls and then dipped into chocolate using a fork. I think this was the easiest of all the candies -- probably best bang for the buck if you want to make peanut butter cups without the hassle.

To clean up, I heated up some milk and dissolved the last remnants of chocolate stuck to the bowls for my mocha the next morning. By the next morniing, all the candies had set up. The small chocolates popped right out. The ones I brushed had a bit of bloom on them (probably from not allowing them to cool down enough when I brushed -- I got excited). The ones that I poured directly were totally fine and looked better than their brushed counterparts. All tasted identical though, suggesting that it was probably a fat bloom rather than water bloom.

Most peanut butter cups came out of their molds fine, although others broke in half which drove me crazy. I think I'll use paper cups in each of the molds next time so my return rate will be higher. Nothing like spending all that time to get only half your product.

I tasted one of each and I was impresed how good they were. The strawberry ones needed more strawberries (and cut into smaller pieces). The raspberry ones were bright and flavorful and dead on. The peanut butter cups were very good as well, although the balls were much easier and I would make those instead next time... especially for a dessert party or something. Overall, everything was really easy but messy. I think I'll definitely make the raspberry ones again. Or maybe try my hand at filling them with some sort of ganache or caramel. I think my dream would be to use the cajeta from Mexico since it is so creamy and has such a great flavor. Mmmmm cajeta chocolates. Mmmmmmmm. Too bad I didn't ask Marsha and Brian to send me some cajeta since they were down there this past weekend. Nuts.

Next time.