A foray into chocolate
Posted by E-George on December 22, 2009
After taking a creative hiatus for the last eight or so years, I decided to exercise that part of my personality once again, this time in the form of candy making. Where candy = chocolate. I didn’t think it would be hugely smart to be smelting sugar around Evelyn and figured if she was going to get hurt the burn would be far less severe if it was 86-degree chocolate versus 400 degree sugar.
I took an introductory candy making class at one of our confectionery shops in town, The Specialty Shop, and had also done some reading on the web and in a few books to start getting an idea about how to select chocolate, how to heat it and temper it, how to mold it, and various other how-to bits of data. To get started, I bought pre-tempered chocolate so I could focus on how to use the candy molds as a first priority. Once I get the manipulation of the molds down with regular success then I figured I would start learning how to buy block chocolate and temper it myself.
My first real attempt at chocolate production was for my sister and her boys in Okinawa. My middle nephew, Luke, has his birthday on December 24 and had asked for, “Peanut butter cups and chocolate meat balls with white stripes.” Since his favorite color is currently blue, I made Luke a special box of blue chocolates that were especially for him. Then, I packed a larger box of candy for the whole family.
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A closer look.
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I also made some chocolate grasshoppers. Just like the grasshopper drink, grasshopper cake, or other grasshopper foods, this was a mint chocolate treat to which I brought some pragmatic realism. Having wiled away many a winsome childhood hour capturing actual grasshoppers and feeding them to the chickens, I knew that grasshoppers would have a small amount of crunch paired with a soft center. Therefore, my mint grasshoppers have a cool mint shell, malted milk crumbles for crunch and a soft chocolaty center for the guts. The newer versions than the one’s I have pictured here even have gold eyeballs attached to their heads to give added life.
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I sent all of these candies to my sister, and I embarked on my next round. The next ones came out better than the first, and with two additional varieties added to the fray: A pecan delight bar, which contained two toasted whole pecan halves backed by some home made vanilla caramel; and, brandied cherry cordials which boasted maraschino cherries that had been stewing in brandy for nearly 5 straight days. This next set of candy was for a tea party later that week and for giving away to a few friends. Let me say now that if you didn’t (as in did NOT) receive any candy from me, it’s certainly not a non-verbal communication pertaining to my views of the status of our friendship. It’s just that I ran out of candy. And candy-making materials. So, I’ll catch you next time. Really.
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I believe I add touches to my candy that sets it apart from other similar products one could buy. I use for-reals natural peanut butter in my peanut butter cups and I don’t monkey around with it to make it more of a solidified center, I booze up my cherries, and I toast the nuts I use. All in all, I say that my chocolates have been successful thus far and I’m looking forward to working on Valentine’s chocolates next. My sister is having an Avon gift basket making party the weekend prior to Valentine’s day so I’m going to build up my stock and see if I can’t sell some to her customers for their gift baskets. If that is successful then I believe it will bolster my confidence to try selling it at other venues, too.
Most importantly, I had a lot of fun and despite having tired feet when I was done I still really enjoyed myself.
Filed Under: Happiness is, Lookit - Comments: Read the First Comment
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Megan said,
Can’t wait for Valentine’s. Hope they don’t all sell, so some can come my way
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