It’s Chocolate Season!

I usually begin thinking about making chocolate in mid-September, once the evenings begin to cool down and the early semester activities evolve into routine semester activities. Sometimes I find myself in October – the time for caramel apples – and I have to hustle to get the chocolate ordered and my equipment set up. But this year I am ready. I placed my chocolate order last week: fifty pounds of bittersweet chocolate, twenty-five pounds of milk chocolate, and twenty-five pounds of white chocolate will be arriving as soon as it is cool enough to ship. I already have about thirty pounds of semi-sweet chocolate on hand, so I have the entire chocolate spectrum covered.

I have reclaimed our finished basement kitchenette area from the summer’s activities. I have pulled out the extra tables and covered them with the washable table cloths. My three chocolate tempering machines are out and shining. I have my lineup of classes scheduled at the local kitchen store: short-cut caramel apples in October and chocolate truffles in November. I am ready for chocolate season.

I’m only organized this year because a friend of mine asked if I could prepare a selection of chocolates for a party and I agreed. He is purchasing the supplies and I am donating my time (he agreed to make a donation to a charity for my time, which works for both of us).

I use a three-step hollow molding technique to prepare my truffles. 1) Prepare a hollow shell of solid, tempered chocolate. 2). Fill the shell with the soft, flavored ganache centers. 3) Seal the bottom of the shell with tempered chocolate. I use professional grade, transparent polycarbonate molds that have 24-36 depressions and have a smooth, mirror-quality finish.

Preparing the ganache centers is easy to do, but tempering the chocolate is not so easy to do. It’s fussy. Unless you have a tempering machine ($$-$$$), tempering chocolate requires a lot of attention and a special thermometer ($). If you don’t want to mess with tempering the chocolate, you can cool the ganache completely, roll into spheres, and coat with your favorite topping (cocoa powder, sprinkles, nuts, powdered sugar, etc.). Or you can use confectioner’s coating, which does not require tempering.

The up-coming chocolate-themed posts will focus on how to prepare the ganache centers, how to temper chocolate, and the details of the hollow molding technique.