I looooovvveee chocolate. Unique, right? Dark chocolate is my favourite kind, but I’m always excited to try a good box of chocolates. They’re more special than a normal bar of chocolate: I always eat them slowly, savouring each bite, but I rarely buy them for myself. How amazing would it be when you could make your own chocolates at home, and enjoy a piece of luxury whenever you want!
Jump to Recipe
I have made chocolates before during my year-long “Do something new every day” challenge. I was so surprised at how well it went – how they tasted like real chocolates and for relatively little effort, how can you not resist? Sometimes I experiment with making them, trying new moulds and such, because I found it really fun to have the power to design my own chocolates. I am absolutely not a professional, but I want to share with you, how in just a few hours, you too can uncover the freedom to knock up your own sweet treats!
Equipment
Firstly, you need the right materials. I use a polycarbonate mould for my chocolates, as it makes them really shiny, however getting them out of the form is sometimes a bit tricky. A silicone mould is a lot easier, but you will find the chocolates appear a bit more matt. This mould is the one I use and is under €4 (from Sostrene Grene) and I can really recommend it.
Also, very important when creating your own chocolates, is a thermometer. In order to achieve the perfect shine on your creations, you need to temper the chocolate, which involves using exact temperatures to heat the chocolate, cool it, then warm it again. In order to measure that precisely, I recommend a digital thermometer like this one from Müller, important.
Chocolates Ingredients
OK, now for the best part – the chocolaaate! I use a chocolate couverture as it has a higher percentage of cocoa butter than in normal chocolate, which means it’s not only easier to work with, but also makes the chocolates nice and shiny. I’m speaking a lot about the shine, I know, but in my opinion, that is a good indicator of a high quality chocolate. It also makes them look so appealing!
For this simple recipe, I use a very easy water ganache. There are two main reasons: firstly, it’s quicker and cheaper than using cream, and secondly, when used with vegan chocolate, it makes the chocolates vegan friendly. Here I would recommend a dark chocolate with a relatively high percentage (minimum 70%) and pair it with a flaky sea salt. Don’t panic if you don’t like dark chocolate, the salt helps to make the chocolate taste a lot sweeter, and very chocolatey, and gives it all-round well-balanced flavour. Milk chocolate would be even sweeter, but still delicious, but I imagine that white chocolate simply too sweet.
Tempering Chocolate
The most important step. I’ve already mentioned a little about tempering chocolate, but it is really essential when you want to recreate that luxury box of chocolates experience at home. Tempering makes the chocolate have that perfect snap, makes them shine, and means they won’t melt as quickly in your hand. The only downside is that it takes a decent chunk of time and patience, but it totally worth it to bring out the beauty of your chocolates.
| Temperature | White | Milk | Dark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temp #1 | 50C | 50C | 55C |
| Temp #2 | 27C | 28C | 29C |
| Temp #3 | 29C | 30C | 32C |
Temp #1 – use 2/3 the total weight of chocolate and melt to this temperature
Temp #2 – add the remaining 1/3 bit by bit and stir now and again to reach this temperature
Temp #3 – reheat the liquid chocolate until you reach the desired temperature
That maybe looks a bit complicated, but it’s really not so bad. I’ll explain everything underneath.
Do we have everything? Then let’s get to it!
Simple Chocolates Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 grams milk chocolate couverture **you can also use dark or white here, but watch out for the difference in tempering temperatures!***
- 60 grams dark chocolate
- 60 grams boiled water
- 1 or 2 pinches sea salt flakes
Instructions
- Roughly chop 2/3 of the couverture. Place in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water and melt until the desired temperature (55 °C dark/ 50 °C milk and white) Tip – it is better to do this very slowly so that the chocolate doesn't burn.200 grams milk chocolate couverture
- Take the bowl out of the water bath and add the remaining 1/3 of the couverture to the mix, piece by piece, stirring until Temp #2 has been reached. Don't worry, this phase always takes me a long time too.
- Reheat the chocolate slowly, until it has reached Temp#3
- Now the couverture is ready to go into your chosen mould. Place it on top of a piece of cling film.
- Slowly pour the chocolate over the mould, almost to every edge. Carefully knock it against the table/counter top to remove all the air bubbles. Turn it upside down, over the cling film, and let all the excess chocolate come out. Scrape the top clean with a spatula, and let everything set.
- Water ganache time! Roughly chop the dark chocolate and put in a bowl with the salt. Pour the boiling water over the top and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth and shiny.
- Whilst the ganache is still semi-fluid (it gets a. lot thicker with time), fill the chocolates to a little more as 2/3rds full.
- Melt the remaining chocolate from the cling film (once it is hard, you should be able to simply pop it off) by using the desired tempering method again. Just a little bit more patience needed!
- Pour again the tempered chocolate over the mould, so everything is covered. Then scrape the excess chocolate off (ideally with a dough scraper) so that each chocolate has a clean edge. Leave everything for at least an hour.
- To take the chocolates out of the form, you need a bit of strength. Bang the form against a hard surface and all of them should fall out. If that doesn't happen, it sometimes helps to leave them 10 minutes (no longer) in the freezer
Extra Chocolate Tips
Hopefully, everything went smoothly the first time round, but what should you do when it doesn’t? I can really recommend this video from Pralinen und so as it’s really helpful, short, and uncomplicated.
Extra
The sky is the limit! Once you have the basic recipe down, you can change anything! Do you want to play with colours or edible glitter? Then I recommend this video from Einfach Backen really useful, and Torten Zauber have a variety of choice for chocolates accessories. There are also so many possibilities for fillings – my next try will be salted caramel – experiment away with the millions of variations that are out there!
