Chocolates

On Friday I made a whole bunch of chocolates for a party on Saturday. I was inspired by orangette's Chocolate "Blocks" with Fruit and Nuts, but also wanted to try out some outlandish flavors.

row 1: dark chocolate pretzel, milk chocolate pretzel, dark chocolate salted almond, dark chocolate with candied ginger, cashew, and banana chip.
row 2: milk chocolate cherry, dark chocolate cherry, milk chocolate cashew with sea salt, spicy milk chocolate with dried fruit and nut.
row 3: milk chocolate chunk with fruit and nuts, dark chocolate curry cashew, dark chocolate banana chip, dark chocolate curry with banana chip, dried fruit, and cashew.

You can see the condensation that formed on the chocolates after I took them out of the refrigerator. It was really humid yesterday.

Following orangette's easy recipe, I didn't fuss with tempering or anything like that, but just melted the chocolate over a double boiler. For the cluster-type candies, I mixed in the nuts and stuff, and spooned it into mini muffin liners. For the others, I put the special ingredient (for instance, a few slivered almonds) in the liners first, then spooned in a little melted chocolate, smoothed it down, then topped it with a decorative almond or two, and sprinkled the chocolate with freshly ground sea salt or spice mixture, or both. Unless you're making very small chocolates, it's best to keep the liners in a mini muffin tin so that your candies don't spread out too much.

I recommend making very small chocolates, by the way. I started out making huge ones, but small ones are easier to eat and people like them more. This is my theory for occasions when there's a huge array of tempting food. People will be thrilled to take a bite-sized treat, but they might shy away from a big honking slab of treat.

For the spicy dark chocolates, I mixed curry powder into a batch of melted chocolate, and sprinkled the just-finished chocolates with curry powder. For the spicy milk chocolates, I used a mixture of cinnamon, cardamom, and curry powder. Both turned out really well, but I like the second mixture better. I can't tell you exactly how much spice to add to your mixture, but I suggest starting with a small amount, tasting, and going from there.

For the fruit mixture, I used chopped dried apricots and golden raisins, and also these cool banana chips I found at Trader Joe's. They contain only bananas and palm oil, and they are kind of like Cheetos in texture. I also got my chocolate at Trader Joe's. You can buy enormous pound-and-a-half bars of decent chocolate for $3.49.

I will leave you with a couple tips: Use salted nuts, and sprinkle the tops of the chocolates with sea salt. The salt makes the flavors pop. I got a sea salt grinder at Trader Joe's that makes pretty glittery crystals. Also, try to avoid eating too much chocolate as you work. It's easy to do, and will make you detest your lovely creation.