Quiet Sunday Morning

It's a quiet Sunday morning here at the Chocolate Shop...that's perhaps because we're not open yet. I came in early to start tempering the dark chocolate that I will need to make Saints, Golden Knights, White Caps, Northstars, and Dark Hazelnut Truffles. I'd make Massena Mints but we don't have enough Creme de Menthe to make a batch. I'm trying to get enough creams done to make the display case look respectable as well as do up 15 boxes of 24 candies for an order due this week. Another 8 single layer boxes is also due...so a little backup supply is called for. But for now, all that's happening is the hum of the tempering machine as I wait for that familiar beep that tells me to take out the seed chocolate.

Despite being very busy making chocolate, I do like this new job and still like chocolate. Though my cravings for M&M's and Hershey's Kisses have definately decreased, I still like to sample the occassional mishap out of the mold. The molded creams are beginning to wear on me...simply becoming routine but the bark, pretzels, and oreos still are fun to make.

The hardest cream to make is the Bear Paw. It is a deep mold so it takes a lot of chocolate to cover it well. Then you have to add two fillings; a strawberry jell and peanut butter fondant. The strawberry jell is sticky and only cotton gloves keeps it from sticking to everything it touches. Our new recipe has greatly improved the work involved in this aspect of making it. The peanut butter fondant, if not used within a few days of creation, becomes very dry and crumbly so is very hard to put into the mold as one piece. This causes little bits of peanut butter to infuse with the bottom layer of chocolate that is used to seal the filling. But the flavor is very popular and many people have commented that it is their favorite.

The easiest to make is, yes, the Massena Mint. This is just a little piece of dark chocolate with creme de menthe flavoring added to it while it's warm. It's a solid piece of chocolate with no filling and the mold used is shallow and not very large. It is by far the fastest thing to make in the case...when we have the flavoring...

My favorite to make? That has to be one of the truffles. Though we have not been making these consistently yet, the great use of colored cocoa butter in the mold makes them one of the prettiest things in the case (next to the sugar shacks). Colored cocoa butter is swirled into the mold before the chocolate is added and when the chocolate cools, the swirl sticks to the top of the candy. It's hard to describe. The fillings are a little hard to work with but the finished product is so pretty, it's just satisfying to see it all done. Maybe, I'll just hoard these little gems and not sell them, they're so cute.

Well, more later...on another quiet morning, no doubt. I have to go as the tempering is calling for me to make up those dark flavors. And my truffle mold is ready to be filled.