So, same method as the previous recipes for orange creams and strawberry creams, but I halved the recipe again so I stop building up a stockpile of cream fillings!
Thought I would be fancy this time, and try and get some gold stars in, realising after they would be enveloped by chocolate.
For the filling i used black cherry concentrate, and a few drops of vanilla. The cherry doesn’t as well i would have liked it to, and I used a good 5 teaspoons of it. Great colour though.
Then, to be super special, I thought i would put a few drops of the cherry juice inside each chocolate before sealing them. On reflection I should have made a small nook in each, as as soon as it was done, I knew it would seep through the chocolate.
But they turned out ok, and has hints of cherry rather than a blast of flavour like the others.
So, making Orange filled chocoloates wasn’t enough and I now have the bug for making cream filled chocolates. I decided to go for strawberry, with a plan to send some as a gift to my grandpa who adores chocolate and said feel free to post them to him anytime. Say no more…
Same line up as the orange (although at the last minute decided to use a star mould), and used strawberry syrup for the filling. And a pinch of edible glitter, because you know, its christmassy.
I halved the recipe again from the first one, so –
Ingredients
half a cup of double cream,
200g of sugar
100-150g of dark chocolate
Soaked together, then heated to 240f, and a whole tablespoon of corn syrup. The consistency was much sticker and more toffee like for this one, then let cool (adding a small amount of butter and turning over first). Then i mixed in the strawberry syrup, leaving some streaking through (and the glitter). Around 80g of chocolate melted for the mould, then in the freezer for at least 10 minutes too set before you add the filling.
Chocolate moulds filled with strawberry, melt the rest of the chocolate and then cover each splace, smoothing over with a pallet knife if really bumpy, and back in the freezer to chill, then in the fridge.
Proper tasty, and I also made some orange shells yesterday with the left over orange filling to have a variety to send.
And now they are boxed up ready to be sent tomorrow after buying a few boxes and little cases for them to stop them sliding around in the dividers. I am rather pleased at how they look and am pretty sure I won’t be buying certain brands again. I’ll be making lemon ones at the weekend hopefully so we’ll see if this is a fluke, or if I’ve got the knack 😉
These are my favourites, and not content with only one or two in a box of popular variety chocolates, I decided to finally attempt making my own. I like baking, but sweets and desserts are my favourite. I found a recipe that seemed doable, I halved the ingredients to make a small batch first, and amended slightly as I went. I was actually left with half of the filling left after making this batch, so you could half this again of you want a small amount.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of double cream (250ml / 8oz)
1 1/2 cups of sugar (this was a mix of caster and granulated)
2-3 tbsp of orange extract (apparently if using orange oil, use less)
1/2 tps vanilla extract
1 tbsp of corn syrup (also know as liquid glucose)
1tbsp butter
100g of dark chocolate (ish) – or any chocolate of choice
You’ll need to make the orange filling first. Place the sugar and cream in a pan and let them soak together before putting on a low to medium heat. Stir often and make sure to keep it smooth. Use a pastry brush to water the sides while it’s heating, otherwise the sugar crystalises and can make the mixture gritty. Bring to the boil and add the corn syrup, keep stirring, feeling for when its thickening up. Depends on how solid you like your filling, waiting until it gets sticky will give you a firmer centre.
Once you are happy with the texture, pour onto a highsided tray (avoid scraping the sides or the gritty sugar will come with it) – try not to use glass as this mixture will be very hot and may break it. Now, I don’t have large marble slab to hand like the person who’s recipe I checked out, so I used a baking tray with sides, and laid one of my new heat proof baking sheets clumsily in it.
Once there, leave for 10-15 minutes to cool. It would appear that I may have used too little corn syrup (so you may want to use 1-2 for thicker), but it didn’t seem to matter. This worked in the end, so must have been ok. The next process it to turn it over and over, and in on itself for a good 20 minutes or so. It was during this process I decided to add the orange extract – around 1 tablespoon at a time, work it in, keep the mixture moving. Taste it and see how orangy it is, and add more as required. I would say you want to keep working it to be like slightly runny mash potato consistency. Then leave that to one side while we move to the chocolating the cases.
Pick your mould.
Melt your chocolate.
This was enough chocolate to coat the mould.
I used a small spoon to put some in each space, then used a paintbrush 🖌 to get the chocolate up the sides. Then put in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
I didn’t have a pipping bag, or a proper zip lock bag, so used a small plastic bag with small sealer (remember to actually seal it though! I didn’t 🤣). And just cut off one corner to squeeze out enough mixture into each space.
Fill each mould space with filling, but not quite to the top. Then melt up the second round of chocolate and place over the top.
Smooth them over with the back of a spoon or small pallet knife (art supplies came in handy for this kitchen time). I then put them in the fridge for an hour or two but you can put in the freezer for 20 mins maybe if you want them quicker. Then remove from the mould.
They were super easy to turn out, and looked perfect. After being in the fridge overnight, the filling had set even further but was still super soft.
I’m going to admit, I was very chuffed with myself for manging to make something that looked and tasted this good first time.
MKW Publishing 