MOLDED TRUFFLES

Yesterday I decided to play with my chocolate molds. All these molds came from Chef Rubber a company in Las Vegas that I visit whenever I am there. I treat myself to a new mold each time I visit. I love making candy and the techniques used here were an experiment. I sprayed the molds first with colored cocoa butter. I started with yellow, then red, then white. Except the hearts and they were sprayed with red only. The cocoa butter has to be in temper before spraying. After spraying I let them sit in the wine cooler to set up before filling them with tempered chocolate. After filling with tempered chocolate I turn them upside down to drain out the excess chocolate so I am left with a cavity to fill.

The hearts were made with white chocolate and a caramel bittersweet chocolate ganache.

The other shapes were made with 64% bittersweet chocolate and filled with caramel bittersweet chocolate ganache that I folded caramelized and salted pistachio nuts into.

My husband is already to sell these so I will have to get packaging right away.

SHOWCASING MY HANDMADE TRUFFLES

As a professional pastry chef we sometimes want to showcase items that we make on a display piece. There is hardly enough time because of all the responsibilities we have but when its possible I like to make something fun like you see here. This was part of my Mother's Day display last year. I love making handmade candies and truffles and wanted to show them off on this special display. The base was made by pouring tempered chocolate onto large bubble wrap and they were the perfect indentations for the candies to sit in.