Making Bon Bons

Bon Bons are a wonderful treat, and their fillings range from traditional (coconut) to the more casual (cookie dough). They offer the home-crafter a multitude of options.

Taking your fillings for a dip in your favorite chocolate is the finishing touch. To get started, give the following recipe a try:

• 1 Stick butter
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 1 lb confectioner's sugar (you may need a bit more)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, coconut, finely chopped dried fruit, (optional)
• 6 oz good quality chocolate either Milk or Dark

Mix softened butter, cream cheese, vanilla and sugar together until smooth and uniform. Add in an optional ingredients for variety. Toasted chopped pecans, shredded coconut, and chopped dried pineapple are a few ideas. Mix in enough to suit your own tastes.

Prepare to temper your choice of chocolate. Some recipes call for paraffin wax. This is such a shame, because properly tempered chocolate will be firm enough and glossy without the need for wax. Who wants to eat wax anyway?

For a truly professional look, use a dipping fork for dipping in tempered chocolate. The best one for round bon bons is one that looks like a spiral wired spoon.

Shape 1 oz portions of your filling into little balls, and place them on a cookie sheet. Put the sheets into the refrigerator until the balls have become firm. Remove only enough to dip within a short period of time. If the balls become mushy while you are working, you'll have to replace them in the refrigerator.

Once the chocolate is tempered and the balls are firm, dip them into the chocolate with your dipping fork. Allow excess to drip off, and drop gently onto parchment paper. Repeat until all balls are coated.

If you do different flavors of filling, you may want to mark your cookie sheets, so you don't mix them together. They'll be very hard to tell apart after they are coated. You could garnish each one with a hint(like a sprinkling of plain coconut) of its filling as a way to differentiate between them before the chocolate has set.

Playing With Tempered Chocolate

Making Professional Chocolates at Home

Beautiful chocolate candies can be made right in your kitchen. There's no need to pay boutique prices either, and in the case of gifts, chocolates made by you will be that much more special. I made the chocolates in this picture myself yesterday, and they are not only beautiful, but they are YUMMY! (If I do say so myself)

Once I decided that tempering chocolate by hand was not my forte, I opted for a professional tempering unit. They can be costly, but I decided I'd save plenty of money over the long haul by avoiding the destruction of expensive ingredients.

The chocolates pictured above, were made with my Revolation I Tempering Unit. I poured the chocolate into oval shaped magnetic molds that hold transfer sheets (for that beautiful swirl design on the tops) in place. These pieces are filled with ganache, and popped out of the mold perfectly shaped, shiny, and smooth!

Tempering Chocolate By Hand

You can temper chocolate in your microwave or in a double-boiler. If you wish to use the double-boiler method, and you don't own a double-boiler, you can use a standard pot, and a metal bowl that can sit inside the pot without falling in. For larger batches, you'll probably have more luck with the double-boiler.

If you opt for the microwave, put chips or chopped chocolate into a microwave safe bowl, and gradually heat the chocolate in increments of about 30 seconds. Remove and stir at each interval. When most, but not all of the chocolate is melted, discontinue microwaving, and stir until all of the chocolate is uniformly melted.

If you choose to use your stove top, you do not want to melt the chocolate directly over the heat. You will scorch the chocolate, and ruin it. Instead, bring your pot of water to a boil, and place the inner pot or bowl over (but not touching) the boiling water. Reduce to a simmer and stir the chocolate as it melts. Beware of steam and condensation near the inner bowl (see "seizing" below).

For both methods: when the chocolate is melted, it needs to be at least 105 degrees F, (41 C). Remove from the heat, and add a block or several chunks of "seed" chocolate. Seed chocolate is room temperature chocolate that has been tempered properly.

Stir the chocolate until the seed chocolate is melted and the mixture falls to tempering range: 88-90 degrees F (31-32 C). The chocolate needs to remain in this range until it is used. Keep in mind, that different temperatures are required for the three different varieties of chocolate. For dark chocolate, the tempering range is 88-90 F (31-32 C), milk chocolate is 86-88 F (30-31 C), and white chocolate is 80-82 F (27-28 C).

If you follow these steps, your candies and coatings should set nicely, and the final product should be properly tempered (and could then be re-used as seed chocolate). If you make a mistake, remelt the chocolate and try again.

Other than scorching your chocolate, there is another pitfall, especially common if you are using a double boiler. Water. You don't want it near your melted chocolate! Though in liquid form, melted chocolate is extremely low in moisture, and you need to keep it that way. If you let a droplet of water fall into your melted chocolate, the cocoa and sugar will readily absorb it, creating a clump. Once the clumps (called "seizing") have formed, there's no way to reverse the process, and your batch of chocolate will no longer be usable for candy making. Hang onto it though, because it can be used in other recipes.

Your kitchen, Home of the Chocolatier

How adventurous have you gotten with chocolate? Perhaps you have dipped some strawberries for a special occasion, or thrown an extra handful of chips into your cookie recipe.

My first encounter with chocolate, in terms of candy making, went fairly well. I made a ganache, formed truffles, and then dipped them in chocolate that I had melted in the microwave. The truffles were eaten before I got a chance to find out that I had gone wrong, very, very, wrong!

If you have tried to temper chocolate by hand before, you are well aware that it is tricky. It can be done, but often success (or failure) is not known for a day or two after the fact. A pesky little thing called "bloom" shows up to ruin a valiant effort at chocolate candy making.

You may have noticed the affects of bloom after pulling chocolate out of a freezer, or like me, after spending hours carefully dipping candied pecans. My glossy dark chocolate covered nuts, became hideous a couple of days after they were dipped. The most horrifying part of the ordeal, is that I had given some as a gift before I knew what they were going to morph into.

What happens with bloom, is the chocolate crystals lose their structure when heated, and as they cool, the cocoa butter in the chocolate re-forms crystals depending upon the temperature of the chocolate when they're formed. If done at the correct temperature, then it regains the "memory" of its structure, and will cool and set up with a nice finish. If not, the cocoa butter will appear on the surface of the chocolate, leaving unsightly light marks, and an oily texture. Bloom is great for flowers, but a big no-no for chocolate!

The texture of the chocolate will also be destroyed if it is not tempered properly, and it loses the "snap" characteristic of good chocolate, when it is broken or bitten into.

What is an aspiring chocolate artisan to do?

There are two options:
a)practice, practice, practice, and perfect the process of tempering by hand, or
b)bite the bullet, and purchase a tempering unit

For those of you who choose "a", follow the instructions in Tempering by Hand to get started.

The Good Stuff

Call me a chocolate snob, but there are a few chocolate bars I will not waste my daily allowance of calories on. But I will mention some of the stars. First, what makes good chocolate really good?

Much like wine and cheese, chocolate can be judged by the variety of flavors and aromas it emits. Line up some bars of chocolate, from Hershey to the most expensive luxury versions, and you will find some vast differences. These are best noticed when the chocolate is the dark variety, and contains no dairy or flavoring, except for real vanilla. No "vanillin" please- it's the fake stuff.

Who knew there was a right or wrong way to enjoy chocolate? Well, there isn't, but if you take your time (instead of I Love Lucy style) you may become aware of several different flavors-good or bad. Lets start with some of the good: fruits, spices, flowers, nuts, or even tobacco. For the bad: smoke, straw, mold, or grass.

So aim to taste slowly next time, and see what flavor or aroma you come up with. You don't have to swish it around in your mouth, or spit it back onto your plate, but letting it slowly melt in your mouth, and really tasting it, might just surprise you a bit.
Once you have found a chocolate whose taste you can't pass up, then experiment with filled chocolates. There are so many, from chili to coconut. And with the price tag of some, it may have to be quite a special occasion to enjoy these. Some chocolate costs as much as $70 per pound. That's just for the plain chocolate. Filled chocolates and truffles can have prices soaring well above that.

So for my favorites:
In Brussels, I had the pleasure of visiting a Neuhaus shop. I could have moved in! Just looking through the glass at the beautiful little chocolate masterpieces was fun. Then I had to choose the ones I wanted, and I was limited by budget.

My favorite was a layered piece with chocolate ganache and marzipan. My second favorite was a simple marzipan with a walnut on top. You may sense a trend here...I love marzipan
Much to my dismay, once back in the states, my favorites were out of reach. Neuhaus won't ship them to me, because marzipan has a very short shelf life. When it's exposed to air, it gets dry and crusty fairly quickly.

If I want to settle for some of their others, I can order a box, or "ballotin" containing 28 chocolates for $73, plus $23 for shipping. That's not happening anytime soon! Especially because I can get a good chocolate for less than that.

On to La Maison du Chocolat in Paris. I went in to that little shop too. The chocolate fountain, clearly visible through the front window is enough to draw anyone with a pulse through the door. There should be one like it in the Louvre. It is a work or art to behold.

Once in the door, the scent of the chocolate wafting around is enough to make you want to stay for a while. I did stay; about as long as I could before the clerk started looking at me a little funny. I suppose most folks leave after they make their purchase!

I did enjoy the chocolate at La Maison, but it wasn't quite as exquisite as Neuhaus. I sampled various pieces, and a popular filling is very light and fluffy. Creme fraiche is the base, and is then flavored with fruits or nuts, and liquors. Creme fraiche is somewhat like sour cream, only it's not really sour, and it's a little thicker than sour cream. It is used in much of the cuisine in France (and throughout Europe) and chocolates are no exception.

For me though, the creme fraiche-based fillings were not my cup of tea. I also don't care for liquor-filled chocolates; the alcohol tends to overpower the flavor of the chocolate.
So where is a girl (or guy) to go, if he loves luxury chocolate, but the cost us just too much to bear? How about gifts. Do you want to give the gift that nearly everyone enjoys, and no one "re-gifts"? But again, cost is a factor...

Here's the solution: Be your own chocolatier!

Chocolate Today

Today's chocolate is made mostly in large factories where sophisticated equipment roasts, grinds, presses, refines, and tempers chocolate. It is then made into bars, filled candies (bon bins), and chips. Images of Lucy in the show I Love Lucy come to mind. It's worth watching the classic episode featuring her working at a chocolate factory where she can't keep up with the speed of the conveyor belt whizzing chocolates by her. She ends up stuffing her mouth full of the reject pieces at an alarming rate.
What you may not know, is that there is a real science to chocolate making. Various brands employ workers in their labs who blend various exotic cacao seeds to create a signature flavor. Just as prices range from those found in the candy isle to those of a fancy chocolate boutique, so do the flavors, textures, and visual appeal.
This chocolate connoisseur has tested a variety of chocolates from around the world, and I have my personal favorites! See The Good Stuff, for more details.

To Taste Chocolate is to Love Chocolate

And so it's been for the last 2,ooo years or so. Long ago, the first to taste this beloved flavor lived in Mexico and Central America. They weren't downing Kisses and brownies though. It all started in a cup.

In tropical rain forests there, cacao (kah Kow) seeds were found in pods on trees. The seeds were processed into chocolate, and that was mixed with other seasonings to make a drink. Little did they know, that this same seed would lead to the production of one of the world's favorite indulgences.

Did you know that:

• Chocolate was originally enjoyed in its bitter, natural form
• Chocolate was a used as a currency by the Aztecs
• It was served at sacred religious ceremonies
• Once chocolate arrived in Spain, it spread through Europe within about 100 years (1500 AD)
• Until the Industrial Revolution, chocolate was enjoyed primarily by the wealthy. As a handmade product, it was expensive and time-consuming to make prior to this period.
• For many years, chocolate was produced on plantations by slaves, and in 1910, a United States Congressional hearing imposed a ban on chocolate produced on these plantations
• Two Frenchmen, Doret and Dubuisson(early 1700's), designed mills that produced chocolate faster and made a product that was smoother and creamier. Prior to that, the chocolate was gritty and oily, best used in drinks instead of in a candy bar form
• In 1828, Coenraad Van Houte, a Dutchman, invented the cocoa press. This tool removed cocoa butter, and left behind powdered cocoa.
• Today most chocolate crops are grown in Africa and Indonesia