Chocolate truffles are an immensely delicious treat any time of day and any day of the year.  But did you know that they are named after the fungus, the fruiting bodies of underground mushrooms, because of their resemblance as it looks a lot like the dirt?

Chocolate truffles are typically made with ganache which is a mixture of chocolate and cream, but can also be made with centers such as mints and walnuts then served in variety of ways such as covering it with crumbled nuts, shredded coconut, or confectioner’s sugar. These may look intimidating but actually are very easy to prepare, the only difficulty you’ll ever have here is the dilemma of whether to grab another bite or not!

Try making some and giving it us a gift and it’s certain you will be appreciated.  You might even be asked for the recipe!

Just so you know, the milk products are the most important ingredients since it is the primary source of fat in caramel, which gives it that delightful texture. Milk is known to have a lot of nutritional benefits such as calcium which is good for the bones, and chocolate contains antioxidants that can help prevent cell damage. Suffice it to say, you are really on for a healthily delicious treat!

Anyone with a sweet tooth who gets to taste this would surely ask for more of these rich, chewy, fudge-like and melt-in your-mouth goodies. Also, this treat also makes for a delightful yet inexpensive gift!

Enjoy!

Perhaps you already know that your son or daughter is crazy about Zombies and will attack a defenseless chocolate bunny by not just eating its ears first, but by going straight for its brains.  Maybe it’s time to play along and consider giving the bunny that fights back – a chocolate zombie bunny!

Who knew that the Zombie virus could attack the flesh of little chocolate rabbits.  Well now you do.  Let this little bad boy loose on your unsuspecting child, and it will be the perfect Easter Zombie attack.

This chocolate bunny is made of solid white chocolate, mostly colored green, except for its beady yellow eyes, the dripping red blood, and part of its exposed rib cage.  I guess even bunny zombies lose track of their own flesh.

Now instead of feeling sorry for the bunny whose head gets chomped first, you can encourage your child to stop the spread of the Zombies.  No stopping with a double-tap.  You can tell him to hold tight, open wide, and put this chocolate Easter bunny out of its misery in one swift cut of the teeth!  Chew and swallow.  Yum.

I have purchased other silly things from ThinkGeek in the past.  When I saw their Chocolate Zombie Bunny April Fool’s gag I couldn’t resist posting.  Due to popularity, they’ve been out of stock but should have a new supply available sometime today (April 15, 2011).

Amazingly, not all molded chocolates are shaped like truffles, hearts or squares… there are over 50,000 different designs for chocolate molds.

Diverse styles range from stern German Santa’s, elegantly dressed Easter Bunnies, Victorian children playing with toys, national monuments, household items, holiday themes, a zoo full of animals, and everything in between.

The Anton Reiche Company began manufacturing metal chocolate molds in Dresden, Germany during the 1870’s. Fewer than 20 companies followed suit – producing increasingly beautiful and always intricately designed molds.  Very large “Show Case” molds were produced for chocolate shop windows and some of them stood more than three feet tall!

A whimsical and unique mold design I discovered the other day was a full size champagne bottle with a custom “label” soldered on to it for a Patisserie in Belgium. When the chocolate was taken out of the mold –Voilà- the label would be “embossed” on the bottle and would even be visible beneath the foil wrap.

Many candy shops and chocolatiers had custom molds manufactured by mold makers with their names or logos applied to the molds; Hershey’s Chocolate in Pennsylvania as well as Whitman’s had custom molds made for them by Anton Reiche in Germany.

The German Santa Antique Chocolate Mold in the photo is approximately 80 years old and still usable for molding.  Please take off your glasses or stand back from your computer screen when viewing the molded chocolate in the photo – it will look much better…

Metal chocolate mold production in Europe all but ceased during WWII and plastic became the material of choice by the 1960’s.  New York City had three companies manufacturing metal molds-two are still in business.

Currently, there is quite a diverse selection of plastic chocolate molds available, Tomric is a leading manufacturer, as they reproduce many antique chocolate mold designs in plastic.

The above photo shows a pair of German made “Bavarian Dressed” Bunnies ready for a romantic day in the country. You can see that no detail was forgotten on this gorgeous pair of antique chocolate molds! 

The joy of giving or receiving a chocolate molded bunny at Easter brings back cherished childhood memories and is hard to compare to anything…

We are grateful to Wendy Mullen, of Victorian Chocolate Molds, who contributed this post.

Before I get into the project, I would like to define some terminology for you.

couverture coating -  this is a professional-quality chocolate coating that contains a high percentage of cocoa butter, allowing the chocolate to form a thinner coating shell than other chocolate.

viscous – thick.

temper – hardening the chocolate into a stable crystal form giving the best shine and eating properties.  (For details on proper tempering see my “how to temper chocolate“ series of blog posts.)

Here’s what you’ll need for this project/recipe…

1. 12 ounces chocolate, chopped
   You should choose a couverture coating.  Do not use semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips – these will be too viscous.
2. 40 heavy duty plastic spoons
3. Deep glass measuring cup
4. Waxed paper
5. Colored cellophane or Plastic Wrap
6. Thin Ribbon

Start by pouring the chocolate into a deep glass measuring cup.

Microwave the cup of chocolate at half power for one minute.  Stir.  Repeat in 30 second bursts until chocolate is fully.  BE CAREFUL!  It is easy to burn chocolate using a microwave.

Temper the chocolate coating.  Once you have a good temper, dip the plastic spoons into the chocolate to fully coat the spoon’s bowl and some of its handle.

Lay spoons on wax paper to harden.

After the spoons are completely dry, take squares of colored cellophane or plastic wrap and put around the coated spoons.  Tie with the ribbon.

Once you have mastered the basics, try variations!

You can drizzle white coating over the hardened chocolate dipped spoons to create a design. Sprinkle with colored sugar or jimmies.  I’ve seen M&M’s, jelly beans, nuts, shredded coconut – just about anything your imagination can come up with on these spoons!  Just keep in mind that people will use them in their hot coffee or hot chocolate so make the flavor combinations appealing.

Put a bundle of chocolate spoons in a coffee mug and give as a gift.  Another gift idea is to tie spoons to a bag of coffee.  Or, simply keep them on hand to use when serving coffee to your guests.

Enjoy!

Using chocolate as the star of your party appeals to all ages, genders, and budgets.  And it works great for the party–poopers, too.  Ever had the pleasure (or obligation) of trying to throw a party for the person who says “Don’t throw me a party, I hate parties!”?

I bet they won’t turn down a party in which chocolate is the center of attention.

If you are planning a kid’s birthday party, what could better than making it a chocolate party?

Invitations could include a candy bar.  Many popular chocolates are made in a miniature size which fits perfectly in an envelope.  Just watch the weather.  If it’s too hot you could be sending chocolate mush along with that invitation.

Chocolate is kid friendly on so many levels: safe and non-toxic, attention grabbing, fun, educational, edible, and – most importantly – cleans up with a little hot water!

The number of activities and ideas are practically endless…

You can dip stuff in chocolate like pretzels, fruits, and cookies. You can mold it, make chocolate lollipops, make “chocolate play dough,” bake and frost cupcakes.  Throw the girly-girls a chocolate spa party with items like hot fudge smelling bubble bath and cocoa butter body lotion.

For the more grown-up chocolate party, don’t forget about the Chocolate Tasting, or Chocolate and Wine pairing parties.  Invite me if you have one of those!  I’ll be the one wearing chocolate scented nail polish.

Chocolate-opoly is a decadently delicious property trading game for chocolate lovers.  Come again?

I haven’t had the pleasure of playing this game, so it could be fun, but I just gotta laugh thinking about it.  Keep reading.

According to the manufacturer, Late for the Sky, in Chocolate-Opoly you buy your favorite chocolate properties (ah, what would those be?), collect chunks of chocolate (not cool if not real) and requires you to suppress your chocolate cravings or get sent to Chocoholics Anonymous (as if there’s something wrong with being a chocoholic!).

Wait – there’s more…

You have to pay roasting fees!  This just gets better and better.

Here’s the tag line, “Dark, milk, bittersweet, semi-sweet, in a shake, filled with caramel, covered in nuts, or as a warm, frothy brew–there’s nothing the cocoa bean can’t do!” 

Ok then.  Who sniffed glue and then wrote that?  (of course I agree with the concept, it’s the rhyme that makes me chuckle)

All this for the list price of $29.99.  I’m thinking about all the decadently delicious chocolate I can get for that!   For real!

But, hey, I’m not really the board-game type.  If you are, maybe this would be a fun way to expand your time in the world of chocolate. 

If you’ve played it, you’re welcome to leave your own comment here in the blog.  Tell others what they can expect.

(The Chocolate-opoly text link and image link above will redirect you to Amazon where you can get the game for $10 off the list price, last time I checked.)

What more is there to say?

Bryn

(Hey, I could have tweeted this.  By the way you can follow along at www.twitter.com/chocolateclass)

Mother’s Day is celebrated on different days and different months depending on which country you live in.  In the United States, it is always celebrated on the second Sunday in May. 

We can thank Anna Jarvis for this great day.  She is the one credited for founding Mothers Day in the US.

How do you choose the perfect chocolate for Mom?

The choices are plentiful (overwhelming, really) and if you have not gone chocolate shopping in a while, you will be amazed at the variety of exotic new flavors and the gourmet quality of old classics.

Narrow down the choices by focusing on Mom’s fondness:

Floral:  try chocolate truffles made with lavender, rose or my favorite, orange and geranium!

Tea:  milk chocolate made with flavored teas and chai spices are absolutely delicious.

Fire:  chili peppers added to chocolate bring out the intensity of the chocolate and of course, give it a kick.

Savory:  don’t judge a book by its cover: chocolate with crystallized ginger, mushroom ganache or goat cheese taste better than you think.

Unique:  www.chocomize.com.  Just go there and check it out!

Posh:  opening a gift box of molded chocolates decorated with sprayed on cocoa butter designs, gold, and glitter will take her breath away.  They might look too beautiful to eat, but do it anyway.  They taste just as good as they look.

Now pair that scrumptious chocolate with a series of chocolate lessons to keep the experience lingering long after Mother’s Day and you’ve got a real winner of a gift!

“Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can!”
-author unknown

I’m a chocolate lover that never tires of chocolate as a gift, chocolate as a treat, and chocolate as part of my everyday diet.  At the present, though, I am particularly fond of seeking out unique chocolate.

What do I mean by unique?

Unique can mean different things to different people but for me, unique chocolate is handcrafted, creative in design/presentation, and exotic in flavor.   The chocolate truffle embodies all these characteristics for me.  In my book, the chocolate truffle is the Queen of unique.

A key component of a chocolate truffle is the ganache center.  Ganache is traditionally made from fresh dairy ingredients (usually heavy cream) and fine chocolate.  That is the simple, classic truffle. 

On the complex side, chocolate truffles can be made with every flavor or filling you can think of.  The truffle is traditionally hand rolled and dusted in cocoa powder but other things like nuts, coconut, and candied fruit are used too.  Some truffles are dipped in premium chocolate to form a thin, glossy coating. 

A truffle is different from other chocolates, or bon bons, because of the heavy cream ganache and chocolate combination.  (Just so you know, chocolates with nougat, caramel, nuts, or marzipan are considered bon bons.)

Truffles make a unique chocolate gift.  You can purchase them from your favorite local chocolate shop or order from a website.  Just make sure they are fresh when they’re delivered.

Do you like truffles too?  What’s your favorite flavor?  Please leave a comment for me.  Then come back here to watch for more truffle information coming soon.