STRAWBERRY CREAM CHOCOLATE DREAMS

This weekend, inspired by Sweets Made Simple and armed with my new baking thermometer I thought I would try my hand at making some homemade chocolates filled with a soft strawberry cream. Having read up on tempering chocolate I was ready to go and I have to say I think I did a good job. You can see from the main picture that the chocolate isn't 100% smooth however I think that is down to my execution of the technique rather than the recipe itself. I give myself an A* for effort.

So you'll need a bit of equipment to pull of these little chocolaty gems. +

First of all you need a mould. I recommend a see through mould as you can see underneath the mould for any gaps in the chocolate casing that need repairing. This will help prevent the filling from pouring out of the chocolate casing which would be a disaster.

Next you will need a brush, but not a big old egg wash brush. Visit a local arts and craft shop and by the smallest thinnest paint brush you can find. This will help you to delicately brush the tempered chocolates into the mould and get right into the corners.

Lastly and most importunately, your baking thermometer. Your tempering chocolate here and for the best results you really need to know the temperature of the chocolate as you work with it. I managed to get one on line for around £5 so do shop around and pick yourself one up cheap. The rewards you will get for your investment are well worth it.

Its a lot of effort for a such a small amount of chocolate but if you make them as a gift for a friend or loved one then I think they will appreciate the love and work that's gone into the gift rather than you running into the local petrol station and grabbing a box of chocolates off the shelf. Give them a go and spread a little love around today!

Strawberry Creams

100g Dark Chocolate

50g Butter

3 Tbsp Semi Skimmed Milk

4 Tbsp Icing Sugar

Few Drops Of Red Food Colouring

Few Drops Of Strawberry Flavouring

1. Right so we need to temper our chocolate and here is how. Take 25g the chocolate and break into small chunks and place into a bowl of a pan of simmering water. Now; you must make sure that the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl, gets into the bowl or starts to boil otherwise your just asking for trouble.
2.  Stick your thermometer into the chocolate and leave until the temperature reaches 48 degrees and then remove the bowl from the pan and stir to melt any last bits of chocolate. Add inanother 25g of chocolate and keep stirring again until the temperature of the chocolate comes down to 32 degrees.
3. Quickly take your mould and brush and brush the insides of each mould with the tempered chocolate. Hold up the mould to the light to see if there are any gaps in the mould and brush extra chocolate in as needed. You need to make sure all parts of the mould are covered in chocolate so that the filling doesn't leak out. 
4. Once all the moulds are covered in chocolate place it in thefridge for around 15 minutes to set. Keep the remaining tempered chocolate to one side.
5. Whist the moulds set, place the butter and milk in a saucepan and on a low heat and stir until the butter has melted into the milk and then remove from the heat to cool.
6. Once the buttery milk is cool stir in the icing sugar 1 tbsp at a time to thicken it up however it must remain slightly runny so that you can pour it easily into the moulds. 
7. Add about three drops of the food colouring to turn the mixture a pinky colour (add more if you prefer) and add inaround 3 drops of the strawberry flavour, mix and taste and add more drops until your happy with the taste of your cream filling.
8. Remove the moulds from the fridge and make sure they have set. If so, a teaspoon and carefully spoon in the filling into each mould but make sure you don't fill right to the top. 
9. This time place the moulds into a freezer for around 30 minutes firm up the filling.
10. After the thirty minutes have passed, repeat the tempering process in step one and two with the remaining 100g of chocolate.
11. Remove the mould from the freezer The fillings should be firmer but still wet to the touch. Quickly pour the chocolate over the each of the moulds until you cover all the filling with a thin layer. Make sure you cant see even the tiniest bit of the filing otherwise it will spill out of the chocolate casings.
12. Place them moulds back into the freezer to set for at least 30 minutes,

After the 30 minutes the chocolate should pop out of the moulds all shiny and beautifully smooth. Keep them in a cool place to prevent them from melting. When you bite through one the creamy filling should burst in your mouth with a satisfying crunch. Divine!

Don't stop at strawberry cream either. You could use all different kinds of colourings and flavourings to make a whole array of chocolate creams. Orange, mint, coconut, the choice is yours.

Truly a chocolate lovers dream!