Salted Caramel Chocolates
I have recently discovered a love for working with chocolate after discovering how versatile it is. These chocolates are super easy to make and are perfect for any homemade Christmas gifts. You can fill chocolates with lots of different things but I wanted to go relatively safe for my first post. The only drawback is that they are so delicious that, if you are anything like me, the batch will be half depleted by the time you come to packing them up for gifts!
If you want to vary this bake a little - place a hazelnut in the chocolate shell before adding the caramel for a delicious nutty twist!
INGREDIENTS
For the chocolates
- 400g Good quality dark chocolate (Finely chopped)
- 3/4 Tbsp Salted caramel sauce (for my recipe click here)
- Sea salt flakes
You will also need:
- Chocolate moulds
- A Chocolate scraper
- A Cooking thermometer
- A Palette knife
METHOD
- In a bowl over a pan of simmering water, place 300g of chocolate and heat to 55 degrees (c) stirring regularly.
- Remove bowl from heat and set aside a third of the melted chocolate in another bowl before adding in the remaining 100g of chocolate to the main part of the mixture and stir regularly. This will lower the overall temperature of the chocolate.
- Wait until the melted chocolate has lowered in temperature to 29 degrees (c) before incorporating the melted chocolate you set aside earlier. This will bring up the temperature of the dark chocolate.
- When the mixture has heated up to 31 degrees (c) the chocolate is ready to use.
- Set aside 1/4 of the mixture for later and pour the remaining 3/4 into the chocolate moulds.
- Ensure the each mould has a complete coating of chocolate before tipping the tray upside down to remove the excess.
- Leave at room temperature to allow the chocolate in the moulds to set properly.
- When the chocolates are ready for filling place the salted caramel into a piping bag and pipe into each of the moulds until the caramel is just below nearly at the top of the mould.
- Pour over the remaining chocolate (reheating over a pan of simmering water if it has set) and use a palette knife to spread evenly across the top of the moulds.
- Use a chocolate scraper to remove any of the excess chocolate before leaving the chocolate to set for the final time.
- When ready, flip the chocolate moulds over and tap on the side gently to get them out of the moulds.
- The chocolates are now ready to serve but ensure you do not touch them too much as it may result in fingerprints covering their shiny tempered shells!
