Hey foodies!

I am going to make some chocolates for Christmas presents. My plan was to mix a flavouring into milk, dark or white choc, and then set as a solid chocolate in a mould, rather than make a filled chocolate (I think that requires a bit more skill to master and I don't have the time unfortunately, maybe next year!)

Anyway, what I have read suggests that you need to temper the chocolate in order to make it shiny and break with a snap. However this is usually referenced for when you are using it for the shell of a filled choc or a coating. I obviously don't want my chocs to be really hard all the way through, but also don't want them to look dull.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Do I need to temper before adding my flavourings? Will my choc still be edible if I dont?

whilst you would be able to make your bars without tempering the chocolate you'll probably have problems with it recrystalising out of temper which will cause streaks in the chocolate as well as lacking shine - this is usually termed fat bloom. the good news is that fat bloom wont have any effect on the taste and it's not something most people would pick up or care about especially on a home made product.

however, untempered chocolate does take forever to dry, and can cause some real problems unmoulding with chocolate sticking to the mould - unfortunately this is made worse when using chocolate with more additives such as caburys or galazy.

on the other hand simple truffles can be really easy to make & were my choise for a first attmept

here are some simple examples (though i've only tried the first one myself):
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/514459
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/514460
http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Plain_Chocolate_Truffles.aspx
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4986/milk-chocolate-and-pistachio-truffles

some of the fravourite i've made were these:
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/514836
and whilst they take a bit more effort they taste fab

Thanks for that, I may have a go with a small amount of chocoate untempered, but may just temper it - it doesn't seem like that much of a bother really if I get organised.

Do you know if tempering will make the chocolate overly 'snappy'?

I'll also check out the truffles. How well would hey kep? don't they have cream in them usually? That was what had put me off the truffle approach.

Thanks for the advice!

thats the only problem with the truffles is that I don't think they keep for very long (though in our house they've only lasted a week & been perfectly edible at this point). I think I recall delia saying they can be frozen.

I've had that worry before; both having a really busy christmas eve making lots of truffles and not wanting to have to tell people they must gorge themselves on chocolate before the cream turns. i've been making christmas presents for that last few years and whilst it started out as trying to save a bit of money, now its almost become expected so the pressure is on to impress;). that's why I though I'd try moulded chocolates this year (though filled as i really do like a truffle) from prevous experiece of chocolate taking forever to dry and a little research I realised I need to temper the chocolate for the chocolates to work properly. there is, fortuately the simple-ish seeding method which involves melting the chocolate & reducing the temperature whilst adding more unmelted chocolate - I got really clear instructions for this from the company I bought the moulds - http://www.homechocolatefactory.com/ (just the easy to use ones), though I'm sure if you google seeding chocolate tempering method you should get some instructions. the only problem with this is it does require a thermometer, mine cost about £8 from above company. it depends on how many bars you were planning on making as to whether it's really worth it, & if you need to use the mould more than once, understanding that it may take as much as a day for the untempered chocolate to set enough to remove from the mould.

I think the snappy part of tempering depends more on the chocolate you use the instructions sent by home chocolate factory claimed that some of the cheaper supermarket brands were better than big names because they have less additives, though I think the clean snap is usually more to do with plain chocolate.

thats the only problem with the truffles is that I don't think they keep for very long (though in our house they've only lasted a week & been perfectly edible at this point). I think I recall delia saying they can be frozen.

I've had that worry before; both having a really busy christmas eve making lots of truffles and not wanting to have to tell people they must gorge themselves on chocolate before the cream turns. i've been making christmas presents for that last few years and whilst it started out as trying to save a bit of money, now its almost become expected so the pressure is on to impress;). that's why I though I'd try moulded chocolates this year (though filled as i really do like a truffle) from prevous experiece of chocolate taking forever to dry and a little research I realised I need to temper the chocolate for the chocolates to work properly. there is, fortuately the simple-ish seeding method which involves melting the chocolate & reducing the temperature whilst adding more unmelted chocolate - I got really clear instructions for this from the company I bought the moulds - http://www.homechocolatefactory.com/ (just the easy to use ones), though I'm sure if you google seeding chocolate tempering method you should get some instructions. the only problem with this is it does require a thermometer, mine cost about £8 from above company. it depends on how many bars you were planning on making as to whether it's really worth it, & if you need to use the mould more than once, understanding that it may take as much as a day for the untempered chocolate to set enough to remove from the mould.

I think the snappy part of tempering depends more on the chocolate you use the instructions sent by home chocolate factory claimed that some of the cheaper supermarket brands were better than big names because they have less additives, though I think the clean snap is usually more to do with plain chocolate.

Fantastic info, thanks!

I have read about being able to use the flexible ice cube trays as moulds, so was going to get some of those in shapes I could use at other times of year too. Will check out the company though.

I have seen some instructions for tempering as you descibe with the unmelted chocolate, so will give that a go. It seems like that will be the way forward.

This is the first year I am making gifts, but have got a little carried away possibly - oh well, I'm having fun even if t makes the weekends busy!

Wow, that sounds like a great - and even more important, delicious - idea. I ordered some chocolate gift baskets (http://www.serenatachocolates.com/) for my aunts this year. They always bake me some cakes so this is a way for me to get them something sweet in return. I'm also not sure if I could manage to make the chocolate myself. :)

I made the first batch of my Christmas Florentine gifts on monday night and they look and taste fantastic. I couldn't get plastic bags, so I just got some cellophane and secured it with some ribbon. I'm really pleased with them - they were v easy too.

I was in Home bargains or one of the cheapo shops on the moor on Saturday and saw some silicon 'ice cube' shape moulds - they were around .70p I think.

I made the first batch of my Christmas Florentine gifts on monday night and they look and taste fantastic. I couldn't get plastic bags, so I just got some cellophane and secured it with some ribbon. I'm really pleased with them - they were v easy too.

I was in Home bargains or one of the cheapo shops on the moor on Saturday and saw some silicon 'ice cube' shape moulds - they were around .70p I think.

Congratulations !! Im sure Tarquin will be interested.

I had a change of plan, gone for truffles instead. My mum had a recipe that didn't have cream in it and made some and they were still fine (better if anything) 3 weeks later, so that's my task for weekend after next! Got 6 flavours to do!