The Daring Bakers: Sinfully Delicious Candies

peach pâte de fruit

chocolate covered sponge candy

peanut butter and jelly cups

pomegranate molasses ganache in white chocolate

bittersweet chocolate with chai cream center

brown sugar meringue and salted honey caramels in bittersweet chocolate

rosewater cream in white chocolate

white chocolate coated grapes

The August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts, ad Line Drives and Mandy of What The Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at   http://www.chocoley.com/ offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

I got carried away again with this challenge. It's candies and chocolates! How can I resist making different flavored fillings for chocolate? The last time I made was a simple hot chile infused chocolate candies in February of this year; before that, was in 2009. I used to make molded chocolate candies very often since I discovered 12 years ago how much fun it is to make them but I have since moved on to other yummy stuff and set aside my candy making activities. Thank you Mandy and Lisa for reviving my enthusiasm for making chocolate and fruit candies at home.

The recipes provided by Lisa and Mandy and how to temper chocolate are here.

Peach Pâte de Fruit

It's always a treat to nibble on these tiny fruity gems.

Dark Chocolate Covered Sponge Candy

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups
This is my current favorite. The peanut butter is very creamy and I love the chewiness of the orange flavored wine jelly. I used dark chocolate for these.

chocolate cups

tempered bittersweet or milk chocolate

mini tin foil cups

peanut butter cream

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup white chocolate chips

½ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ teaspoon sea salt

wine or fruit jelly

1½ cups grape juice or sweet wine

1 box powdered reduced sugar/sugar-free pectin

2 cups or less sugar

• Prepare the chocolate cups: Brush cups with chocolate. Turn upside down to remove excess chocolate and turn back up and leave on the kitchen counter or refrigerator to set.
• Prepare the peanut butter cream: Heat cream in a double boiler; add chocolate and let melt completely. Add peanut butter and salt and stir gently until fully incorporated. Let cool for 10 minutes then transfer into a disposable piping bag; set aside.
• Prepare the jelly: Place wine or juice and pectin in a medium sauce pan and whisk to combine. Heat to rolling boil then stir in sugar. Cook for 1 minute. Transfer into an 8 x 8 inch square pan lined with foil. Leave on the kitchen counter or refrigerator to set. When firm, cut into shapes with small cookie or fondant cutters.
• Fill the chocolate cups: Cut the tip of piping bag and pipe peanut cream 2/3 full. Press jelly on top of peanut cream until embedded but still visible. Refrigerate until set.
• To serve: Peel off tin foil cups and transfer into a serving plate.

Pomegranate Molasses Ganache Balls

The ganache is tart and sweet and best with sweet white chocolate. I found a bag of malted milk crisps at the candy supply store and used the bits to cover the soft ganache balls. They add very little sweetness but I like the malted milk flavor.

ganache

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons honey
½ cup pomegranate molasses

coating

tempered white chocolate

malted milk crisps

• Make the ganache: In a double boiler, heat the cream; Add the chocolate and butter and heat until melted, stirring to combine. Add honey and pomegranate molasses and gently stir. Transfer half into a container and let set in the refrigerator. Leave the other half on the kitchen counter.
• Coat the ganache balls: Pour tempered chocolate on round candy molds and place in the freezer for a few minutes. Fill with room temperature ganache just below the rims of the mold cavities, put back in the freezer for a few minutes, then cover bottom with tempered chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Form the chilled ganache into 1 inch balls; roll in malted milk crisps and refrigerate until firm. 
• To serve: Unmold white chocolate candies and trim edges if necessary. Transfer both chocolates into paper cups and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Bittersweet Chocolate with Chai Cream Center

chocolate shells

tempered bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate

chai cream 

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon black tea leaves

1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea leaves

1 large cinnamon stick, broken in two

8 whole cloves

8 whole black peppercorns

cardamom seeds from 8 pods

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 inch piece ginger, sliced thin

2 cups white chocolate chips

• Crack or pound cinnamon stick, cloves, black peppercorns, and cardamom seeds. 
• In a small pan, heat cream over medium heat and add the leaves and spices. Cover pan and simmer over lowest heat for 15 minutes. Turn heat off and let steep for another 15 minutes. 
• Strain though a fine sieve into a glass bowl and set on top of a pan of low simmering water (or double boiler). When heated through, add white chocolate, a handful at a time, stirring until melted. Cool to room temperature. Fill chocolate molds and leave in the refrigerator until set. Unmold, cover in foil wrappers or set on paper cups.

Brown Sugar Meringue Cookies and Salted Honey Caramels Dipped in Bittersweet Chocolate
I love these tiny buttons. They are all at once crunchy, chewy, and chocolaty. Very addicting! 

chocolate shell

tempered bittersweet chocolate

flaked sea salt, optional

cookies

2 egg whites

a pinch of cream of tartar

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

salted honey caramel recipe here

• Cookies: Preheat oven to 300° F. In the bowl of a standing mixer with wire whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add brown sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat in vanlla extract. Transfer meringue into a piping bag; snip a ¼ inch opening and pipe 1-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined sheet pans. With slightly wet fingers, flatten top of cookies. Bake until golden brown and dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. Turn heat off and leave in the oven for another 20 minutes. Remove parchment papers from sheet pans; gently remove cookies from paper.
• Caramel: Transfer into a piping bag and pipe a teaspoon on top of each cookie. 
• Dip cookies in tempered chocolate. Sprinkle a few grains of flaked sea salt, if desired. Leave on the kitchen counter until chocolate coating is set.

Rosewater Cream in White Chocolate

The fondant is soft that it oozes out when I bite into it.

chocolate shell

tempered white chocolate

rosewater cream fondant

1 cup heavy cream

1½ cups white chocolate pieces

2 teaspoons rosewater

a few drops of pink food dye

garnish

unsprayed rose petals

• Prepare molds, preferably shallow, with tempered chocolate; refrigerate while preparing fondant. 
• In a double boiler, heat cream and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in rosewater and food dye. Transfer into a piping bag; snip a small hole and pipe a thin layer on top of chocolate. Cover with chocolate. Refrigerate until completely set. Unmold and garnish tops with rose petals using a small amount of melted chocolate.

White Chocolate Coated Grapes

The recipe for these sweet fruit candies comes from Michel Richard, a Washington D.C. restaurateur and chef. I was watching a local TV show featuring Washington, D.C. restaurants and when I saw him preparing the candies I thought I should share it because the fruit candy is so simple to make yet really delicious and satisfying.

well chilled and dried seedless grapes, stems removed

1 cup tempered white chocolate

icing sugar

• Place grapes in a large bowl. Pour a little of the tempered chocolate while constantly stirring the grapes. Pour enough chocolate to cover the grapes, still constantly stirring until chocolate has almost set. Sift icing sugar all over while constantly stirring grapes, making sure they don't stick together, until completely set and dry to the touch. Transfer into a serving bowl or plate.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: Chocolate

champorado with dark and white chocolate

Champorado, a Filipino breakfast food, is a sweet chocolate sticky rice porridge. The rice is boiled in water with cocoa powder and sugar, then served with milk just like cereals. After a day in the refrigerator the leftover champorado becomes thick and pudding-like but still very yummy.

The photo is ancient, taken in 2006. I chose this photo from my "chocolate" archives because it's perfect for this edition of LaPis: Chocolate. I made 2 separate champorado, one with dark and another with white chocolate, and served them both in one bowl. There is no need to add milk to enjoy this all-time Filipino favorite and you get to savor two kinds of chocolate all at once in one spoonful.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a gallery of food photography, Filipino style, is hosted by SpiCes and FeistyCook.

Chocolate Pudding

creamy yummy chocolate pudding
People love to "Frenchify" everything to sound sophisticated, for example, haricots verts when they can simply say green beans. Recently the word cremeux has been popping up in restaurant menus and blogs. One recipe I saw was Chocolat Cremeux and when I read the recipe it is simply chocolate pudding and nothing else, extra creamy perhaps, but it is just good old pudding. Reading the recipe made me crave for chocolate crem...er..pudding.

The chocolate pudding I prepared does not have egg yolks and is sort of healthier because it has cactus honey powder which is supposed to have less calories and carbs, and low glycemic index, but I am not 100 percent sure about its healthy claim. This pudding also has plain soymilk which does not alter its deep chocolate flavor nor its creamy consistency. Preparing the pudding is very easy and the snack is ready to enjoy in less than 2 hours.

Chocolate Pudding
½ cup cactus honey powder (or raw sugar)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1½ cups whole milk
1½ cups plain soymilk
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
shaved or chopped bittersweet chocolate for garnish

• In a medium saucepan, mix the cactus powder, cocoa powder, salt, and cornstarch with a wire whisk. Gradually add ½ cup of the milk, whisking constantly until smooth and lump-free. Add the rest of the milk and the soymilk and mix well.
• Turn heat on to medium high, bring mixture to a boil while whisking. Lower heat to medium and cook until the mixture has thickened, about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Turn heat off and stir in vanilla extract.
• Divide pudding into 4 glass or clear plastic containers and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Garnish each with ½ teaspoon shaved chocolate before serving.

no one will ever guess these have soymilk

Cherry and Chocolate Semifreddo

I have read a lot about semifreddo which is supposed to be much lighter than ice cream but most of the recipes are custard based. I didn't want adding egg yolks which will make the semifreddo richer than the ice cream I usually make. I found a recipe for strawberry semifreddo that uses egg whites and heavy cream. I substituted chopped bing cherries and added shaved bittersweet chocolates similar to Cherry Garcia ice cream but much lighter, sort of in between ice cream and ice pop. I also poured the mixture in a loaf pan and sliced them for a simpler and easier method of serving. Enjoy the slices with chocolate or cherry sauce or almond cookies, if desired.

Cherry And Chocolate Semifreddo
1 cup fresh bing cherries, pitted and snipped or coarsely chopped
½ cup shaved chocolate candy bar (milk, semi-sweet or bittersweet)
4 egg whites (powder)
2½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup sugar (add more to taste)
1½ cup heavy cream, whipped
chocolate sauce, cherry coulis, or amaretti cookies (optional)

• Place chopped cherries in one layer on a plate and leave in the freezer. Chill chocolate in the refrigerator.
• In a stand mixer, whip egg whites and vanilla extract until frothy. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat until stiff but not dry. Fold in whipped cream. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Line an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with plastic film allowing 6 inch overhang on each side. Put some of the cherries and chocolate evenly on the bottom of the pan then ladle about a third of the chilled cream and egg whites. Freeze for 15 minutes. Repeat layering procedure with the remaining cherries/chocolate and cream/egg whites. Cover top with the plastic film overhang. Freeze for 3 hours or overnight.
• Slice and serve with chocolate or cherry sauce. Or allow to soften for 5 minutes and use ice cream scoop and spoon into dessert glasses.