Since the outlandish cacao beans came to the European continent, confectioners have not had peace.
They invent more and more sophisticated sweets from products derived from the exotic fruits of chocolate trees.
Sweet tooth also does not sit still.
Each of them at least once was lucky to make a treat at home, using both specially purchased ingredients and various small things from home stocks: nuts or vanilla, raisins or dried fruits.
Inventors of new forms of antidepressant (namely, chocolate is it) do not stop there, improving culinary skills, inventing fresh sweet combinations and configurations. But for starters, a novice of the home chocolate industry would do well to get acquainted with the basic recipes and general principles for making real chocolate at home.
Chocolate at home - the general principles of preparation:
• Do not save on products! The main ingredients of chocolate are cocoa powder, butter, sugar or honey, as well as nuts and raisins. By purchasing slightly less ingredients, you run the risk of getting a delicacy of inadequate quality and taste at the exit.
• When making chocolate at home, remember that the normal temperature when making quality chocolate is not too high: no higher than 32 degrees Celsius. This is easy to verify manually: touch the mixture with your hand - and if it does not burn the skin, then your chocolate is still not ruined.
• Experts say that the mixture should not be put on open fire, although some recipes indicate exactly this way. But it’s better to use a double boiler or a water bath.
• Do not start making chocolate commercially. Start with a small serving. If you are satisfied with the taste and quality, then you can make a larger portion of the goodies.
• To make the filling “inside” your sweets, add it in layers with chocolate in turn.
Stuffing for making delicious chocolate at home:
Homemade chocolate toppings can be any sweet you like. One sweet tooth prefers nuts (peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts) and dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, prunes), others - citrus zest, and the third - cracker or waffle crumbs. The filling is crushed and added to the hot mixture, then stirred and poured into molds.
Recipes to help you make delicious chocolate at home
Classic chocolate: nothing more
Do not even try to make an exact copy of the store tile unless you stock up on cocoa butter. It is this rare ingredient that keeps sweets in shape. But if your hunt for rarities still succeeds, you will get a delicious treat. This recipe is for lucky hunters.
Ingredients:
• grated cocoa - 200 grams;
• cocoa butter - 40-50 grams;
• sugar or icing sugar - 100 grams;
• butter - 20 grams.
In a water bath or in a double boiler, you need to melt both types of oils (cocoa and cream), then add grated cocoa, sugar (powder) to the mixture and stir until the composition becomes homogeneous. Then cool the contents of the bowl, pour into the prepared molds and place in the refrigerator.
Gourmet Vanilla Chocolate with Nuts and Dried Fruits
If you opted for vanilla chocolate, then You will need the following products:
• cocoa powder - 4 tbsp. l;
• milk - 100 ml;
• butter - 125 grams;
• sugar or powdered sugar - 1 cup;
• vanillin - half a tsp;
• walnuts, raisins and dried fruits.
Milk should be poured into the container, then put on a slow fire and heated. Add vanillin and sugar to the warmed milk, without removing the bowl from the heat and constantly mixing the mixture. Then you need to make a separate water bath, melt the butter in it and pour the already melted butter into a container with milk and sugar. Cocoa powder is added there after mixing the previous ingredients. Then the container is on low heat for about 25 minutes. Dried fruits or nuts selected as the filling are added immediately before pouring the chocolate into the molds. A few hours in the refrigerator, and your delicacy is ready.
Chocolate coffee "for true gourmets"
Ingredients:
• cocoa powder - 50 grams;
• milk powder - 250 grams;
• sugar - 500 grams;
• butter - 250 grams;
• brewed ground coffee - 1 tsp;
• dried fruits, nuts, lemon peel, vanilla (to taste).
Before the start of the main process, you should prepare the main "flavor" - coffee. Of course, the dosage depends only on your taste, but the following steps are suggested in the basic recipe: 3/4 cup of water for one tablespoon of coffee. When the coffee boils, you need to add zest or vanilla into it and continue to boil for 4-5 minutes over low heat. Then strain the liquid removed from the stove from the coffee cake and put the container on the fire again. When the coffee begins to “sprout”, add cocoa and sugar to the mixture, and then boil for another five minutes.
Now it’s the turn of milk powder - it should be added here, mix thoroughly, turn off the heat and dissolve the butter previously cut into pieces in the chocolate obtained. Filling - nuts, candied fruits, raisins, dried apricots or prunes - are added to an almost ready dainty at your discretion right before the mold is bottled.
Milk Chocolate "Gentle"
For those who salivate during the advertising of milk chocolate, craftsmen also recommend a simple homemade recipe.
Ingredients:
• cocoa powder 4 tbsp. l;
• butter - 50 grams;
• sugar - 1 tsp;
• milk - 100 grams.
In a suitable bowl, you first need to pour the milk and heat it, put on medium heat. Next, pour sugar and cocoa powder there. Meanwhile, the oil is melted in a separate container in a water bath, and then poured into a bowl with the main mixture, which should be brought to boil after adding oil. After the fire should be reduced and boiled chocolate for another 2-3 minutes.
The prepared composition is then poured into molds and refrigerated.
Chocolate "little by little"
The chefs who have tried the following recipe claim that the taste of this product is not much different from store tiles. But it contains affordable ingredients that you don’t need to run to the shopkeeper and the store — they will always be found in the kitchen cabinet and refrigerator.
Ingredients:
• cocoa powder - 150 grams;
• butter - 70 grams;
• sugar or icing sugar - 100 grams;
• milk - 5 tbsp. l .;
• flour - 1.5-2 tsp.
On low heat, you should heat the milk, gradually pouring sugar (or icing sugar) and cocoa into it. Separately, in a water bath, you need to melt the oil, and then pour it into the milk mixture and mix. Continuing to stir, you need to bring the mass to a boil, and then turn off the fire.
First, the chocolate flour is sifted through a fine sieve, added to the mixture and mixed thoroughly so that there are no lumps left, as if you were making dough for pancakes. Now once again you need to turn on the fire and hold the mixture on it for about 2 minutes - until boiling.
As a result, the mixture will resemble sour cream in density. Slightly cooled chocolate should be poured into oiled molds, and then put in the freezer to harden. After 3-4 hours, the treat will be ready.
Bitter Chocolate "Elementary, Watson!"
This recipe does not provide for tricks or an abundance of components.
Ingredients:
• cocoa powder - 100 grams;
• butter - approximately 50 grams;
• granulated sugar - 1 tsp.
As you can easily understand from the list of ingredients, this chocolate will have the most cocoa powder. Because chocolate will turn out bitter or bitter. More experienced confectioners will change the ratio of sugar to cocoa. But one detail should be taken into account: it is on the basis of these proportions that more complex chocolate desserts are prepared.
The process itself is very simple: the butter cut into pieces must be melted in a water bath, then add a mixture of cocoa and sugar. The result is a mass with a consistency of thick sour cream. The composition must be brought to a boil, and then cook for about 2 minutes, mixing evenly. Then everything is the same as in other recipes: the chocolate should be slightly cooled, poured in tins and put in the refrigerator or freezer.
Homemade Honey Chocolate
The simple process of making real honey chocolate is fully compensated by the rarity of the two main ingredients and the long wait for the final product to be ready.
Ingredients:
• grated cocoa - 400 grams;
• cocoa butter - 200 grams;
• liquid honey - 100 ml.
In a water bath, as is the case with the “right” chocolate, you need to melt the cocoa butter, then pour the grated cocoa in small portions and pour in liquid honey. Heat the mixture to a temperature of about 40 degrees (not higher, since in this case the properties of honey deteriorate), and then pour into molds. For readiness, honey chocolate should "settle" at room temperature from 8 to 12 hours, until it completely hardens.
What you need to know when making real chocolate at home - secrets, tricks and tips
• The more cocoa you add, the more bitter it will be. But the hardness of the goodies also depends on the amount of cocoa!
• If the chocolate made using flour has not set well in the freezer, add more flour next time.
• If, instead of white sugar, chocolate with brown cane is cooked, then the treat will become much more useful. Cane sugar contains valuable minerals and also makes chocolate tastier.
• Chocolate chilled in the freezer - will be harder, in the refrigerator - softer.
• The milk provided for in the recipe can be replaced with water, although some experienced confectioners do not recommend this.
• Chocolate is easier to remove from silicone molds.
