Conversation Hearts

Is there any bigger season for a chocolatier than the lead up to Valentine's Day? I think not. Chocolate is love. 

About two weeks ago, I began my holiday prep -- doable only because I make chocolate for a limited number of people. If I were actually selling chocolate, my prep would have begun right after Christmas. Knowing that a friend loves white chocolate, I molded a few solid white chocolate lollis. I don't normally post photos of this sort of project, because, other than getting the temper right, there isn't a lot of skill or creativity involved. 

Well, that's not entirely true. There is the skill of foiling molded chocolate. Mine could use some work. 

I do have an excuse -- I'm limited by the supplies available to me. I'd probably need an 8" square of foil to properly wrap them, but in my experience it's very rare to find food-safe coloured foil larger than a 6" square (and if you do find it, it's pricey). Consequently, I did a bit of a patch job on the back to ensure all the chocolate was covered. No big deal, right? The foil is only going to be ripped off anyway. Then to really make the design pop, I gently rubbed the surface of the foil with a soft cloth. 

Next up on my list was something for my boyfriend. Last February, after the big day, we were strolling around Michaels looking at all of the seasonal products that arrived after Valentine's Day thanks to wonky supply chains. Everything was marked down and hanging on one rack was a silicone baking mold in the shape of conversation hearts. It was meant for small cakes, but my head immediately thought Valentine's cocoa bombs! 

I pulled out the mold from my stash, but had already decided that cocoa bombs weren't the way to go. I'm very much in a decluttering mood lately and part of that is seeing what's in my cupboards and using up the odds and sods and bits and bobs, as my friend Di would say. And so I needed a plan to use up some peanut butter chips that I bought when making peanut butter bark for a friend. 

Fancy heart shaped peanut butter cup, you say? Don't mind if I do!

Armed with an idea, I tempered some chocolate to shell the mold first. Now, let me just say, as much as I love this mold, I hate that it's silicone. During my chocolatier program, they warned us not to use silicone. They claimed that's because you can't get the same shiny finish on your chocolate as you do with hard plastic. In my experience, though, it's not an issue of shine. The real problem is how hard it is to manipulate a floppy mold. (Note to self: next time, cut the mold apart.)

Once the chocolate had hardened, aided by a quick trip to the fridge, I put a second coat of tempered chocolate on the sides of the hearts to be certain they wouldn't break during the unmolding process. And then a third for good measure, because, let's be honest, there's no such thing as too much chocolate.

While the mold was once again chillaxing in the fridge, I combined the peanut butter chips with an equal quantity (by weight) of milk chocolate couverture, and then tossed in a few tablespoons of peanut butter for good measure. Once it was all melted and stirred together, I let the mixture sit until it had dropped in temperature to 28 degrees. Next, I poured it into a piping bag and filled my shells. I popped them back into the fridge to speed up crystallization. 

Ok, so that's not the typical filling for a peanut butter cup, which would be peanut butter and icing sugar. But I'm allowed a little artistic license here, with my quasi-gianduja filling...

Then, finally, I tempered more chocolate and capped the hearts. They went back into the fridge for a few minutes and, once set, I unmolded them and let them come to room temperature before packaging them in the cutest bags ever (a gift from a friend). 

And there you have it! A quarter pound of peanut buttery goodness to convey your love!

Except for a few air bubbles in some of the text, I'm definitely happy with how these turned out and can't wait to cut one in half with a hot knife.

With only six in total, my next challenge is deciding who to add to the recipient list.