When I was a kid, my favourite piece in the Moirs Pot of Gold chocolate collection was the toasted coconut cup. While I clearly liked the flavour, equally enjoyable was the sound of the cup peeling away from the chocolate. As I recall, I wasn't the only one who liked it (indeed, my sister and I may have fought over it), so it was particularly special if you were the first one to the box.
While completing my chocolatier program, I stumbled upon Hercules Candy. They were still producing chocolate in their basement at the time and I learned a lot about small batch processes by watching their videos, including how to make cherry cordials. They also made nut cups and I was impressed with the wooden tray they had manufactured to hold the cups while being filled. That summer, my father made one for me.
As I began creating assorted chocolate collections for holidays, I made use of the tray. More often than not, I used it to hold cups while I filled them with a meltaway mixture. Sometimes I made solid pieces with fruit and nuts. But to my knowledge, I've never used them to make coconut cups or clusters. It occurred to me recently that a coconut bar would be just as delightful as the cup -- and perhaps more so because a bar would mean more chocolate! As I prepared Easter eggs to send home to my family, I decided to test a silicone mold I'd purchased online to make small coconut bars that I could add to my flat rate box. (Might as well stuff it with as much chocolate as possible!)
I tempered 200g of milk chocolate and added 20 grams of coconut. Once they were well combined, I began filling the mold. After tapping the mold to release the air bubbles, I popped the tray in the fridge to set. Fifteen minutes later, I had seven delightful little bars! After they fully crystallized, I wrapped them in foil and added a sticker to the back.
These are delicious -- the perfect little ~25g treat! I also love the patterns picked up by the foil wrapping.
No comments:
Post a Comment