Using Chocolate For Candy Making

Using chocolate for candy making is an age old tradition and while chocolate itself was discovered in 300 AD in some form, it wasn’t until the 1800’s that people enjoyed it as a chocolate bar.

Today, chocolate bars can be found in hundreds of shapes, sizes and flavors and making chocolate candy at home has become a fun, and sometimes lucrative, hobby. Unlike their ancestors, today’s home chocolate hobbyists have all kinds of tools and gadgets available for this fun undertaking.

Homemade chocolate is fun to give as gifts or just to set out at a dinner party or fancy lunch. You can make candies, dipped fruit or even press your chocolate into molds that reflect the special occasion you are making them for. Some people dip pretzels and cookies in them. There really is no end to what you can do with chocolate!

Buying chocolate for candy making is easy today, you can simply go to the craft store and get wafers of chocolate in a variety of colors. Pretty much everything you need is right there. If you like a bit more of a challenge (and perhaps a lot more flavor), you can buy gourmet chocolate from a candy store in blocks, then chop it up yourself for melting.

If you are making chocolates with centers that you will be dipping into your chocolate, you want what is called “courveture” chocolate - it is made specifically for coating centers and works great. Whatever you do, don’t use candy bars you get at the grocery store, because you won’t be happy with either the consistency or the flavor.

Once you have your chocolate, you need to melt it. But even before that, you need to chop it. Chop it is critical because if you don’t have pieces that are roughly the same size you will have a hard time getting it to melt evenly.

You can melt your chocolate for candy making in the microwave or on a double boiler. The microwave will get the job done quicker but, since it’s not as easy to keep an eye on and melts faster, you run the risk of keeping it in too long and burning it. The double boiler is a safer method but requires that you keep a constant vigil over the pot, stirring constantly.

Chocolate Bark Candy Recipe

Chocolate bark candy is easy to make and so versatile too! You can add different kinds of nuts or other ingredients for your favorite fillings. I’m partial to coconut myself but my husband like cashews. You can even use the most unlikely of ingredients such as cornflakes and even hard Chinese noodles!

The ingredients list for bark candy is so simple:

3 cups Chocolate (you can use white, milk or dark)

2 cups filling - chopped nuts, rice krispies, pretzels or any of the fillings mentioned above - don’t be afraid to combine different ingredients for your filling either!

Directions:

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. It’s easiest if you chop the chocolate into small pieces but make sure that they are even in size so that they will all melt at the same time. No matter which method of melting you use, you need to be sure to stir constantly and make sure no water gets into the chocolate!

Next, mix the chocolate and your filling then spread out in thin sheets on waxed paper.

Let the mixture cool and then break into uneven pieces of “bark”.

Chocolate Carmel Candy Recipe

What a perfect combination - chocolate and carmel candy! Yumm! And, what’s even better is that you can make this candy in your own home and it tastes delicious too. You can buy a little mold that has small candy bar shapes in it to make these candies in.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

10 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate
2 Oz carmel candies (you can buy the kind that come in the bag at the store - 2 oz is about ½ cup)
1 tbsp cream
(can you believe that’s all you need!)

Here’s What You Do:

Temper The Chocolate

Chop the chocolate it up into small pieces and put about 2/3‘s of them in a double boiler. Using a rubber spatula to stir it, bring the chocolate to 115 degrees and remove from the heat. Add the rest of the chocolate and stir. Once the chocolate cools to 84, remove any of the remaining chocolate chunks. Put the chocolate back over the double boiler for about 10 seconds - remove and stir - repeat this until it is around 88 degrees.

Tempering your chocolate is a bit more work, but it will insure that you have shiny, smooth professional looking chocolate for your carmel candies.

Making The Carmel Candy

Now that you have your chocolate, pour some into the molds and swirl it around so it coats the top and sides. Refrigerate. This will make the shell for your carmel candy bars.

Unwrap your carmel pieces and put them in a microwave safe bowl with the cream and 1 tbsp water. Microwave for 1 minute at a time then take out and stir - repeat until they are melted and liquidy.

Take your molds out of the fridge and spoon carmel into each of the cavities. You can fill them almost all the way but not quite. You can also add some chopped nuts if you want.

Add a layer of chocolate (you might have to heat it up a bit if it is not pourable) to the seal off the cavities so that your carmel is entirely encased in chocolate!

Refrigerate the molds until the chocolate is set, then remove your carmel candy and enjoy!