Thursday, March 15, 2012

Saffron Honey Bonbons


Bonbons are a bit tedious to make and more than a bit difficult--between the price of chocolate and the labor involved, I understand why the cost so much at chocolate shops. The basic procedure is to make the filling (more on this filling in a moment) and temper chocolate for the shell. At this point get a clean, dry mold, decorate it with cocoa butter cutters or luster dust (I used a light coating of gold luster dust), and warm it slightly over an open flame (i.e. a gas burner) then fill up the mold with chocolate. Tap it or knock it off the table to get rid of bubbles and then, at exactly the right moment, pour out the excess chocolate tapping the underside of the mold to make sure all the excess chocolate drips out. Then scrape off the outside of the molds, so that the bonbons are flush with the top edge of their cavities. Let harden upside-down on a cooling rack until the cutting point and then turn rightside-up and scrape off any excess chocolate that may be on the outside of the mold. Let harden fully. Then fill with your desired filling almost to the top of the shell, but not all the way up or the bottom won't stick. Cover the bottom with more tempered chocolate (there are number of different ways to do this--my favorite is to coat a piece of parchment cut to fit the mold with a layer of chocolate, put it on top of the mold and scrape across the top to force the chocolate onto the bonbons, when it's hardened peel off the parchment.) Finally, when the chocolates are fully hardened, unmold them like you would get ice out of an ice cube tray.

The filling I used in these is a saffron, honey and dark chocolate. It was absolutely amazing. I could have just eaten it with a spoon! The mild sweetness of the honey and the subtle earthy-ness of the saffron mixed with strong dark chocolate was delicious. It's no wonder why they're called bonbons--they really are goodgood!

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