Its #TuesdayTips and we are continuing our Chocolate discussion. Chocolate is one type of confectionary but is divided even further by what you can make with it.

Fudge, Chocolate Bars, Bon Bons, Truffles, Turtles and Clusters, Molded Chocolate (coins, easter eggs, etc), Cordinals, and Chocolate Covered items (pretzels, marshmallows, fruit, nuts etc). Of course there are other types of candy, sweets or confectionaries, which ever you prefer to call them but we can cover that another day.

Fudge

Fudges is a type of sugar candy that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at 240 °F (116 °C), and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency

Chocolate Bars

A chocolate bar or candy bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers.

Bon Bon

A bonbon is a small chocolate confection. They are usually filled with liqueur or other sweet ingredients, and sold wrapped in coloured foil. In France, bonbons are usually made with a fruit centre, and may contain brittle, nougat, dragée, or caramel. In the Western world, bonbons are usually also small candies, but can vary by region in their ingredients, flavours, and shape.

Truffle

A chocolate truffle is a type of chocolate confectionery, traditionally made with a chocolate ganache centre coated in chocolate, cocoa powder, coconut, or chopped toasted nuts. Usually in a spherical, conical, or curved shape. Their name derives from their resemblance to truffles, edible fungi of the genus Tuber.

Turtle

Turtles are a candy made with pecans and caramel dipped in chocolate, with a shape resembling a turtle. The name is trademarked by DeMet’s Candy Company.

Molded Chocolate

Chocolate molds are hollow containers used to give shape to liquid chocolate when it cools and hardens and can be made of plastic, rubber or special polycarbonate materials. They are often used in Belgium when making pralines or chocolate figures for special holidays but also really popular in the USA for holidays.

Cordial

A cordial is a type of confection in which liquid filling is placed within a chocolate shell. A well known confectionery of this type is the cherry cordial, which is most common.

Chocolate Covered

Chocolate-covered fruits include blueberries, pomegranate, strawberries, oranges, dried apricots, and other candied fruits and citrus peels. It also includes marshmallow, frackers, pretzels and much more. Your edible item is coated in a tempered chocolate. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate are used for decoration. Nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, sprinkles, and other toppings are sometimes added.

So as you can see there are still many things you can make with chocolate. What tools you use and how you use your chocolate (tempering, enrobing, filling) will be determined by what your goal is. I explain how to temper chocolate and how to color chocolate but there is more to it.

Filling

So filling can refer to what is inside the chocolate, like the ganache, caramel, nuts but it is also referencing filling the molds when making chocolate structures. If you want a hallow structure, like an egg. You will fill and dump twice to create the shell before vibrating, shaking or tapping our the air. Some molds are two sided and you close and some you do one half at a time, so be aware of what you are using. Personally, the two sided closed ones are great for molded items.

Enrobing

Enrobing is using tempered chocolate to coat your product. Some examples are if you are making chocolate covered pretzels, or almonds. You will carefully the tempered chocolate on the item, you can also dip your product into the chocolate. An example is when you enrobe ganache for truffles.