Hello all,
I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
topping. Thanks in advance!

"Mike Bates" > wrote in message
om...
: Hello all,
: I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it
cools
: to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I
have
: unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...)
I'm going
: to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the
sugar
: topping. Thanks in advance!
===========

I don't know off-hand how to make that but you can buy Magic
Shell in the ice cream condiment aisle at a lot of grocery
stores... I just saw that it comes in flavors other than
chocolate as well.

--
Cyndi
<Remove a "b" to reply>

Mike Bates wrote:

> Hello all,
> I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
> to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
> unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
> to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
> topping. Thanks in advance!

You're getting into some very fussy chocolate handling. It will need
to be properly formulated, tempered and molded or poured onto a cool
but not cold surface. Adding eggs will soften it. Granulated sugar
doesn't dissolve well in chocolate, often leaving it gritty.

The chocolate shell liquids are formulated with a fair amount of wax
in them to get that hard.

You'd be better off using a Hershey bar than to try to duplicate it.

Pastorio

"Mike Bates" > wrote in message
om...
> Hello all,
> I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
> to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
> unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
> to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
> topping. Thanks in advance!

I would have said just melt chocolate and let it harden after you pour it
where you want it, but since you're working with unsweetened, my next
suggestion is to make a chocolate caramel and use that.
Heat 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1/4 cup water, 1 tsp salt, and 1tbp
butter. Bring to a boil and continue boiling until it is at the hard crack
stage. Stir in 1 1/2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, then 1 tsp vanilla and
1/2 tsp baking soda. Pour out onto a baking sheet, then break apart and
sprinkle over the desserts, or pour directly over the desserts.

kimberly

In article >,
(Mike Bates) wrote:

> Hello all,
> I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
> to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
> unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
> to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
> topping. Thanks in advance!

I'm with Kimberly here. Buy a Hershey bar, melt it and pour it on top.
When it cools it will be at the exact hardness of a Hershey bar. You can
buy milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, or use a combination
melted separately to make designs.

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS

Dan Abel wrote:

> I'm with Kimberly here. Buy a Hershey bar, melt it and pour it on top.
> When it cools it will be at the exact hardness of a Hershey bar.


I did this years ago. The untempered chocolate will appear dull and
grey on the outside, and the mouthfeel will be a bit off. I learned
later that the dull greyness is the cocoa butter which has separated
from everything else. I imagine that's what accounts for the mouthfeel
too, that sort of oily feeling on the tongue.


--Lia

Mike Bates wrote:

> Hello all,
> I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
> to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
> unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
> to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
> topping. Thanks in advance!

It would probably be easiest to use semi-sweet baker's chocolate or a good
quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and then drizzled over the top of
the Creme Brulee. I wouldn't suggest a layer. That would make it to hard
to eat. When you try to break through the chocolate layer it will probably
plunge into the custard and cause it to slop over the sides.

Foe an alternate topping for Creme Brule, I once had it topped with honey
and a little bud of saffron. It was quite tasty.

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
news:6rdmc.29111$TD4.4186821@attbi_s01...
> Dan Abel wrote:
>
> > I'm with Kimberly here. Buy a Hershey bar, melt it and pour it on top.
> > When it cools it will be at the exact hardness of a Hershey bar.
>
>
> I did this years ago. The untempered chocolate will appear dull and
> grey on the outside, and the mouthfeel will be a bit off. I learned
> later that the dull greyness is the cocoa butter which has separated
> from everything else. I imagine that's what accounts for the mouthfeel
> too, that sort of oily feeling on the tongue.
>
>
> --Lia
>

If he buys chocolate that is already tempered, as is most good chocolate,
and doesn't heat it past it's temper, it will not need to be retempered. It
sounds to me like you overheated the chocolate.

kimberly

Nexis wrote:


> If he buys chocolate that is already tempered, as is most good chocolate,
> and doesn't heat it past its temper, it will not need to be retempered. It
> sounds to me like you overheated the chocolate.


I probably did. If the original poster melts the chocolate, he probably
will too. I suppose it's possible to soften the chocolate enough to
reform it without melting it to the point of the cocoa butter
separating, but that would take some practice.


--Lia

at Wed, 05 May 2004 03:57:09 GMT in <602c3c01.0405041957.4ae295a0
@posting.google.com>, (Mike Bates) wrote :

>Hello all,
>I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate,

Hard chocolate is exactly that, hardened chocolate. However, in order for
it to work properly, you need "couverture": chocolate with a high
percentage of cocoa butter. Not to worry, because essentially all chocolate
bars sold for straight eating are couverture. However, the kind of
"baking" chocolate that comes in boxes wherein are smallish paper-wrapped
squares will *not* work well, nor will chocolate chips. Both have lower
cocoa butter. Indeed, virtually all chocolate sold explicitly as baking
chocolate is pretty useless for anything, simply because it's mostly really
bad chocolate - the stuff made from the culls too horrible even for
Hershey's to accept for eating bars. Ghirardelli makes bars they label as
"baking chocolate", however, which are excellent couverture chocolate -
great both for baking and for straight eating. That's also a good test: if
a chocolate isn't good eaten straight, it isn't good for baking, either.

With couverture (e.g. bar chocolate), once you've melted it, you need to
temper it: pour about 1/2 of it out onto a marble slab or other cool, non-
porous surface, and spade it around with a metal spatula until it just
starts to solidify. Then scrape it back into the melted chocolate, stir,
and it's ready to use, but you must use it immediately.

....> I have
>unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
>to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
>topping.

Resist the temptation to improvise. Chocolate is one of those things for
which makeshift solutions tend to work very badly if at all. If you try to
stir sugar into unsweetened chocolate, expecting it to dissolve, you'll be
in for a big disappointment when you find out that it doesn't, leaving you
with a grainy mass. Meanwhile, adding most other ingredients to chocolate
merely makes it softer. Forthermore, if your unsweetened chocolate is
Baker's brand, you might as well throw it away because it's absolutely
awful chocolate. If it were good unsweetened chocolate, such as from
Callebaut, Ghirardelli, Guittard, etc., you *could* sweeten it using
candymaking technique: dissolve some sugar in water, boil vigourously until
it reaches hard-crack temperature (300-310F, 150-155C) and then *quickly*
stir with melted chocolate. But this takes skill and practice to do
correctly. It's easier to buy some bars of decent chocolate (Ghirardelli is
virtually ubiquitous, for instance) and do the melt-and-temper approach.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
news:63imc.30768$_41.2420497@attbi_s02...
> Nexis wrote:
>
>
> > If he buys chocolate that is already tempered, as is most good
chocolate,
> > and doesn't heat it past its temper, it will not need to be retempered.
It
> > sounds to me like you overheated the chocolate.
>
>
> I probably did. If the original poster melts the chocolate, he probably
> will too. I suppose it's possible to soften the chocolate enough to
> reform it without melting it to the point of the cocoa butter
> separating, but that would take some practice.
>
>
> --Lia

Nah, just a candy thermometer! :-) For dark chocolate, don't exceed 91*f,
and preferably not over 90*f. If you melt slowly and don't don't *don't* use
the microwave, it's very easy to do.

kimberly
>

Dave Smith > wrote in message >...
> Mike Bates wrote:
>
> > Hello all,
> > I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
> > to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
> > unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
> > to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
> > topping. Thanks in advance!
>
> It would probably be easiest to use semi-sweet baker's chocolate or a good
> quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and then drizzled over the top of
> the Creme Brulee. I wouldn't suggest a layer. That would make it to hard
> to eat. When you try to break through the chocolate layer it will probably
> plunge into the custard and cause it to slop over the sides.
>
> Foe an alternate topping for Creme Brule, I once had it topped with honey
> and a little bud of saffron. It was quite tasty.

I was thinking more of a very thin layer of chocolate that would crack
easily (instead of breaking off in large chunks like you said). In
your suggestion for drizzling the chocolate over the creme brulee, do
you mean over the top of the hardened sugar coating on top, or with no
sugar coating? My creme brulee tends to be fairly runny (kind of a
loose creamy custard) and I don't know if drizzling chocolate directly
on top would work.

That honey and saffron sounds good, I'll give that a shot too.

Mike Bates wrote:

>
> I was thinking more of a very thin layer of chocolate that would crack
> easily (instead of breaking off in large chunks like you said). In
> your suggestion for drizzling the chocolate over the creme brulee, do
> you mean over the top of the hardened sugar coating on top, or with no
> sugar coating?

I can't imagine burnt sugar and chocolate. I would go with one or the other.


> My creme brulee tends to be fairly runny (kind of a
> loose creamy custard) and I don't know if drizzling chocolate directly
> on top would work.
>
> That honey and saffron sounds good, I'll give that a shot too.

It was very good.

at Sat, 08 May 2004 00:33:36 GMT in
>,
(Mike Bates) wrote :

>Dave Smith > wrote in message
>...
>> Mike Bates wrote:
>>
>> > Hello all,
>> > I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate,... I'm
>> > going to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the
>> > sugar topping. Thanks in advance!
>>
>> I wouldn't suggest a layer. That would make
>> it to hard to eat....
>>
>> Foe an alternate topping for Creme Brule, I once had it topped with
>> honey and a little bud of saffron. It was quite tasty.
>
>I was thinking more of a very thin layer of chocolate that would crack
>easily (instead of breaking off in large chunks like you said)...

The easiest way to do this will be to mark circles on wax paper or
parchment of the same (inside) diameter as your creme brulee ramekins.
Then, after tempering your chocolate (as per my other post), spread it
thinly over the circles using the same palette knife or spatula you used to
spade the chocolate around. Set the paper aside for the chocolate to cool
(it won't take long, not with a thin layer of tempered chocolate). Then
carefully peel back the paper from the chocolate. Now set the chocolate
discs inside your ramekins, right on top of the creme brulee. It's best to
use tongs for this step because the heat of your hands can easily melt a
thin chocolate disc.

If you want the chocolate to stick to the sides of the ramekin and thus
prevent any disc-flipping as a result of the wrong spoon position, simply
set the ramekins in some lukewarm water briefly just after inserting the
discs. Make sure the fit of the discs before heating is fairly snug.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

In article >,
says...
> Dave Smith > wrote in message >...
> > Mike Bates wrote:
> >
> > > Hello all,
> > > I'm looking for a good recipe for hard chocolate, like when it cools
> > > to room temperature it is close to as hard as a hersheys bar. I have
> > > unsweetened chocolate to work with (and sugar, eggs, etc...) I'm going
> > > to try layering this on top of creme brulee in place of the sugar
> > > topping. Thanks in advance!
> >
> > It would probably be easiest to use semi-sweet baker's chocolate or a good
> > quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and then drizzled over the top of
> > the Creme Brulee. I wouldn't suggest a layer. That would make it to hard
> > to eat. When you try to break through the chocolate layer it will probably
> > plunge into the custard and cause it to slop over the sides.
> >
> > Foe an alternate topping for Creme Brule, I once had it topped with honey
> > and a little bud of saffron. It was quite tasty.
>
> I was thinking more of a very thin layer of chocolate that would crack
> easily (instead of breaking off in large chunks like you said). In
> your suggestion for drizzling the chocolate over the creme brulee, do
> you mean over the top of the hardened sugar coating on top, or with no
> sugar coating? My creme brulee tends to be fairly runny (kind of a
> loose creamy custard) and I don't know if drizzling chocolate directly
> on top would work.
>
> That honey and saffron sounds good, I'll give that a shot too.
>
I missed the beginning of this thread as I was out of town for a few
days. I don't know where you live, Mike, but if you're in the U.S.,
there's a product called "Magic Shell" that's sold in the supermarkets
(you'll find it where the ice cream toppings are located - usually the
end of the ice cream aisle). It's used for exactly the purpose you're
talking about - putting a coating on bananas, for example - and I think
it would work just great on your custard. I've never used it, but I
think it's got the same sort of consistency as the shell on a chocolate-
covered ice cream bar.
--
Donna
A pessimist believes all women are bad. An optimist hopes they are.

In article <63imc.30768$_41.2420497@attbi_s02>, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

> Nexis wrote:
>
>
> > If he buys chocolate that is already tempered, as is most good chocolate,
> > and doesn't heat it past its temper, it will not need to be retempered. It
> > sounds to me like you overheated the chocolate.
>
>
> I probably did. If the original poster melts the chocolate, he probably
> will too. I suppose it's possible to soften the chocolate enough to
> reform it without melting it to the point of the cocoa butter
> separating, but that would take some practice.


Worked first time for me. I use the microwave. I cook it for 15 seconds
at a time, stirring and letting the temperature even out. After the last
time in the microwave, there should still be chunks of chocolate. When
the temperature evens out, the chunks will be just melted.

To be honest, I don't know if this will work for creme brulee. This
chocolate will be too thick to pour well, and it will solidify as soon as
it hits anything cool. I liked the suggestion to form circles on wax
paper, cool, and then transfer. The only thing I've done with melted
chocolate is to dip things in it, put on wax paper and cool. This works
really well with strawberries, and I especially like dark chocolate.

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS

I've just recently added about 40 more chocolate links to my site.
http://www.chocolatarian.com
Altogether there are more than 170 links. If you would like to add a
link to a favorite chocolate site that I don't have yet just say so
and I will check it out.

There is a page also for chocolate recipe links and a page for low
carb chocolate links.

Snoozy