Here are two recipes for making delicious chocolate confections. CHOCOLATE ROCKS 5 ozs. sweet chocolate 1/2 pint (1 cup) thick cream 2 tablespoonfuls hot sugar syrup 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate 1/2 teaspoonful almond extract 1 lb.
sweet grated chocolate 1/2 oz. melted cocoa-butter 1/2 teaspoonful rose extract Melt the grated chocolate over hot water to a smooth paste. Remove it from the hot water, beat for a few minutes, adding gradually the rose extract and the melted cocoa-butter. Stir occasionally until quite cold; then rub through a wire sieve on white paper underneath. Put the sweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate into a saucepan, and melt the mixture to a smooth paste; then add the cream, hot syrup, the extracts, and stir over the fire until well mixed. Remove from the fire, and beat until the mixture becomes cold and a lighter color.
Mold it into round centers; then roll them in the sieved chocolate. Serve in paper cases. CHOCOLATE NOUGATINES 1/2 lb. (1 cup) sugar 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract 1/4 lb. (1 cup) blanched almonds, or walnut meats or ground almonds 1 tablespoonful honey Melted chocolate Chop the almonds and toast them a pale brown in the oven. Put the honey into a saucepan and stir until dissolved; then add the sugar and allow it to melt and get quite liquid.
Now add the almonds, stir over a moderate heat until all turn a light brown color, then add the vanilla extract, and pour on a buttered slab. Roll out thin and cut into squares. Allow to dry on waxed paper and dip in melted chocolate when quite firm. Another method is to put three pounds of sugar into a dry, clean saucepan, and melt over the fire, without using any water. When dissolved, add as much chopped nuts as the batch will take up.
Pour out on an oiled slab and roll out thin; it may be cut in oblong pieces and coated with chocolate, or broken fine and mixed with the chocolate and dropped on a tin. CHOCOLATE DATES 1 lb. best dates 1/4 lb. unsweetened chocolate 4 ozs.
(1/2 cup) confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoonfuls boiling water 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla extract Wipe the dates, slit them lengthwise with a silver knife, but only far enough to extract the kernels without bruising the fruit. Grate the chocolate into a small saucepan; add the sugar, boiling water, and the vanilla extract, and stir over the fire until quite smooth. The mixture must not boil.
Then put the small saucepan inside a larger one half filled with boiling water, just to keep the chocolate fluid until all the dates are filled. Take up a little of the mixture in a teaspoon, press open the date, and pour it in neatly. When about a dozen are filled, gently press the sides together.
The chocolate should just show a shiny brown ridge in the middle of the date. Place on a board in a cool place to harden.
For over 350 candies, bonbon and chocolate recipes, buy the ebook Candies and Bonbons and How to Make Them
