So due to birthdays and dinner with family tomorrow, I have been making some tasty chocs.

These are based on a recipe from the site cooking for engineers . I’ve made these before, with alcohol in, for christmas pressies, but I wanted to try something different this time.

You need:
3 x 150g bars of chocolate. Aim for high cocoa solid content.
(I used supermarket-brand 72% cocoa cooking chocolate as it didn’t have much rubbish in, just the necessary things. And a bar of white chocolate, because it’s nice.)
250ml Double cream

To make pretty later:
Chopped nuts
Cocoa powder
Coco pops
More chocolate

Petit four cases

Chop the choc into little pieces. You want it to be able to melt quickly later.

Heat the cream in a pan until it just about reaches boiling point. Tip it all over you chocolatey pieces. Leave it for a minute and mix until all the chocolate has melted, and its smooth and glossy looking. If the chocolate isn’t all melted, put the bowl in another larger bowl with hot water in. Don’t get water in the chocolate mixture, else it will go horrible and lumpy and you will probably have to start over which is a terrible waste of chocolate.

If you want to add anything, (nuts, alcohol, etc.) now’s the time to mix it it.
I split the mixture into three, and added nuts to one, and coffee granules to another and left the largest one plain.
Stick it in the fridge and leave for a few hours, or overnight.

Try using a melon baller, or similar to make nice round spheres. If it gets stuck, you can use your (clean) hands to shape the lump into a nicer shaped lump. The chocolate will melt quickly so don’t handle it too much.

Scoop out a sphere (or shaped one however you wish) and plop it into a bowl of cocoa powder or similar to cover it, making it look pretty.
I used cocoa powder or grated white chocolate to cover my plain ones, chopped nuts for the nutty ones, and ground up coco pops for the coffee ones.
At christmas, I melted some chocolate and dipped them, then drizzled a different colour melted chocolate over the top to make stripes.

Pop into cases and give to people you like, including yourself.

Nom.