How to make chocolate by hand
Ingredients: 200 grams of milk chocolate, 100 grams of white chocolate, 30 American almonds, 20 strawberries
Tools: 1 sheet of oil paper or oilcloth, 1 decorating bag
Break the black and white chocolate into small pieces and place them in 2 containers respectively. Find a larger container, pour water into it, and put the container with chocolate in it. The height of the water should not be too high to avoid accidentally flowing into the chocolate.
Heat over low heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of the water. The water temperature should be about 45 degrees. You can also turn off the heat to melt it at this time, and then continue to heat it when the water temperature is not enough. In short, control the temperature and don't let the water get too hot.
After the chocolate is completely melted, stir it evenly with chopsticks. Prick a washed and dried strawberry with a toothpick (no water on the surface of the strawberry), cover 1/2 of it with chocolate sauce, and then immediately place it on oil paper or oilcloth to cool naturally. (You can dip strawberries in single-color chocolate, or you can make a strawberry into two colors, it depends on what you like.)
After cooling, place it in the refrigerator for 2 hours before packaging it for storage. Pour the melted chocolate into the piping bag, leaving it uncut just yet. Pinch the upper end tightly with your hands and soak it in warm water for a while. After the chocolate softens, use scissors to cut a small opening, squeeze out a round shape on oil paper or oilcloth, and immediately place American almonds on top. Continue squeezing and repeat the previous steps until all the chocolate and almonds are used up.
After the almond chocolate has cooled naturally, it must be refrigerated for 2 hours before being boxed and stored.
Special Tips:
After opening the bag of almonds, they must be sealed and stored. I recommend that you use a tin box and store it in a dry and cool place to prevent oil spillage (also commonly known as "hara"), insect infestation, and moisture and skin change.
If the almonds become skinned, they can be roastedBox, bake at a temperature of about 150 degrees for 5 minutes, take it out and place it in a ventilated place to cool naturally, then put it in a box and save it.
The antioxidants in almonds will help the skin resist oxidative damage, delay the occurrence of wrinkles, and prevent and improve skin pigmentation.
Strawberries contain a high amount of vitamin C. Eating more strawberries can whiten your skin, enhance your immunity, and maintain a healthy intestinal tract. After buying the strawberries, soak them in light salt water for 15 minutes, and then rinse them repeatedly with clean water. It is best not to remove the stems before soaking, otherwise, water will seep in during soaking, which will reduce the aroma and sweetness of the strawberries. For chocolate used for surface coating, or chocolate that is poured into molds and solidified into shapes again, the most critical point during the melting process is to control the temperature. If the heating temperature is too high, the melted chocolate will look dull and will not melt easily in the mouth.
The cocoa butter contained in chocolate is composed of several molecules with different properties. Mastering the different melting temperatures of chocolate will make these molecules of different properties crystallize and reach a good stable state. The temperature you adjust also depends on the type of chocolate. For example, the milk fat contained in the milk chocolate we use today has the effect of inhibiting the crystallization of chocolate, so the melting temperature is a little lower than that of dark chocolate.
Melting temperature reference:
Dark chocolate: about 50 degrees
Milk chocolate: about 45 degrees
White chocolate: around 40 degrees
