chocolate bonbons

These beautiful chocolate bonbons are made with tempered dark chocolate and filled with a  delicious milk chocolate ganache. This easy technique for painted cocoa butter shells is so impressive no one will believe these are homemade.

Chocolate Bonbons

½ lb Chocolate (Milk, semi-sweet,

Chocolate

Whipping cream

Cocoa butter

Edible powdered food colors

Combine chocolate and whipping cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt in the microwave for a minute on high. Pro tip - Alternatively, heat the cream in a saucepan and pour hot cream over the chocolate. The heat in the cream should melt the chocolate.

Let stand for 2 minutes then stir to combine. If you still have unmelted chocolate, heat in the microwave at 10 to 20-second intervals until completely melted.Pro tip - Letting the cream and chocolate rest for 2 minutes will help the heat from the cream melt the chocolate evenly and easily.

Use a hand blender to whip the chocolate. Cover with a plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge until set. Usually, about 2 hours but you can leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days. Pro tip - Whipping the ganache will aerate the ganache and make it lighter in color. Also, the light-colored filling makes a nice contrast to the dark chocolate.

When ready to use, transfer the ganache to a piping bag. Cut a small hole at the end when ready to pipe.

Chocolate ganache filling

Melt the cocoa butter in a microwave-safe bowl. It takes no more than 30 to 40 seconds. Set aside.

On a small plate, add the edible powdered food colors. I used green and blue today, but you can use one or more colors. Pro tip - Make sure to use complimenting colors that will blend into a prettier color.

Add a tablespoon of cocoa butter on the plate in between the colors. Using a soft-bristled paintbrush, combine one color with the cocoa butter. Make a thick paste and smear the color in each cavity of the bonbon mold. Then, do the same with the second color as shown in the video. Pro tip - The technique we used here blends the two colors together. But, you can also do the first color and chill the mold for 10 minutes. Then, do a second color. This will ensure the two colors do not blend.

Place the bonbon mold in the fridge for 10 minutes for the cocoa butter to set.

Painting the bonbon molds

Use a microwave-safe bowl, heat-proof spatula or spoon, and thermometer.Pro tip - I like to use plastic or silicone bowls as they do not retain heat. This makes it easier to temper chocolate.

Chop the chocolate into small, similar size pieces. Place 2/3 of the chocolate in one bowl. Chop the remaining chocolate into smaller pieces and set them aside. Pro tip -Today, I am using small choclate pallets so I melted the large batch without chopping. But I did chop the smaller batch to ensure easy tempering.

Place the large batch of chocolate into the microwave and start at 30 seconds on high. Then, take it out of the microwave and stir it with a spatula or spoon.Pro tip - The chocolate will seem untouched as if it has not been melted but you still want to stir it.

Next, put it back into the microwave and give it another 20 seconds. Remove and stir again. If necessary, put it back into the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until it is melted but does not go over 110°F/43°C  (max 115°F/46°C). Pro tip - Make sure you stir well, the chocolate may look like it is not fully melted but the heat in the chocolate is often enough to melt the remaining chocolate.

Now, add the remaining unmelted chocolate to the bowl stirring continuously. Pro tip - The chocolate will thicken and become shiny and smooth as it cools.

Continue to stir until the temperature of the chocolate comes down to 90°F/32°C for dark chocolate, 86°F/30°C for milk chocolate, and 84°F/28°C for white chocolate. Pro tip - Reaching the temperature is important.

Your chocolate should now be in temper. Pro tip - You can test your tempering by spreading a little chocolate on parchment paper. It should set within 3 minutes at room temperature. It should be shiny and without any streaks.

Tempering chocolate

Bonbon shells - Pour the tempered chocolate into the mold. Tap it a few times to remove any air bubbles. After about 30 seconds to a minute invert the mold over the bowl or table and let all the chocolate gently empty the mold. Pro tip - It will feel like the mold is empty when the chocolate drizzles out but that is exactly what we want - a nice think shell. Scrape the molds as you go to keep things less messy as shown in the video.

Scrape the top of the mold to ensure a smooth top edge on the bonbons. Let the mold chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Pro tip - It is important that you chill the shells for just 10 minutes or until the chocolate is just set but not completely dry. Otherwise, the shells will move when the filling is piped in.

After 10 minutes, pipe the ganache filling in each mold cavity. Tap the mold to help the filling settle and remove any air pockets. Pro tip - If the filling is too liquid, place the mold in the fridge for 10 minutes or at least until the filling has a slight crust on the top. This ganache is set so it did not need any chilling.

Pour the remaining tempered chocolate into a piping bag and cut a small hole at the tip. Then, pipe the chocolate over each filling in the mold.  When done, scrape the excess chocolate back into the bowl until you have a clean smooth surface. Pro tip - Make sure you cut a small hole in the piping bag. Otherwise, it will be difficult to control the chocolate. Piping the chocolate keeps the filling in place and makes much less mess and leakage.

Place the mold in the fridge and chill until the chocolate is set and pull away from the mold. Pro tip - You will know when the chocolate pulls away from the mold by looking at the back. But, make sure to hold them over the table so they don&#39;t fall and break.

To remove the bonbons from the molds, simply invert them on a tabletop or flat surface. You may need to tap a few times to help some of them release from the mold. Pro tip - If necessary clean the edges of the bonbons with your fingers for a neater appearance.

Assemble

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/sl9mZUCB.mp4

I&#039;m sharing how to make beautiful chocolate truffles with various designs and shapes without a candy mold using one chocolate ganache filling.

Homemade Chocolate Truffles

Dark chocolate

120 g Heavy cream

Honey

g Butter (softened)

g chocolate

White chocolate (I used 320 g.)

chocolate

Some Toasted mixed nuts

Some Pistachios

Some Cacao nibs

Some Gold leaf

Some Pieces of white and dark chocolates

Melt the dark chocolate.

Melt the dark chocolate:Heat it to 113 - 122 ºF (45 - 50ºC)

Prepare the tin.

Meanwhile, prepare the tin:Set parchment paper inside a square tin or cake ring (15 cm | 5.9 inches).

Add heavy cream.

Add hot heavy cream and mix: Heat heavy cream to 158 - 176ºF (70 - 80ºC) and add it to the melted chocolate:1. Add about 1/3 of the hot cream and mix gradually from the center towards the edge until smooth.  2. Add about half of the heavy cream and repeat the same process.  3. Finally, add the rest and repeat. Don&#39;t forget to clean the bowl and spatula on the way to make an even ganache.

Add honey.

Add butter.

Add softened butter and mix:Add butter to the ganache when it feels gently warm. (98 - 102ºF | 37 - 39ºC). As an option, mix it with an immersion blender at the very end to create a smoother ganache

Pour it into the prepared tin.

Pour it into the prepared tin or ring:Chill in the fridge until it gets firm completely. (more than a few hours to a day) Wrap it tightly so that it&#39;s not going to get any moisture damage in the fridge.

Make chocolate ganache.

Spread melted chocolate on one side.

Spread melted chocolate on one side:Spread melted chocolate over one side of the chilled ganache very thinly. It&#39;s gonna be the bottom side of the truffles.Tips💡1. Level the edges with a knife if it&#39;s not flat.  2. Spread a very thin layer of chocolate. (Tempering it is ideal, but you could skip the process to omit some time.) 

Cut the ganache.

Flip it and cut the ganache:Mark it with 1.1 inches (3 cm) intervals to create 25 pieces.Cut into 5 different shapes (5 pieces each): Heart, circle, square, rectangle (cut off the edge of the square a little bit to create the rectangle shape), and octagon. Form balls with the palms of your hands using the leftover ganache. You should be able to get 4-6 truffle balls. In total, you will get about 30 pieces with 6 designs.

Chill them in the fridge.

Chill them in the fridge:Take them out ahead before use so that they are not too cold by the time you coat the chocolate. Comfortably cold ganache is perfect!

Cut the chocolate ganache.

Melt chocolate.

Melt chocolate: Heat about 2/3 of the dark chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a double boiler until it reaches 113 - 122 ºF (45 - 50ºC) Meanwhile, cut the remaining chocolate (1/3) into very small pieces so they can melt more easily.When tempering white chocolate: Follow the exact steps but at different temperatures - Heat it to 104 - 113ºF (40 - 45ºC) and cool it to 78.8 - 82.4ºF (26 - 28ºC).

Add diced chocolate.

Add diced chocolate and cool it: Add the chopped chocolate and mix. Let the dark chocolate cool to 87.8 - 89.6ºF (31 - 32ºC) right around when all the dark chocolate is melted. Tips💡1. I recommend not adding all of it at once and adding dividing a few times or more. Continue adding them until they stop melting. 2. If all the chocolate melted before it cools down to the temperature, dice more chocolate and add more. 3. If the chocolate is not melted by the time you reach the temperature range, blend it with an immersion hand blender or warm it slightly with the microwave, hot water, or a hair dryer. Do not overheat it - the tempering won&#39;t be successful if it goes out of the temperature range. 

Mix it with an immersion blender.

Mix it with an immersion blender (optional):I highly recommend mixing it with an immersion blender at the end if you have one. It helps to emulsify chocolate completely and eliminate air bubbles if there are a lot. Many chocolatiers use it for those reasons.How to check if the tempering is done successfully: Drop a small amount of chocolate on something, such as a cake spatula. The chocolate should get set within a few minutes at room temperature. 

Temper dark chocolate.

Drop the ganache on the melted chocolate.

Push it down with a fork.

Scoop it up.

Toss some time to remove excess chocolate.

Toss some time to remove excess chocolate.As an option, blow some cold air on top with a hair dryer so that the coating gets thinner. Melted dark chocolate is thicker than melted white chocolate, and the coating tends to get thicker easily. Just be careful not to blow too hard - the coating can crack after being chilled if it is too thin!

Clean off the bottom.

Clean off the bottom with the edge of the bowl.

Place it.

Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Repeat.

Coat the ganache with the tempered chocolate.

Cut off the excess chocolate.

Cut off the excess chocolate around the bottom edge.

Decorate truffles.

Decorate the finished truffles:Decorate with any topping you like! If necessary, use a little bit of melted chocolate as glue to attach them.

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Homemade Chocolate Truffles

Top 2 chocolate bonbons recipes from across the web

The most viewed chocolate bonbons recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Chocolate Bonbons

Homemade Chocolate Truffles

The most viewed chocolate bonbons recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine