So here we are again. Right where, if things were even remotely normal, I would be hard pressed to remove the chocolatey bits and fingerprints sticking to me, my notebook, my recipe notes, my pens, all over my kitchen and gods know where else after finishing my Easter Eggstravaganza Chocolate Boxes for my family and friends and sharing the highlight-recipe with you guys. Alas, things are not quite back to normal. Oh well… I guess my carefully planned out Party Box of Cocktail Chocolates I promised you guys “Once all that <insert a string of profanities here to colorfully describe the pandemic> is over and done with” still has to wait on the sidelines for a while.
All I can do for is share the recipe for one heck of a crowd-please that’s been regularly requested ever since the first batch left my kitchen a number of years ago (and have subsequently been part of my Easter Eggstravaganza Box in 2018), in the hopes spreading some Springtime Joy to you guys.
These amounts will net you 50-60 chocolates, depending on the size and shape of shells you’ve picked.
The Raspberry Crisp & Yoghurt Chocolates
50-60 Open Milk Chocolate Shells & Matching Lids – you can go with whatever shape or form floats your boat. Just bear in mind that the crisps make using a piping bag to fill up chocolate shells through a narrow opening at the bottom virtually impossible – so to save you time, effort and grief, I’d suggest using a bowl & lid kind of chocolate-shell setup. Chocolate-type-wise, you could switch to white chocolate if you like it really, really sweet. Dark chocolate however strangles the yoghurt, so it’s best to stick to the lighter options.
125g Butter, cubed and at room temperature
120g Heavy Cream
100g Unsweetened Frozen Raspberries, thawed and whizzed into a purée
100g White Chocolate, finely grated
20g Liquid Glucose
20g Yoghurt Powder
30ml Raspberry Syrup
10g Raspberry Crispies
1) Give your raspberry purée a quick think and decide on whether to go with or without the seeds – if they bother you, strain the purée through a fine sieve on it’s way into the pot. If you don’t mind them, into the pot it goes without further ado.
2) Add the raspberry purée, cream and liquid glucose to a small pot sitting on medum-high heat and bring the lot up to a light boil.
3) Place the grated chocolate in a wide mixing bowl and, once the liquids are merrily bubbling away, pour them on top of the chocolatey pile.
4) Allow the contents of the bowl to get accustomed to the new arrangement for 2 mins, then pick up a rubber spatula and your butter cubes.
5) Adding one cube at a time once the previous one has dissolved completely, fold the components into eachother until they’re very well blended into a glossy ganache.
6) Once that’s done, gently stir in the raspberry syrup to dot the “i”.
7) Set the bowl aside and leave the ganache to cool down to juuuust a little above room temperature.
8) Fold in the raspberry crisps until they’re evenly distributed throughout the ganache and get ready to fill up the shells.
9) Place the tray holding your shells on a flat, stable surface.
10) Spoon enough of the filling into each shell until all of them are filled up by ½ to ¾. I usually go about this using
two teaspoons – one to scoop up the filling, one to nudge it off the first in a “controlled” manner. Control is a bit of a strong word here, but at room temperature, the ganache gets gooey enough to manage it easily that way.
11) Tap the tray onto your work surface to pop out trapped air pockets, then fill them up to the rims in a second round.
12) Try to fill them up with a little peak sticking out of the center. That way, once you place a lid on top, the ganache-peak sticks to the lid, “goo’ing” it into place, if you will. You’ll find that you’ve filled them up too high if pressing the lid into place squeezes out filling around the rims. This sounds way more fiddldy than it is – you’ll get the hang of it in no time. Worst case scenario: You’ll get the hang of it after one wasn’t filled enough and one got too much.
13) And that’s all there is to it! Store them in an airtight container, in the fridge and take them out around 5 mins before you plan to eat them~
Just in case I’ve given you ideas… here’s the rest of my Easter Eggstravaganza Chocolate Box Gang of 2018:
Enjoy~!
♥
Nahdala's Kitchen 