Chocolate Hearts
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 18 squares red foil, or 9 sheets edible gold leaf (see page 10)
- Melt and temper the chocolate (see pages 2530).
- Pour the chocolate into a paper pastry cone and cut off a 1/2-inch opening at the pointed end.
- Or pour the chocolate into a plastic squeeze bottle.
- Pipe or squeeze chocolate into the cavities of a mold with eighteen 1-inch-wide hearts.
- With a flexible-blade spatula, clean around the edges of each cavity, if necessary.
- Tap the mold on a countertop a few times to eliminate air pockets.
- Place the mold on a flat surface in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the mold from the freezer and turn it upside down over a piece of parchment or waxed paper.
- Hold the mold by opposite corners and gently twist it in opposite directions.
- The chocolate hearts should drop out of the mold.
- If they dont drop out easily, return the mold to the freezer for another 15 minutes and try again.
- Wrap each chocolate heart in a square of red foil or delicately place a half sheet of edible gold leaf onto each heart.
- Use a thin sable brush to fit the gold leaf around the heart.
- Avoid touching the gold leaf; it will stick to your hands.
- In a tightly covered container, the chocolate hearts will keep for 1 week at room temperature; if the container is wrapped in several layers of aluminum foil, the hearts will keep for 1 month in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer.
- The edible gold leaf will dissolve if exposed to too much moist or humid air.
- The chocolate hearts taste best at room temperature.
- 3 tablespoons of any lightly toasted, finely ground nuts can be blended into the chocolate before molding.
- Substitute white chocolate or milk chocolate for the bittersweet chocolate.
- Any shapes can be used for solid molding.
bittersweet chocolate, red foil
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chocolate-hearts-393476 (may not work)