Chocolate Coal

[Allura]

As a kid, my mom thought it was funny to stick a lump of real coal in my stocking. As an adult, I want revenge.

I know I've seen licorice "coal" in the past, but I'm thinking of making something chocolate. My first thought is some sort of lump of dark chocolate with nuts or raisins mixed in. I don't have any molds, and, frankly, haven't ever even made chocolate on my own, although I helped my mom a lot when I was younger. So, any ideas on where to start with such an idea?

[Serj]

You can make "molding chocolate" by blitzing regular, chopped chocolate in a food processor until it's well... moldable. Just keep processing until it gets there (takes a little while). If molded into clumps, I reckon it would look like coal! Worth a try, even if it doesn't work out- you still have chopped chocolate which you can melt down and use for brownies or something.

Disclaimer: I don't have a food processor at home, but I have done it on a couple of really old industrial strength Robot Coupes at work - don't see why it wouldnt work though.

[CanadianBakin']

Could you make just a rough shaped truffle and coat it with King Arthur's black cocoa powder?

[Kerry Beal]

Saw something like this at the Cheese Boutique, looked like a rough chunk of marshmallow rolled in finely ground black coconut or something.

[CaliPoutine]

There is a recipe in the latest KA catalog for a coal cookie.

[Rehovot]

How about Panforte di Siena?

[EggyGirl]

Ha...that's a cute idea....then I want coal in my stocking...:-p fill it up to the top with chocolate coal.

[Lior]

How about getting this: Take a look at this picture of chocolate coal:

shopping.aol.com/santas-chocolate-coal-bag/54716171

Good luck anyway!

Edited December 12, 2007 by Lior (log)

[Allura]

How about getting this:

shopping.aol.com/santas-chocolate-coal-bag/54716171

←

Yeah, I saw that in a catalog, but the shipping makes it ridiculous for one small bag.

There's a card store/gift shop in town with a food section that might have it and a chocolate shop that I can also check. Other than those, I'm either going to play with "process chocolate until I can mold it" idea (which sounds really cool) or maybe just buy a small box of good chocolate and re-wrap it with a new label. Not sure I have time for a lot of experimentation when I only need a few pieces of chocolate anyway.

I'm still trying to figure out WHAT that candy in that picture is, though. It just says "double crisp".

[mrose]

How about getting this:

shopping.aol.com/santas-chocolate-coal-bag/54716171

←

Yeah, I saw that in a catalog, but the shipping makes it ridiculous for one small bag.

There's a card store/gift shop in town with a food section that might have it and a chocolate shop that I can also check. Other than those, I'm either going to play with "process chocolate until I can mold it" idea (which sounds really cool) or maybe just buy a small box of good chocolate and re-wrap it with a new label. Not sure I have time for a lot of experimentation when I only need a few pieces of chocolate anyway.

I'm still trying to figure out WHAT that candy in that picture is, though. It just says "double crisp".

←

The candy in the picture looks like a molded chocolate colored black. The shape seems to be geodesic dome.

Edited December 12, 2007 by mrose (log)

[baroness]

I'm still trying to figure out WHAT that candy in that picture is, though. It just says "double crisp".

←

"Double crisp" is often a Nestle's Crunch-type product--milk chocolate with many rice krispies in it. BTW, Nestle used to (and maybe still does; I'm not a milk chocolate fan) make a product called Buncha Crunch, which was little pebble-like globs of chocolate and rice.