Leaky chocolate covered peanut butter balls

[patris]

One of my sisters makes those ubiquitous peanut butter balls every year around the holidays (don't know the recipe, but it's basically PB, butter, powdered sugar, and whatever gets used to hold those things together other than powdered sugar). She used to dip them in melted chocolate chips and paraffin, but last year I persuaded her to let me temper some 'real' chocolate for them. We first hand-rolled them like truffles with a very thin coat, then dipped them. Most (probably 80 percent) ended up with little pinhole-type leaks of an oily substance. (how appetizing!) A careful blotting and another dip fixed some, but not nearly all.

Any ideas as to what we did wrong and how I can adjust the process to ensure success? The chocolate was in perfect temper, the pieces were room temperature, room temperature was probably 70-ish. She never had this problem using the chips/paraffin combo, and my role as benevolent chocolate dispenser and advice giver is at stake here.

Edited December 17, 2009 by patris (log)

[Darienne]

No answer from me, but rather an additional similar problem which may fit in.

I have dipped the 'cubed-comes-in-syrup-which -you-have-to -drain -well -and -pat -dry' ginger in tempered chocolate and all was well. This year I had to double dip each piece as I was getting those nasty little leaks also. Chocolate temper was perfect and ginger was also room temperature. 67 degrees or so.

My decision was 'never again'. Back to candying my own ginger, rolling in sugar and then dipping. NO LEAKING THERE.

Count me in for needing advice please.

[lebowits]

One of my sisters makes those ubiquitous peanut butter balls every year around the holidays (don't know the recipe, but it's basically PB, butter, powdered sugar, and whatever gets used to hold those things together other than powdered sugar). She used to dip them in melted chocolate chips and paraffin, but last year I persuaded her to let me temper some 'real' chocolate for them. We first hand-rolled them like truffles with a very thin coat, then dipped them. Most (probably 80 percent) ended up with little pinhole-type leaks of an oily substance. (how appetizing!) A careful blotting and another dip fixed some, but not nearly all.

Any ideas as to what we did wrong and how I can adjust the process to ensure success? The chocolate was in perfect temper, the pieces were room temperature, room temperature was probably 70-ish. She never had this problem using the chips/paraffin combo, and my role as benevolent chocolate dispenser and advice giver is at stake here.

The peanut butter you are using may have a fairly high oil content. If you are using "natural" peanut butters, they tend to separate vs. some of the larger brands which are generally blended to prevent that.

It's also possible you are seeing some "fat migration".

My suggestion would be to make the centers a little "drier" than normal by adding a bit more powdered sugar and to pre-coat the product with tempered chocolate before dipping.

Good luck!

[Kerry Beal]

Totally agree with Lebowits. Commercial peanut butter has emulsifiers in it that can help with the oil issues. A roll before the dip would likely help somewhat as well.

Re Darianne's issue - I let my ginger sit out on a rack for several days to dry before dipping - no more nasty leaks.

[rickster]

I had the same problem a couple of years ago doing truffles with various ganache fillings for Christmas and never figured out what was going on. So I'm not sure it's specifically related to the peanut butter fat issue, although there was fat in the chocolate and cream ganache I used .

[patris]

One of my sisters makes those ubiquitous peanut butter balls every year around the holidays (don't know the recipe, but it's basically PB, butter, powdered sugar, and whatever gets used to hold those things together other than powdered sugar). She used to dip them in melted chocolate chips and paraffin, but last year I persuaded her to let me temper some 'real' chocolate for them. We first hand-rolled them like truffles with a very thin coat, then dipped them. Most (probably 80 percent) ended up with little pinhole-type leaks of an oily substance. (how appetizing!) A careful blotting and another dip fixed some, but not nearly all.

Any ideas as to what we did wrong and how I can adjust the process to ensure success? The chocolate was in perfect temper, the pieces were room temperature, room temperature was probably 70-ish. She never had this problem using the chips/paraffin combo, and my role as benevolent chocolate dispenser and advice giver is at stake here.

The peanut butter you are using may have a fairly high oil content. If you are using "natural" peanut butters, they tend to separate vs. some of the larger brands which are generally blended to prevent that.

It's also possible you are seeing some "fat migration".

My suggestion would be to make the centers a little "drier" than normal by adding a bit more powdered sugar and to pre-coat the product with tempered chocolate before dipping.

Good luck!

Totally agree with Lebowits. Commercial peanut butter has emulsifiers in it that can help with the oil issues. A roll before the dip would likely help somewhat as well.

Re Darianne's issue - I let my ginger sit out on a rack for several days to dry before dipping - no more nasty leaks.

Thanks, all! I am 100% certain she doesn't use natural peanut butter - Jif is her brand, I think. We did hand-roll before dipping; perhaps we'll do that twice, then dip. Meantime, I'll suggest a bit of extra powdered sugar and a few hours' drying time out of the container she keeps them in.

[Darienne]

Re Darianne's issue - I let my ginger sit out on a rack for several days to dry before dipping - no more nasty leaks.

Excellent point.

It just hit me...if we dust toffee with cocoa to make sure the chocolate adheres...what about rolling the ginger lightly in a cornstarch/confectioner's sugar mixture? Might that help?

[Darienne]

My suggestion would be to make the centers a little "drier" than normal by adding a bit more powdered sugar and to pre-coat the product with tempered chocolate before dipping.

Sorry Steve, read the answers out of sync.

[rena]

I added rice crisp to my recipe which is the same as your, except I do add some white chocolate as well. It didn't seep at all when I used the rice crisp and it gives it a different texture. You don't want to add to much rice crisp then you end up the rice krispy bars.

This is the recipe I used:

16oz of white chocolate

6 heaping serving spoons of peanut butter (i used jif low fat)

1 cup of powder sugar

1 to 2 cups of rice crisp...

heat the chocolate until melted and then add to the last three ingredients. Stir to incorporate and the roll into balls. Dip in chocolate.....

Rena

[merlicky]

As someone above mentioned, this is not a problem specific to peanut butter. It can happen with any soft center that is rolled round.

As chocolate firms up the fat crystallizes and begins packing together more tightly, kind of like a puzzle. This causes chocolate to shrink as it hardens (which is why it comes out of molds so well). So, when you have a soft center without a firm structure the chocolate constricts around it and squishes it in. And, when that center is round it pushes toward the center from every point.

The pin holes are usually cause by air bubbles in the chocolate coating from dipping. The bubbles might not be visible on the surface, but can still cause a thin section in the coating. As the chocolate squishes the center in, the center will try to push back out. The first thing that will squeeze through any tiny hole is the liquid part of the center, which is why you notice the oily substance (the oil from the peanut butter – in truffles it is usually any liquid flavoring or part of the cream). Often times if there are no pinholes in the coating then the truffle will develop cracks or have the bottom break open (having the bottom break open is much easier to fix).

I haven’t quite figured out a definitive answer for why this happens sometimes and not others, but so far my experimenting has led me towards how quickly the chocolate hardens. It seems that if the chocolate sets up quicker you are more likely to develop these problems. If is sets up slower it seems more likely to take the shape of the center.

Some of the ways to avoid this issue are:

-Leave the centers out, uncovered until the surface develops a skin or crust. This creates a firmer surface for the chocolate to set.

-Pre-coat the center with a thin layer and let set for a few hours before dipping. This gives the chocolate time to harden and squeeze the center. Often times you will notice that the pre-coat develops cracks. Pre-coating acts similar to letting the center form a crust because it creates a firm surface for the rest of the chocolate to set. However, if your pre-coat is too thin then it will not have squeezed the center and you could still develop the leaking on final enrobing.

-Hand-roll the truffles multiple times to build up your standard coating. If you don’t dip the truffles, but rather hand roll them two or three times to get your coating, then you shouldn’t see this issue by the final coating.

ADDITION:

Another thing, when you use the chocolate chips with paraffin you typically don’t get a real temper on the chocolate. The wax keeps the chocolate from forming bloom, and also makes it more pliable. Therefore, when you use this method you don’t get the constriction on the center as you do with tempered chocolate.

Edited December 18, 2009 by merlicky (log)

[mkayahara]

We had exactly the same problem this year, though we didn't pre-coat the centres, and they were frozen rather than at room temperature. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one! We were also using commercial peanut butter, mixed with ground walnuts, icing sugar and a small amount of butter. I'll be sure to try out some of these suggestions when we do this again next year; despite the leakage, I've really been loving the texture of the tempered chocolate this year.

[Kerry Beal]

For sure softer centers are more susceptible to this problem. Letting a 'skin' form goes a long way to preventing the 'worm' issue, but isn't always as helpful for the fat drops that squeeze out.

[mkayahara]

Indeed, at one point, I suggested to my partner that we reformulate the centre, but he was resistant to that idea, since he's been eating these chocolates since he was a child, and he was worried they wouldn't "taste right"...

[Darienne]

Reminds me of the first time I chocolate-dipped nougat...before I knew about wafer paper. Looked like little arms calling for help, poking up from the chocolate chunks.

[Lior]

perhaps adding a bit of cb to the pb will help.

[Darienne]

Hi Ilana,

My ignorance shines through. What is cb? Cocoa butter is about all I can think of. Thanks.

Edited December 20, 2009 by Darienne (log)

[Lior]

cb=cocoa butter, so you see, you are not at all ignorant!!

[patris]

As someone above mentioned, this is not a problem specific to peanut butter. It can happen with any soft center that is rolled round.

As chocolate firms up the fat crystallizes and begins packing together more tightly, kind of like a puzzle. This causes chocolate to shrink as it hardens (which is why it comes out of molds so well). So, when you have a soft center without a firm structure the chocolate constricts around it and squishes it in. And, when that center is round it pushes toward the center from every point.

The pin holes are usually cause by air bubbles in the chocolate coating from dipping. The bubbles might not be visible on the surface, but can still cause a thin section in the coating. As the chocolate squishes the center in, the center will try to push back out. The first thing that will squeeze through any tiny hole is the liquid part of the center, which is why you notice the oily substance (the oil from the peanut butter – in truffles it is usually any liquid flavoring or part of the cream). Often times if there are no pinholes in the coating then the truffle will develop cracks or have the bottom break open (having the bottom break open is much easier to fix).

I haven’t quite figured out a definitive answer for why this happens sometimes and not others, but so far my experimenting has led me towards how quickly the chocolate hardens. It seems that if the chocolate sets up quicker you are more likely to develop these problems. If is sets up slower it seems more likely to take the shape of the center.

Some of the ways to avoid this issue are:

-Leave the centers out, uncovered until the surface develops a skin or crust. This creates a firmer surface for the chocolate to set.

-Pre-coat the center with a thin layer and let set for a few hours before dipping. This gives the chocolate time to harden and squeeze the center. Often times you will notice that the pre-coat develops cracks. Pre-coating acts similar to letting the center form a crust because it creates a firm surface for the rest of the chocolate to set. However, if your pre-coat is too thin then it will not have squeezed the center and you could still develop the leaking on final enrobing.

-Hand-roll the truffles multiple times to build up your standard coating. If you don’t dip the truffles, but rather hand roll them two or three times to get your coating, then you shouldn’t see this issue by the final coating.

ADDITION:

Another thing, when you use the chocolate chips with paraffin you typically don’t get a real temper on the chocolate. The wax keeps the chocolate from forming bloom, and also makes it more pliable. Therefore, when you use this method you don’t get the constriction on the center as you do with tempered chocolate.

Many, many thanks to all for your terrific feedback. Merlicky, this was particularly helpful. We hand rolled one coat, then let them set quite a while before we proceeded, rolling twice more. Out of about 125 pieces, only a small fraction - 5 or 6 - had any ooze by the end of the day. Reputation (and my sister's holiday gifts) saved!