Hot Chocolate bombs

[curls]

2 hours ago, Dark side said:

That's an interesting idea.... I'll have to look into ratios of gelatin to booze, as I've never made a jelly before. Any recipe suggestions?
Don't think it'll make for as pretty a picture of the insides, lol, but it might do the trick! thank you!

The recipes from this book (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762440546/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AJnOFbXR56EQP?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1) are a good jumping off point... I tried this at one of the eGullet Chocolate & Confection workshops.

[Tri2Cook]

16 hours ago, Dark side said:

That's an interesting idea.... I'll have to look into ratios of gelatin to booze, as I've never made a jelly before. Any recipe suggestions?
Don't think it'll make for as pretty a picture of the insides, lol, but it might do the trick! thank you!

 

The potential issue being, you'll (and your recipients) need to be aware of storage temps and storage time. At the low levels of gelatin you'd want to use for this purpose so that it melts easily in the milk, it could potentially melt at warm room temps that aren't warm enough to melt the chocolate so you wouldn't see it happen. It will definitely slow-bleed liquid due to syneresis. Unrefrigerated shelf life would be really short and enough gelatin to counteract the stability issues probably wouldn't result in a product suited to this purpose. But I've never actually made a hot chocolate bomb with a gelatin-based gel inside so take the above for what it's worth. 😁

[teonzo]

17 hours ago, Dark side said:

That's an interesting idea.... I'll have to look into ratios of gelatin to booze, as I've never made a jelly before. Any recipe suggestions?
Don't think it'll make for as pretty a picture of the insides, lol, but it might do the trick! thank you!

 

Usually it's about 24 g gelatin for 1000 g of liquid. I would say it's better to use more in your case, I would go with about 35-40 g gelatin for 1000 g booze. Gelatin will melt really easily with hot milk/water, so you don't have problems if you use more gelatin than normal. Melted gelatin will contribute to viscosity and silkiness, which is a nice feature for hot chocolate. A cube of booze jelly gives a very nice visual touch, just give a look at these pictures of champagne jelly on google.

 

To make the jelly you need to bloom the gelatin in water. If you use gelatin powder, then mix it with 5x weight in cold water (10 g gelatin, 50 g water), mix it (using a fork if the quantiy is low, a whisk if quantity is high), then put in the fridge for about 30 minutes. If you use gelatin sheets, then you pour cold water in a bowl, put the gelatin sheets in the water (one after the other, not all attached together, if you put them attached then they won't bloom correctly) so they are completely covered, then let them rest for about 10-15 minutes.

When the gelatin is bloomed you can prepare the booze jelly.

If you used gelatin powder, then put the bowl with the bloomed gelatin in the microwave, give some short bursts at low power (300W or less) until it is melted. Do not continue heating it. Pour about 1/5 of the booze in a bowl, heat in the microwave to around 40°C. Add the melted gelatin to the warm booze, whisk to mix. Add the rest of the booze (room temperature), whisk to mix. Pour the mix in a pan and let it gel (in the fridge would be ideal).

If you used gelatin sheets, then pour about 1/5 of the booze in a bowl, heat in the microwave to around 50°C. Pick the bloomed gelatin sheets and squeeze them with your hands, to get out the excess water. Put the gelatin sheets in the warm booze, whisk to dissolve the gelatin and mix. Add the rest of the booze (room temperature), whisk to mix. Pour the mix in a pan and let it gel (in the fridge would be ideal).

 

 

 

Teo

 

[teonzo]

59 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

 

The potential issue being, you'll (and your recipients) need to be aware of storage temps and storage time. At the low levels of gelatin you'd want to use for this purpose so that it melts easily in the milk, it could potentially melt at warm room temps that aren't warm enough to melt the chocolate so you wouldn't see it happen. It will definitely slow-bleed liquid due to syneresis. Unrefrigerated shelf life would be really short and enough gelatin to counteract the stability issues probably wouldn't result in a product suited to this purpose. But I've never actually made a hot chocolate bomb with a gelatin-based gel inside so take the above for what it's worth. 😁

 

I would not worry about all these things.

Gelatin melts above 30°C, if you reach that temperature then you start having troubles with chocolate too, since it becomes soft and the sphere gets ruined. So the temperature to avoid risks is the same. We are in autumn-winter, so there are no risks for hot room temperatures. Only risk is if the customers put the spheres near a heat source, but there's no solution for dumb customers, plus the sphere would get ruined even without the jelly.

Gelatin melts almost immedialy when in contact with hot liquids, so no risks there even if you use more gelatin than normal.

Syneresis is a problem if you freeze gelatin, at room temperature it's negligible. The really really small amount of liquid will be absorbed by the cocoa powder and the marshmallow inside the sphere.

No risks about shelf life, we are talking about booze jelly, booze is shelf stable, adding gelatin won't change this.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, teonzo said:

 

I would not worry about all these things.

Gelatin melts above 30°C, if you reach that temperature then you start having troubles with chocolate too, since it becomes soft and the sphere gets ruined. So the temperature to avoid risks is the same. We are in autumn-winter, so there are no risks for hot room temperatures. Only risk is if the customers put the spheres near a heat source, but there's no solution for dumb customers, plus the sphere would get ruined even without the jelly.

Gelatin melts almost immedialy when in contact with hot liquids, so no risks there even if you use more gelatin than normal.

Syneresis is a problem if you freeze gelatin, at room temperature it's negligible. The really really small amount of liquid will be absorbed by the cocoa powder and the marshmallow inside the sphere.

No risks about shelf life, we are talking about booze jelly, booze is shelf stable, adding gelatin won't change this.

 

 

 

Teo

 

Fair enough but I wouldn't consider any moisture migration from the gel to be acceptable in that environment (a water soluble powder) and I would put 30°C as more like the midrange of gelatins melting point, depending on various factors. Regardless, wasn't intending what I posted to counter what you suggested. Just bringing up potential problems that may or may not arise based on my experience working with gelatin. I think it's an excellent suggestion if long term and/or room temp storage isn't a requirement. It doesn't sound like there's much chance we're gonna agree on the suitability if that is a requirement... but that doesn't mean I'm saying I'm right and you're wrong. Just tossing my experiences in the mix. 

[JeanneCake]

I succumbed to the hot chocolate bomb madness.  I just ordered molds from D&R (2.75 inch), hopefully they'll be here in a week or so.  I'm ordering cocoa butter from AUI this week and will make silk and then immerse myself this weekend learning. We use chocoa forte 60% as our basic, everyday ingredient chocolate and that's what I'm going to use to get the technique down. (we save the good stuff for mousse and ganache).  So, the dark side beckons and I'm answering the call Please be patient with me as I navigate this new obsession.....I'm sure I'm going to be asking questions!!

[Tri2Cook]

Any thoughts from those who work with 2 piece molds (because I usually don't) on gluing the halves together with tempered chocolate instead of melting? I have a lip to work with because I invert the molds onto a marble slab after dumping the excess.

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

Any thoughts from those who work with 2 piece molds (because I usually don't) on gluing the halves together with tempered chocolate instead of melting? I have a lip to work with because I invert the molds onto a marble slab after dumping the excess.

Got freeze spray?

[Kim Shook]

Any one else following this thread only to see if any of the chocolate makers are selling them yet? 😁

[Tri2Cook]

10 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Got freeze spray?

No, ma'am... was hoping I could join 'em with the chocolate in the joint and turn them in the mold like in the video above to hold everything in place while the chocolate sets. But if the junction will be strong enough putting them together that way, I would be willing to get some freeze spray.

[blue_dolphin]

22 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Any one else following this thread only to see if any of the chocolate makers are selling them yet? 😁

 

Not exactly, but every time I see the thread pop up, I'm more and more tempted to stop by a local bakery that's selling them and pick up a couple!

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

No, ma'am... was hoping I could join 'em with the chocolate in the joint and turn them in the mold like in the video above to hold everything in place while the chocolate sets. But if the junction will be strong enough putting them together that way, I would be willing to get some freeze spray.

Why do you want to avoid the melting?

[Tri2Cook]

16 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Why do you want to avoid the melting?

Mainly was just curious if it was a viable option but also a little bit because if one point melts a little unevenly, it sometimes creates little gaps once assembled. 

[Kerry Beal]

3 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Mainly was just curious if it was a viable option but also a little bit because if one point melts a little unevenly, it sometimes creates little gaps once assembled. 

I tend to hold on the warm surface until it is smooth and melted all around before putting together.

[Tri2Cook]

59 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I tend to hold on the warm surface until it is smooth and melted all around before putting together.

Me too but I think maybe sometimes I don't sit it down or pick it up as level as I thought I did. I just wondered if maybe touching them on the surface of the chocolate in the melter and popping them together would work but I probably need to just put my effort into being more careful with the melting. 

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Me too but I think maybe sometimes I don't sit it down or pick it up as level as I thought I did. I just wondered if maybe touching them on the surface of the chocolate in the melter and popping them together would work but I probably need to just put my effort into being more careful with the melting. 

I've just never done well trying to stick together with chocolate. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

Any thoughts from those who work with 2 piece molds (because I usually don't) on gluing the halves together with tempered chocolate instead of melting? I have a lip to work with because I invert the molds onto a marble slab after dumping the excess.

 

I am interested but I'm not sure I understand the problem.  I have a two piece egg mold but the halves come together almost seamlessly.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

2 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I am interested but I'm not sure I understand the problem.  I have a two piece egg mold but the halves come together almost seamlessly.

 

 

Do you have any problem joining the sides if you want to put something inside?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Do you have any problem joining the sides if you want to put something inside?

 

As I recall Brunner sells a thingy that allows one to make half a mold, with a lip or without.  My thought was to make a small hole and inject stuff with an iSi into the cavity, but I confess I have not tried it.  This has not been a good year for seeing grandkids.

 

[Shelby]

16 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Any one else following this thread only to see if any of the chocolate makers are selling them yet? 😁

🙋‍♀️

[Tri2Cook]

17 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I've just never done well trying to stick together with chocolate. 

And that's more than enough reason for me to decide to abandon that approach. 

 

15 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I am interested but I'm not sure I understand the problem.  I have a two piece egg mold but the halves come together almost seamlessly.

I'm not actually using a 2 piece mold, I just mentioned that because I figured people who do have a lot of experience joining 2 pieces of chocolate. 

[BeeZee]

Looks like local shop is making them using two half spheres

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIy5nLerOd5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

[curls]

More information on the trend, https://www.ecolechocolat.com/en/chocolate-blog/hot-chocolate-bombs.html.

[Tri2Cook]

21 hours ago, BeeZee said:

Looks like local shop is making them using two half spheres

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIy5nLerOd5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

Genuine question, not being facetious... is there any other way? I thought that was how everybody was doing it.

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Genuine question, not being facetious... is there any other way? I thought that was how everybody was doing it.

Not that I'm aware of. But I did like that idea in the Ecole link where she used bars instead of spheres.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Kerry Beal (log)