How to Make Molded Chocolates

How to Make Molded Chocolates.

Molded chocolates make a nice dessert as well as a great gift for holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions. Whether you want to use high-quality or standard chocolate, making molded chocolate is not a difficult process!

Part 1 Buying and Melting Your Chocolate.
1. Buy chocolate bars or chips for the cheapest option. Chocolate chips and chocolate bars don't usually use true chocolate and do not have the same rich taste as couverture chocolate. However, they are more stable—meaning they can be microwaved—and are a lot cheaper than couverture chocolate.
Always look at the ingredients first to determine the chocolate type. Confectionary chocolate—cheaper chocolates rich in carbohydrates and sugar—contain vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter.
You can use any chocolate for molded chocolate. In general, anything with vegetable fat (most store-bought chocolates) is going to be easier to melt but not as tasty.
If you're making chocolate with kids, confectionary chocolate is a great choice because it comes in lots of different colors.
2. Purchase couverture chocolate for the best taste. Couverture chocolate is high-quality and tastes great, but much is more expensive than standard chocolate. It also must be heated with a double-boiler. But if you're picky about your chocolate, couverture chocolate is worth the price!
Check the ingredients to determine the chocolate type. Couverture chocolate contains cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, and vanilla.
Any chocolate with cocoa butter must be tempered, which means you must use a double-boiler.
3. Microwave the chocolate if you're using chocolate bars or chips. Put 1 pound (450 g) of chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for 1 minute on medium. Afterward, stir the chocolate as much as you can. Continue microwaving the chocolate in 1-minute intervals and stirring it afterward until it's a smooth consistency.
When the chocolate is properly melted, it should pour from a spoon like syrup.
Be sure that the bowl is microwave safe and never use a microwave without an adult present.
Don't overcook your chocolate or you'll ruin its consistency.
4. Double-boil the chocolate if you’re using couverture chocolate. Heat 1 pound (450 g) of couverture chocolate on low for 15 minutes. Place your chocolate into the top pan or bowl. Set the heat to low—2 or 3 on your stove dial—and boil it for about 15 minutes. Use a cooking thermometer to make sure the chocolate is 110 °F (43 °C) when it's done. Be sure to stir the chocolate every 1 to 2 minutes once you notice it start to melt.
If you don't own a double-boiler, make one on your own.
Never use an oven without the help of an adult.

Part 2 Molding Your Melted Chocolate.
1. Purchase a plastic candy mold for your chocolates. Always choose clear molds whenever possible—this makes it easier to tell when your chocolates are done. In terms of size, select whatever mold you'd prefer. Just remember that larger molds take longer to cool.
Invest in custom molds to create your own shapes and designs!
Never use a metal mold.
2. Paint the surface of your candy mold if you want colored chocolates. Use small, food-safe paintbrushes to apply 1 or more colors of a confectionary coating into the surface of each chocolate mold. If you're going to paint multiple colors, make sure to purchase multiple colors of confectionary coating and let each color dry one at a time before adding another. Once all the colors have dried, you can add your chocolate!
If you're up for the challenge, you can also melt cocoa butter (following the same instructions as for chocolate), tint it with fat-soluble food coloring, and use paint the mold surface with it.
3. Pour the melted chocolate into the mold. If you have squeeze bottles, pour your chocolate into them and squeeze it into each mold cavity. If you don't have squeeze bottles, spoon your chocolate from the bowl and gently pour it into the cavities.
Gently tap the mold tray onto a tabletop after filling all the cavities. This will remove air bubbles by leveling out the chocolate.
4. Scrape the excess chocolate from the mold. Run the edge of a small palette knife or offset metal spatula across the top of the mold to remove excess chocolate. Afterward, the chocolate should be level with the surface of the mold.
If you're making your molds into lollipops, insert the sticks now. Be sure to twist the sticks all the way around once to ensure the chocolate coats it evenly.
5. Place your mold in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove small bite-sized chocolate molds in about 5 minutes and standard molds in around 10. Leaving the mold in the freezer is nothing to worry about—it's much better than taking it out too early.
If you can't freeze your chocolate, refrigerate it for about 15 to 30 minutes (the former for small molds and the latter for standard molds). However, remember that freezing "quick-cools" the chocolate, which makes the pieces easier to remove.
6. Check that the chocolate has set before taking them out of the mold. Before trying to remove your chocolate pieces from the mold tray, make sure that they have properly contracted and dried. For clear molds, check the underside and make sure the chocolate doesn't look wet. If your mold isn't clear, gently touch the surface of the chocolate while wearing candy handling gloves.
Purchase candy handling gloves from kitchen stores and online suppliers.
7. Remove the molded chocolate from the tray. After removing the mold tray from the freezer, gently tap it against a clean towel spread across a flat surface. If the chocolate cooled properly, the pieces should fall out immediately. For chocolates that don't fall out, gently tap the back of each mold.
If you used a refrigerator to cool your chocolate, you might have to push each chocolate piece out of the mold from behind the tray.
Use a paper towel to gently remove any moisture from the chocolate pieces.
8. Clean your mold as soon as possible. Always clean your mold while the chocolate is still melted. Clean and rinse it thoroughly with soapy water. If there's any chocolate left, put the mold in the freezer until the problematic chocolate hardens. Afterward, gently tap the mold against a hard flat surface and the chocolate should cleanly fall out.
Use this same strategy for squeeze bottles.
9. Store your chocolate in a plastic air-tight container. Always place the container in a dry, cool place, such as a pantry or cupboard. Ambient temperature should be 55 to 70 °F (13 to 21 °C) and humidity should be lower than 50 percent.
Never store your chocolate in the refrigerator.

Community Q&A.

Question : How long can the chocolate be stored?
Answer : If it's in an airtight container, it can last as long as the date on the chocolate you used to make the candies!
Not Helpful 1Helpful 10
Question : Can I make my own molds?
Answer : Yes. You can make your own molds by getting a piece of chocolate and shaping it with a molder or knife.
Question : Is there any chocolate that can be made without a mold?
Answer : You can't make chocolate candies without a mold, but you can make chocolate shards with a sheet pan.
Question : I tried to melt Vanhouten Professional Chocolate Bars, dark chocolate with 66% cocoa, on a double boiler. It never melted. How should I make molded chocolates with this brand?
Answer : Was the water boiling? If not, that might have been the problem. If the water was boiling, then the chocolate might have not been in small enough pieces.
Not Helpful 0Helpful 8
Question : How much time does it take to make it?
Answer : Maybe an hour, at most.
Question : Should I grease my chocolate molds?
Answer : You can give them a light spray, just to make sure the chocolates come out, but it's not necessary.

Things You'll Need.

Plastic candy mold.
Double-boiler (for couverture chocolate), Mixing bowl (oven-safe if you're microwaving).
Cooking thermometer, Squeeze bottle, Spoon or 5 ounce (140 g) ladle.
Small palette knife or offset metal spatula, Lollipop sticks (for chocolate lollipops).

Warnings.
Never wash your candy mold in a dishwasher.
Don't use a microwave or oven without the help of an adult.

Mei 09, 2020

how to make oat flour

How to Make Oat Flour

Want to use up your oats in a more creative and a much more delicious way than oatmeal each morning? Suffering from gluten intolerance? Looking for a way to get rid of mountains of rolled oats? Oat flour may be for you. This healthy, versatile flour is easy to make yourself, so don't waste money buying it at the health food store. You only need a food processor and one ingredient to get started.

Ingredients

Oats (Old fashioned, steel cut, or quick-cooking all work).

Blender or food processor.

Part 1 Making Oat Flour.

1. Measure out a portion of oats. The type of oats traditionally used for oat flour are called "rolled oats." These can be bought for cheap at many grocery stores, but are not always available. Luckily, you can use instant, quick-cook, or steel cut as well -- the only difference is grain size, and you're grinding them all up anyway.

Don't use oats that have been flavored in any way, as this flavor will work into your final dish. Plain oats are best.

If you're going to be using your oat flour in a recipe immediately, measure out more oats than the recipe calls for. Once you turn them into flour, they'll settle and take up a smaller volume. You'll generally end up with about 3/4 of the volume of oats you started with.

2. Pulse the oats in a food processor. Any standard blender or "Magic Bullet"-type device will also work well.In a pinch, you could use a coffee grinder. Be sure to clean it out first unless you want coffee-flavored flour. Pulse for 30 seconds or until the oats reach a fine, powdery consistency. They should look a lot like traditional plain, all-purpose wheat flour.

No blender? There are a variety of ways to make manual flour, but you need to know they will take a while. You could try.

Mincing: Using your sharpest knife, rock it back and forth over a small pile of oats to quickly chop them up. They will be a little bigger than a real flour, but will still work.

Grinding: Using a mortar and pestle, grind the oats into a powder.

Mashing: A last-ditch effort, put the oats in a resealable plastic bag, squeeze the air out, and start crushing as if washing clothing by hand. Note that this will likely take a long time.

3. Stir to mix in any stray oats, then pulse again. It can be hard to tell whether any extra oats remain in your flour, so open the food processor or blender and stir the powder a few times to be safe. Pulse again for 10 seconds or so.

4. Use or store your oat flour at once. Your oat flour is ready to use right away. You can use it roughly how you would use plain flour ordinarily, substituting it into recipes. If you need to save some, use the same rules you would use for ordinary flour. Keep it in a cool, dry place in an airtight container. Oat flour lasts for about 3 months in the cabinet and 6 months in the freezer.

These are only estimates, and oat flour will never keep as long as whole oats. Only make as much as you can use in the next few weeks.

Hot and humid environments will lower the shelf life of your flour. Cold and dry areas may be able to store their oat flour a little longer without problems.

Part 2 Using Oat Flour.

1. Use for its subtle oat flavor. The taste difference between plain flour and oat flour won't immediately jump out at you, but it's somewhat noticeable. Oat flour gives the baked goods a nutty flavor and a chewy texture, different from plain flour but not overwhelmingly so. This is perfect for certain dishes — specifically, savory-sweet baked goods tend to benefit from this taste profile.

The classic example, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, are taken to the next level with oat flour.

In most recipes, you only need 3/4 cup flour for every 1 cup of plain flour. If a cookie recipe calls for 2 cups normal flour, you should use 1 1/2 cup oat flour. except in raised yeast breads that need gluten to give them structure.

If you're unsure how a baked good will respond, mix and match the flours. Instead of 1 cup of plain flour, try 3/4 oats and 1/4 wheat to get the textural benefits of gluten (it gives loaves of bread shape) without eating too much of it.

2. Use to reduce the gluten in recipes. One of the most popular ways oat flour is used today is as a gluten-free alternative to plain flour. Because gluten is a protein that naturally comes from wheat, using oat flour instead of all-purpose flour will usually remove the gluten from baked goods.

Note: The rolled oats you can buy at the store aren't always 100% gluten free. Small amounts of wheat can get mixed into the oats (usually, because the equipment used to process them is also used to process wheat). This can make a difference for people with Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, so be sure to use oats that are advertised as gluten-free to fully protect friends with Celiac disease.

3. Use oat flour to give baked goods a lighter texture. Compared to plain flour, oat flour is slightly less dense, which makes foods baked from it a little fluffier than they normally would be. This can be used to make wonderfully light muffins and biscuits, though it's also great for giving a unique texture to thicker pastries like scones and soda bread.

You don't need to substitute all of the flour to get this effect. To add lightness without losing the taste or consistency of plain flour, use a half-and-half mixture.

Try using oat flour in our scone recipe for a lighter version of this delicious breakfast treat.

4. Use to coat or dredge foods. Just like ordinary flour, oat flour can be used as a coating for a wide variety of foods. For instance, if you're frying breaded cuts of meat, you can coat them with oat flour (instead of plain flour) before dipping in an egg wash and tossing with the breading. Oat flour can also be dusted on proved loaves (loaves that have finished rising, but aren't cooked yet) to create an attractive, crunchy crust.

Another excellent idea is to use oat flour when kneading bread dough to keep it from sticking to your work surface. Because of its lighter texture, it won't make the dough stiff if you incorporate too much.

5. Use oat flour for its nutritional benefits. Oat flour is great for your body even if you don't have gluten intolerance. Oats are naturally rich in protein, fiber, and help your body burn fats. They are lower in carbohydrates than most grains and are known to have minor cholesterol-reducing properties. This makes oat flour an excellent choice for your recipes — even if there isn't a special reason to use it.

Oat flour has high levels of magnesium, making it very helpful for women going through menopause or menstruation. Magnesium deficiencies are a common cause of profuse menstrual bleeding.

6. Finished.

Tips

Gluten is a protein that gives bread and bread products their springy, elastic quality.[10] Because oats don't naturally contain gluten, using oat flour in place of plain flour will change the texture of many baked goods.

In many countries, wheat flour, plain flour, and all-purpose white flour are referred to as one and the same; but plain flour and wheat flour are sold as two different items in some countries such as India. The difference is similar to the difference between brown rice and white rice. Both the ingredients are derived from the same item.

A very small percentage of Celiac patients may experience a negative reaction to oats even though they do not contain gluten. This is because the oats could be contaminated at the factory with plain flours. Make sure the oats are certified gluten-free.

Desember 05, 2019