ČOKOLADNA KEMIJA / CHOCOLATE CHEMISTRY

Po zelo uspešni proizvodnji domačih pralin prejšnji vikend sem želela poiskati kakšne nove recepte za te dobrote.
Na žalost nisem bila kaj prida uspešna. Večina receptov je samo stopljena čokolada, ki se jo vlije v modelčke. Jaz pa sem želela nekaj domiselnega in drugačnega.

Pa sem se odločila poskusiti kar sama, s sestavinami, ki so mi všeč. Saj ne more biti tako težko. Kaj pa bi šlo lahko narobe?

Kaj kmalu sem ugotovila, da gre lahko kaj narobe.

S čokolado nimam dosti izkušenj (razen, da sem jo veliko pojedla in da jo uporabljam v pecivu) in zato ne poznam njenega obnašanja pri dodajanju različnih sestavin.

Začetek je bil obetaven - uporabila sem mešanico samih dobrih čokolad z visoko vsebnostjo kakava, jih stopila in dodala mandljev krokant.
Še vedno vse krasno.

Za boljši okus sem se odločila dodati dve veliki žlici pomarančnega likerja Cointreau.

In sem bila v težavah. V trenutku se je tekoča čokolada spremenila v lepljivo gmoto, ki nikakor ni bila primerna za vlivanje v modelčke. Okus je imela sicer božanski, izgled pa rahlo manj.
Ker sem se namenila delati bombone v modelčkih in ne pralin oblikovanih v kroglice, sem to neugledno maso pač natlačila v modelčke in upala na najbolje.

Končni rezultat ni seveda izgledal nič bolje kot sama masa, dober okus je pa ostal.

Na moje veliko veselje sem se že na začetku odločila, da polovico mase naredim brez alkohola in sem tako imela dovolj sestavin, da sem naredila še nekaj pralin lepšega izgleda.

Očitno se bo potrebno še česa naučiti!

After a very successful production of home-made chocolates last weekend I wanted to find some new recipes for these goodies.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much success. Most of the recipes I found were just melted chocolate poured into molds. But I wanted something different.

So I decided to give it a try myself, with the ingredients that I like. It can not be that hard. What could go wrong?

I soon realized that things can go wrong.

I do not have much experience with chocolate (except that I ate a lot of it over the years and that I use in it pastries) and therefore I do not know how it behaves when adding different ingredients.

The beginning was promising - I used a mixture of different good quality chocolates with high cocoa content. I melted them and added almond crocant.

Everything was great.

For better taste, I decided to add two large tablespoons of orange liqueur Cointreau.

And I was in trouble. When I added the alcohol the melted chocolate turned into a sticky mass, which was is no way suitable for pouring. The flavor was superb, but the appearance slightly less.

Since I wanted to make chocolates in molds and not truffles, I packed the sticky mass into molds and hoped for the best.

The end result is still awful, but they at least taste good.

I was glad that I previously decided to make half of the chocolates without alcohol. So I had enough ingredients at hand to make a batch of pretty chocolates.

I guess I still have some learning to do.