'Tis the season to make chocolate

Today I made you guys some cute little christmas chocolates! I know it's a little early, but since I work at a cooking store that just got all their christmas stuff in, I just couldn't wait.


Here they are, aren't they just the cutest?

Want to know how to make them?

You will need:

• A mold, I used one from Silikomart
• Small microwave-safe bowl
• Candy melts or colored chocolate.
• Regular chocolate
• A pencil brush

And most important: A very comfortable working place. You're going to sit still for quite a while, so make sure you don't end up with a cramped neck!

I used a small bowl to melt my candy melts, you don't need a lot. You could also use one of those candy melting trays. Which I don't have.

 For instance: this is all the green I used for the chocolates above.

For these chocolates I used green, red and black candy melts and regular white and milk chocolate.

When you're melting chocolate or candy melts in the microwave, make sure you take the bowl out every 30 seconds or so, and stir a little. Melt one color at a time, you even might need to reheat it halfway, since candy melts dry very fast!
Make sure every tool you work with is completely dry, because water and chocolate are not friends. Trust me, they're not.

Now just take your brush and paint away!

 

Though it's really more a matter of scooping chocolate 

on to your brush and spreading it where you want it.

As soon as you're done with one color it should look something like this:

 

pretty weird-looking huh?

When you're done with the first color, melt the second and fill everything in that needs that color, and so on. 

Save the real chocolate for the end, because candy melts dry way faster than regular chocolate. You can actually paint with the real chocolate if you want. 

I used my brush for the white chocolate, since I used it for some details, but the milkchocolate was piped on top at the end with a piping bag. I like to use the disposable ones, so you can get messy all you want and just trow it away when you're done. I did melt the milkchocolate au bain marie, real chocolate needs real tools.

When you're done filling the shapes with chocolate, tap the mold gently on your working surface, so any airbubbles that got in there can get to the top.

...And now we wait! If you're impatient like me, just pop 'em in the fridge. These christmas creatures can handle a little cold.

You probably want some close ups, I just know you do.

 

I actually JUST noticed these are supposed to be candy canes. How lame of me. 

Next time better color them red/white. I honestly had no idea.

 You can tell the left penguin is a little messy, my candy melts started to harden and I was too lazy to reheat them. Never be lazy. I also forgot to fill in the text on the right one. Oh well.

 Make sure your layers are thick enough, especially when you're using white chocolate underneath! I brushed quite a layer on this tree, but the white chocolate still managed to shine through. Bastard chocolate.

 Yay! Frosty!

 There's no christmas without Santa

Rudolph wishes you a nice day, byebye everyone!