This post will definitely make your mouth water with the temptation of sweet chocolates and they are so much fun to make.
Materials you will need:
Chocolate plastic mould (heart shaped for Valentine's)
Melting chocolate drops (Hobbycraft sell many different colours to achieve the look you want)
Bowl
Spoons
Foil wrappers - different colours (red and silver for Valentines)
Hobbycraft sell all the products you will need to make your own chocolates, with lots of handy tools, such as squeezee bottles and funnels if you need more help with precision but otherwise just have fun and play around with different effects and flavours.
1. Melt the chocolate drops in a bowl in the microwave - follow instructions on the packet.
2. Using a spoon, fill up each mould and level off the top. If you have a funnel or squeezee bottle this may help with precision in getting the chocolate in the mould.
3. Once you have filled the mould, give it a light tap to get rid of air bubbles and then leave to set. I usually leave the mould to cool and set for 30 minutes and then pop them in the fridge for several hours.
4. Once the chocolates have set remove them from the mould. You can then either leave them as they are or you can add an extra bit of decoration using different colours of the chocolate melts, e.g. drizzle milk chocolate over white chocolate hearts - see picture below.
5. If you choose to add further decoration then you may need to leave these to dry for an extra 30 minutes to an hour before wrapping them.
6. Time to wrap those choccies. The pictures below illustrate how to wrap the hearts.
Place chocolate face down on the inside side of the wrapper. Outside of the wrapper will be shiny and coloured.
Fold over two sides to meet in the middle.
Depending on the shape and size of the chocolate you may want to trim excess foil either side before folding the rest of the foil in.
Fold the rest of the foil and mould to the shape of the chocolate and then you are done.
Once you get the hang of the process then why not experiment with different flavours by adding dried fruits etc. I added some dried cranberrries to my white chocolate hearts for a subtle hint of cranberry.
Over the next few days I will post my final Valentine's post which will include wrapping ideas for presents and these chocolate hearts.