The Finest Chocolate Cream Made.
This is acknowledged by everyone to be the finest Italian chocolate
cream made, and when coated with the proper coating, it is a delicious
confection, with a very brittle coating, and when broken open, the
center is as smooth and soft as whipped cream.
We put this recipe last for the reason that you should learn to do the
other chocolate coating before attempting this. The coating is done in
exactly the same manner, except with these it is necessary to handle
them very quickly, and consequently you must have a little experience
in this line before attempting these, but after making them once, we do
not think you will ever make the other different kinds, except for the
purpose of filling your Christmas boxes, when it is very nice to have
an assortment. With enough practice to enable you to coat them nicely,
and if you are so disposed, you will have no trouble in selling all you
can make at sixty cents per pound, to private customers only, as there
are very few stores in the country where it is possible to purchase
them. One reason of this is, they are too delicate to stand being
boxed up and shipped around the country to the different dealers, and
probably be kept for months, as some candies are, before being sold.
We tell you this to impress upon you how really fine they are, and
the possibilities of profit, if you expect to make candy to sell. The
formula is very simple, and known only to a very few, but you must
follow directions very closely and cook it to the exact degree. The
thermometer will do the cooking accurately, and the other part is not
difficult in any manner. For the coating, it is best if possible, to
get what is called a Bitter-Sweet Coating. This may be purchased in any
large city, also of a great many candy manufacturers, or of any candy
supply house or chocolate manufactory. If it is not possible to get
the Bitter-Sweet Coating, you may make one which is nearly as nice as
the other, by simply getting the pure unsweetened or bitter chocolate,
which all confectioners handle, and sweeten it partly with XXXX sugar
(never use granulated), in the proportion of one-fourth pound sugar
to two and one-half pounds chocolate, by simply stirring the sugar in
the chocolate after it is melted. If you should be unable to procure
any other kind of chocolate, you could use the ordinary bitter baking
chocolate, sweetened somewhat with XXXX sugar, but do not use it if you
can possibly avoid doing so.
These creams should never be coated with a sweet coating, but always a
bitter-sweet of some description, as the intensely sweet center, and
the bitter coating, form a combination that makes them delicious.
They are made in the following manner, and a batch this size will use
up about one pound of chocolate, but of course it will be necessary for
you to have more melted up for reasons we mentioned before:
2½ pounds granulated sugar.
½ teaspoonful glycerine.
Whites of 2 eggs.
6 drops acetic acid.
½ teaspoonful vanilla.
Good pint of water.
Put sugar and water in kettle, set on hot fire, stir until dissolved,
then put in the glycerine, continue stirring and wipe down kettle same
as for fondant, and when it commences to boil add the acid, then cover
the kettle until it steams well, remove the cover, put in thermometer
and cook to =exactly= 236, then pour on moistened slab and allow it
to remain undisturbed until all the heat has left it, the same as you
do bon-bon cream. Now beat the whites of the eggs until dry, or will
stand alone, then pour them on top of the batch, add the vanilla, and
cream the batch in exactly the same manner as you do bon-bon cream,
working the eggs right into it. If some of the syrup should be a little
thick and not seem to mix with the eggs well, just take the scraper or
whatever you are turning it with, and break the hard syrup a little,
when it will readily mix.
Of course this will be thinner than bon-bon cream, and will require
more attention in order to keep it in a mass and not allow it to spread
all over the slab. It will be a little thinner just before it commences
to set, the same as bon-bon cream does, and now turn it =very gently=
in order to give it all the chance possible, as this is the delicate
point. Keep turning it over and over =very slowly=, always working
from the edge, and gradually work it up in a mass until it will stand
alone and not spread any, and it is then done. About the only trouble
you will have in making these will be at this point. The egg whites
have a peculiar action on the cream, and sometimes it sets very quickly
and gets hard enough to handle easily, and at other times it seems as
though it never will set, and even when it does, on such occasions it
is very soft and difficult to coat. Each batch you make will probably
vary a little from the other, owing to the peculiar nature of it, but
it will all come out the same when coated, and allowed to stand awhile.
When properly made, this cream at this stage is an intensely white,
rather fluffy mass, about the consistency of a soft marshmallow, only
it is very tender, and not tough as they are. When creamed up, cut
the batch in two after allowing it to stand for three or four minutes
in order to =set= a little more, and to one-half of it work in some
chopped English walnuts by kneading them in with your scraper, and
allow the other half to remain plain; then cut both halves into several
pieces so as to allow the air to strike it as much as possible, which
has a tendency to dry it and make it easier to handle. It is now ready
to mould up, and must be done so at =once=. Have a small dish with
some XXXX sugar in it, take a knife and cut off a small portion of the
cream, and with your fingers shape it up slightly into a ball, then
as it will probably be a little sticky, lay it in the XXXX sugar and
turn it over in order to get the sugar all over it, then lay it on
wax paper, and proceed in this manner until you get them all moulded.
The ones with nuts in should be made just a trifle oblong, so as to
distinguish them after being coated. In moulding these up, remember
that the =less= they are handled, the easier they will be to coat,
as handling them has a tendency to make them softer. After they are
moulded, it is best to turn them all over, as they lay on the wax
paper, before coating them, in order to allow the bottom to dry off a
little. These must be coated immediately after being moulded, and the
better way is to have someone mould them and you coat them as fast as
they are moulded. The person moulding, will do so faster than you can
coat them, and thus they will be able to dry off a little by the time
you are ready for them.
Coat them in the same manner as other chocolate creams, but remember
that it must be done rapidly, for you cannot hold them in your hand
but a few seconds, as they get too soft, and will lose their shape and
spread out after dropping on the oilcloth.
They have a tendency to pop out, after the chocolate is set, if there
is a thin spot anywhere in the coating, but this does not hurt them.
They will be very soft inside, several hours after being coated, and
are best if eaten within a week after they are made. If you should put
them in boxes, it is better to wrap each one separately in a small
piece of thin wax paper, as they are so soft inside. If one should
break it would run out and spoil the looks of the others.
The length of these directions may cause you to think they are very
difficult to make, but such is not the case, as you will see after
trying them, for the thermometer does the most difficult part, it
being necessary to cook them to the exact degree. In moulding them, do
not try to get them all the same size or the same shape, as they look
prettier made in odd shapes and this sized batch will make about one
hundred ordinary sized creams.