Chocolate Shells

praline shells are a bit or a tricky situation. I found instructions that said to fill the hot chocolate into the form and flip them to let it run down, but mine seemed to just run down one side and filling them all the way seemed pointless because then the chocolate would have nowhere to go. so i took a tooth pick and meticulously coated the sides of these starts with chocolate from the bit i had put in the bottom.

These stars are actually pretty cool, although I tend to prefer simple shapes without too much fuss. The outer shell is really just the first step but it is so important to get a nice layer that can then be filled. Because the shell needs to be thick enough to be sturdy but thin enough that the filling doesn't go under inside a hard shell that also overpowers the flavors. Also it is always better to have a nice shining chocolate cover and not a coat of cocoa butter that makes the finished color milky and dull. this is pretty easy to do. All you need to in to chop your chocolate and melt about 2/3 in a double boiler and add the last 1/3 once it had been taken off the heat. It will still melt, but it takes advantage of the multiple melting points of cocoa butter that make chocolate to scrumptious.
Once they are filled with whatever you want they are also easy to close. If you put quite a bit of chocolate on one side you can scrape it over with a dough cutter or scraper or anything sturdy with a straight flat edge. This leaves a thin coat on the bottom of the chocolates and close the praline with a nice finish.

I'm working on perfecting a Compari orange fulling that should come soon along with some other fillings I am working on.