I first prepared this chocolate christmas ornaments a couple of years ago. This year I decided to prepare also smaller balls and I liked them even more. Or, I did like so much having bigger and smaller ones together.
This is a recipe of Sardinian chocolatier Gianluca Aresu. Last week I visited his new pastry shop in Cagliari (Sardinia) and I was amazed. Wonderful place, delicious pastries and, I just had to prepare his chocolate Christmas ornaments again ;-)!
They are not difficult to be made. I melted the chocolates and prepared the balls in a day and left them for a night in the fridge before assembling.
A couple of years ago I did white chocolate ornaments with some dark chocolate as decoration. This year I made only a few filled with white chocolate and most of them with black chocolate . It’s up to you.
As you see these chocolate Christmas ornaments they look like something complicated to do. They aren’t. You just have to melt the chocolate, fill silicone molds and let them solidify. Dettach them from the molds. At this point, warm a flat non adherent pan and take it out of the gas. Gently lean each half on the hot pan for a few moments to melt the chocolate and then place one half against another, forming a ball.
Melt more chocolate and make some plastic chocolate to create the attach to the hook. Instructions below ;-).
You will need silicone half sphere molds.
The plastic chocolate:
- 550 g dark chocolate (or 400 g dark chocolate and 150 g milk
- chocolate, it’s up to your taste)
- 200 g white chocolate
- for the plastic chocolate:
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 1 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 100 g icing sugar
- Christmas ball hooks
- Cut the dark chocolate in pieces and leave about 30% apart (no melt).
- Melt it in bain marie. When it is melt, take it out of the gas and add the 30% you left apart. Mix vigorously until it is all melt. This procedure will temperate the chocolate.
- Do the same for the white chocolate.
- Make small paper cones to distribute the white chocolate forming the lines you see on the photos.
- Put the mold in the fridge for some minutes to solidify, then fill the molds with the dark chocolate.
- Be careful not to overfill the molds remembering the two halves will need to be attached one to another.
- Put in the fridge for one night.
- Dettach them from the molds.
- Put a flat non adherent pan on the gas. Turn off the gas and carefully lean two halves at a time for a few moments just to melt a bit and allow one to attach to another. Press one half to another and put the first ball apart.
- Repeat with the rest.
- When all done, prepare the plastic chocolate.
- Melt 100 g of dark chocolate. As soon as it melts, put about a Tbsp apart (it will serve as glue) and add 1 Tbsp of water and 2 Tbsp of honey. Mix well until well combined.
- Put some icing sugar on a working surface and pour the chocolate mixture.
- Begin to add icing sugar and mix it with the chocolate until it will not be sticky anymore.
- At this point mold the hook attachment and using a bit of the melted chocolate you left apart, attach it to a ball. Repeat for the other ones.
- Merry Christmas and buon appetito!
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