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Step
1. Prepare materials and chocolate
Jean François insists that the most important step in
making great chocolates is tempering. Unfortunately, it's also one
of the trickest techniques to master. We have tempring instructions
here at Fabulous Foods from pastry chef Jacques
Torres, so if you're going to attempt to make Chocolate Easter
Eggs at home, be
sure to follow this link for tempering instructions first.
Professionals
like Jean François have some nifty gadgets for helping them,
like a digital candy thermometer that measures the heat of the chocolate,
or the warming lamp that keeps it at the proper temperature once
it's been tempered. At home, chef Houdré suggest that you
turn on your oven to the lowest temperature possible, keep the door
fully open, and keep your tempered chocolate on the warm open oven
door. This should hold it at about the proper consistency.
For the colors, Jean François uses either a good quality
white chocolate or pure cocoa butter that has been colored with
powdered food color. He says you could use pastes, but you have
to be sure to avoid any coloring with alcohol because it will cause
the chocolate to "seize" or crystallize.
Step 2. Prepare Base and Chocolate Bunnies for Filling
The next step is to prepare a base for the finished egg to stand
on, and the tiny chocolate bunnies that will make up the surprise
package to be stuffed into the egg later. Jean François uses
an ordinary sheet of white acetate to pour the base, because the
hardeed chocolate will easily slide off it. A metal pastry ring
is used to mold the base, as in the first photo below (you'll see
the finished chocolate disk, that is the base, later in this tutorial).
A plastic chocolate mold is used to make the bunnies. The chocolate
is simply ladeled into the mold and the excess is then scraped back
into the bowl. Now comes the most important technique in making
the small molded candies: removing all the air bubbles. Gently tap
the bottom of the mold and hold it up to the light and look underneath
to insure that you have removed all the air.
The chocolate is then allowed to harden at room temperature until
it is ready to be popped out of the mold. If you're in a hurry,
you can chill the chocolate to hasten its setting, but letting it
harden at room temperature is preferable and insures a better looking
final product, says chef Houdré.
 
Once this step is complete, it's
time to mold the eggs.
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Get the molds you need to make your very own
Exquisite Chocolate Easter Eggs.

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