Friday 5 December 2014

Cointreau Chocolate Cups - Recipe

I needed a little gift to bring to a dinner party, and rather than just trundle down to Sainsbo's, I thought I'd attempt to make some chocolates. I've made salted caramels before, out of which 5 were presentable out of 15!
This time I got lucky, and all 15 came out of the mould looking good enough to give to someone. I did make another batch using a strawberry shaped mould but only one of those turned out ok!
 
They're simple enough to make, they do take some time for setting though. You can adjust everything to your own taste, of course.
 

 

 Ingredients:

 
200 g dark chocolate
70 g white chocolate
70 ml cream
Zest and juice of one or two oranges, depending on how much flavour you want
Dash of Cointreau (again, to taste)
A few drops of orange essence
Sprinkles to decorate, optional
 
 

Equipment:

 
Silicon chocolate mould (I used the one that came with this Something Sweet Magazine)
Flats paintbrush - about 0.75 inch


Method:

 
Firstly, temper your chocolate. I just use the simple microwave method. Break your dark chocolate into pieces and place in the microwave for one minute, NO LONGER! Remove and stir gently, melting the rest of the chocolate just by mixing. You can give it extra 30 second blasts, but be very careful not to overheat it, and be sure the last of the pieces are melted only by stirring gently.
 
Brush the chocolate into the mould using the paintbrush. Cover the base quite thickly and gently brush the chocolate up the sides of the moulds making sure there are no gaps. Make it as thick as you wish, but the thinner the more delicate the chocolate.
 
Allow this to set in the fridge for at least an hour.
 
Make your Ganache filling by breaking the white chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan, and once it boils, pour over the chocolate. Stir together gently until all the chocolate has melted. Add in the flavourings - Cointreau, orange zest and juice, and essence of orange. Once you have the taste you are happy with, and the Ganache has cooled, spoon or pipe the Ganache into the centre of the chocolate cups that have set. Fill up to near the top, and again, allow to set in the fridge.
 
Decorate with sprinkles if you wish, or shaved chocolate... yum!

5 comments:

  1. Ahh, these look so good and I love citrus with anything sweet as it gives things like white chocolate a much needed lift.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! They went down a treat at my friend's dinner.Thanks for reading :)

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  2. I've never made chocolate cups before, but would love to try your recipe. Stumbled x

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! They are really fun to make. Sometimes fiddly but after a few attempts, they look great :) thanks for reading (and stumbling!)

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