My lovely friend Joanna sent me these fabulous blocks of Willie’s Cacao…
I’ve grated up the Venezuelan Black, ready for use…
To keep the small people in the neighbourhood happy, I made chocolate lollipops from a 50:50 blend of Callebaut 823 Milk and 811 Dark. The sticks reduce the likelihood of chocolate hand prints on the walls…
For the grown-ups, I blended Callebaut 811 (54%) with small quantities of Tanzanie, Sao Thome and Manjari origin chocolate. The golden ticket moulds continue to be popular…
These fleur-de-lys are a new shape for me. I think they look quite elegant in both dark…
…and milk chocolate…
And finally, big dark (70%) chocolate pills, for emergencies…
Easter is just around the corner, so I thought it was worth doing a practice run – it’s been a while since I’ve tempered any chocolate. More posts coming soon!
PS. As always, our moulds were purchased from Candyland Crafts in the US. They’re just $2 each, but the shipping nearly doubles that if you’re ordering from Australia. Be warned, their online catalogue can be addictive!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Celia, these look wonderful! What is your recipe for the chocolate lollipops?
Thank you! I temper a mix of 50% milk and 50% dark chocolate, and then simply pour it into moulds and add the sticks. The moulds and sticks are from Candyland Crafts (link in post above), and the chocolate is Callebaut Belgian. There are a huge assortment of lollipop moulds available!
I wrote basic instructions for tempering chocolate here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/06/26/how-to-temper-chocolate/
great, thank you!
Celia, you are a natural at tempering chocolate. I love fleur-de-lys chocs, they are just gorgeous and as for the PMS pills, I think those should be mandatory stock in all our kitchens.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, thank you! I make the PMS pills very dark, and because of the giant letters on the top, no-one else in the house is game to go near them! :D
These pictures made me so excited!!!
Thanks Cassandra! :)
I am so interested in the Venezuelan. I wonder if I can get it in New York. Your chocolate work always amazes me….you are a pro!
Norma, thank you! The Willie’s Cacao is 100% chocolate, so it has no sugar or milk added at all. It’s a good base to play with, as you can put it into sweet or savoury dishes. I’m sure you’ll get it in NY!
I loved them so much, this is so beautiful. Thank you dear Celia, with my love, nia
Nia, thank you! :)
My Favs – the PMS Bar – love it and of course the Golden Ticket Bar!!!
Thank you! The small people are complaining because the Golden Tickets are dark chocolate – I will have to make some milk ones for them.. :D
Love the PMS pills, sadly I need menopausal ones! :)
Sue, the size of them makes me laugh – as if the mould designer knew that little chocolate pills wouldn’t do the trick! :)
I love your chocolate posts! I must make better use of my Willies chocolate other than as a decoration :)
Tandy, thank you! I’ve been drinking the Willie’s in cocoa shots! It’s like chocolate espresso!
The moulds are fabulous, And your timing is superb, I’ve been thinking about making some chocolates (something I’ve not really done before).
Claire, Easter means chocolate in a fairly big way here! :)
Love it, Celia. We have about three blocks to use, so thank you for sharing this!
Thanks Lizzy! Do you have the Willie’s cookbook? That would use up your three blocks in a heartbeat!
Your practice chocolates are amazing!
I’m always so impressed when you show your molded candies- as a little girl I was hoping to become a candymaker or a baker- I failed in the chocolate arena, but the baking worked out pretty well. :)
Heidi, thank you! I reckon you would be a fabulous chocolate maker – you just need a really good thermometer and a heat mat! :)
I am more than sure Easter will be fun at your house and no guarantee’s about the fingerprints
Sigh. Tania, you’re right, of course. :)
Very professional! Looking forward to your future posts. I love chocolate but never attempted to temper and make molded chocolate, clever idea with the lolis.
Norma, thank you! They’re very popular with the littlies…
I love the emergency pills – every home should have some!
Suelle, now ain’t that the truth! :D
Wow, these look fantastic! My brother-in-law is good with the chocolate-making; there is always homemade chocolates around at Easter when he’s been in the kitchen! It’s not something I’ve yet tried myself, though…I don’t think I could be trusted to get any of the chocolate in the moulds! ;)
~S.
Sorcha, getting the chocolate in the moulds is the easy part, getting them out is trickier if the chocolate isn’t in temper! :)
Gorgeous – I particularly love the PMS pills.
Have you seen the recent press on the advantages of chocolate in slimming? Such happy news. :-)
Amanda, I tell myself that every time I eat a piece.. ;-)
Celia, I love your blog! They always bring a smile to my face especially if the word ‘CHOCOLATE’ is mentioned… in need of that PMS choc pill almost every day! Just an excuse to have chocolate in any form I guess. I’m going to check out that Candy Crafts site right now…….
Lina, thank you! Have fun at the Candyland Craft site – I find them a really good company to deal with!
I love these moulds :) Im heading over to Candyland now. My poor credit card lol ;)
Nic, sorry! Don’t go crazy.. :)
Celia, your chocolates look so very professional! Yum!
Jane, thank you! I had a lot of fun making them!
Oh Celia, how I wish I lived on your street! Those chocolate pops look like something you’d find in a gourmet chocolate shop.
Claire, thank you! I wish you lived on my street too! :)
I’ll have to check out that on-line catalogue. What a gorgeous selection of chocolates! Your posts are always so interesting Celia; you’re always up to something new in your kitchen! xx
Charlie, thank you, but be warned, I’ve ended up with boxes of chocolate moulds, there are so many tempting shapes! :)
Celia, don’t the chocolates look so tempting! I only managed to work my way through one of your suggested sites so far……….I’ll have to check out all the others when I come back from a long awaited holiday.
Have a wonderful holiday, Elaine! :)
Oh I am SOOOOOO moving closer to you if these are the treats you share with your neighbours. Delish! Love the lollipops, you sure are talented lovely. I’ll have to get onto this, this week, what a great gift for Easter. :)
Anna, thank you! They’re fun to make, and the kids love them!
I love those pills indeed! I have some big round pill shapes for ice that are ‘Chill Pills’ – just perfect in a GnT after a long hard day!
Becca, you do find the coolest things! :)
I wish I could do what you do with such flair! one of these days I will give it another go – such beautiful lollipops! xx
Thanks Jo, but if I was being honest, I’d have to say it’s easier to temper and mould chocolate than it is to take decent photos of it!!
No chocolate hand prints on the walls? You dreamer!
Always the optimist, that’s me.. :)
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! That all looks and sounds divine!
I love those chocolate lollipop :)
SK and Tes, thank you! :)
Wow… I kept scrolling down and saying “Wow” out loud. You’re so talented! They’re just perfect and I really like those chocolate tickets.. I can see why they’re popular! Do you just go visit and drop these off! I’m moving in next door… just wondering…
Smidge, yes, I just go visit and drop chocolates off. When are you moving in? :)
I suspect you might have the happiest neighbours around Celia! :P
We have the best neighbours ever, Lorraine! :)
They look awesome Celia!!
Seriously, you are the Queen of Tempering in the wonderful land of chocolate :-)
Thanks Brydie! We have a lot of fun tempering – I find we play more with different blends these days than fillings…
Could eat it all. I just read an article about chocolate and weight and it was all positive. I have now moved to eating pieces of 99%. Small children are up to 85%. Question – did you grate the chocolate in a food processor?
x
Anna, I grind chocolate in the food processor to make hot chocolate mix, but I grated the Willie’s with my box grater.
I’m still not quite at 99%, but the PMS pills were quite dark.. x
these are scrumptious looking – i wonder where do you get your molds from? they look really great and with easter coming up i would love to try this! x
Thanks for stopping by! :)
The moulds are from http://www.candylandcrafts.com and they have a huge range of Easter ones!