Chocolates!

So, we figured it was about time to have a post that wasn't about the baby. So here's a post about the hand-made chocolates I made yesterday for the annual Labor Day picnic. I got the idea, and I guess you could loosely call it a recipe, from A Chef's Kitchen here in Williamsburg (link). Basically the idea is pretty straightforward:
Start with a bunch of silicone cups:

Now, you'll need really killer chocolate. No, Hershey's just won't do. We used a dark Calebert (can't remember how it's spelled, and we ate it all so we can't look at the stamp on the chocolate), which we paid a nice $13.50 for 1.12 pounds, mixed with some of the last of our wedding milk chocolate, which if memory serves was also Calebert. You'll probably need to go to a gourmet shop, a chocolate shop, or if you have to, settle for whatever the best that's available at the grocery store. We used about a pound and got around 40 of the cups you see above. Chop the chocolate into several smaller blocks to aid melting, and place in a double-boiler. We made our own double-boiler with a couple of pots with about 1.5 inches of water in between:

Next, you'll need your fillings. We used some Macadamia nuts, some candied ginger, and fresh raspberries. The raspberries are AMAZING. They get cooked just a little bit by the hot chocolate, and it makes them quite magical. Place one filling in each of the cups:

Now use a metal tablespoon (or maybe a pastry bag?) to fill each one with the melted chocolate. Don't fill them too full, as if the chocolate overflows the sili-cups, they won't pop out well:
Now, place the entire sheetpan into the fridge. It took about 30-40 minutes for ours to firm up enough to be popped out of the sili-cups. You can tell when they're close to ready or ready when the chocolate on the surface is no longer shiny. It may take a couple more minutes after the tops are cooled for the rest of the chocolate to firm up, as the air isn't moving over the rest of the cup quite as well.
If you followed our advice and used the raspberries, or other fresh fruits, you'll definitely want to keep the chocolates in the fridge, as I wonder how long they'll stay fresh.
Ironically, while I spent several hours making these yesterday, Diana was out doing yardwork. Apparently raking woodchips doesn't make the baby come out :( Oops, that's "baby talk". Oh well, it's pretty much impossible to not mention SOMETHING about the baby in any conversation these days.