Have centers. Need chocolate dipper.
Chocolate dipping day has come!
We had finished up the night before with all of our centers and arrived early in the morning armed with everything:
- Orange cream
- Lemon cream
- Mint
- Raspberry
- Bavarian mint (it's a creamy mint center)
- Caramel
- Caramel with burnt almond (it's burnt because I accidentally left the almonds in too long)
- Peanut butter truffle (with sea salt sprinkled on top later)
- Marshmallow (to make into a rocky road chocolate)
- Chili truffle (yes, it's got kick to it!)
- And yes, bacon truffle
Mom K hires a chocolate dipper, we'll call her Ruth, every year to dip the centers professionally. Ruth has worked at Cummings and Mrs. Cavanaugh's, so the chocolates look fancy schmancy. She is amazing!
This whole dipping day thing is quite the process. I would liken it unto an assembly line.
No, actually it's more like a sweatshop.
There are always plenty of hands (and tasters) to help with the chocolate sweat shop. (The Ballerina is not pictured in any of the pictures because she took ALL of these pictures! Isn't she talented?)
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The Fiddler ready to go
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The Fiddler's Son helps with tasting!
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The Cookie loves to try the "eyeballs".
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Thing 2 is serious about chocolates
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There are so many things going on to make it all work:
- Chocolate being tempered and stirred
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Thing 2 looks SO excited to be stirring
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- Centers being cut and formed and ready to be dipped
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Mom K is showing me how to form the centers
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Peanut butter truffle
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Homemade marshmallows
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| Turtles! |
- Chocolates being "bottomed" so the centers don't dry out
- Chocolates being dipped and topped as necessary
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Ruth dips, Thing 2 places a pecan on the top
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- Moving boards with centers to and fro
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Hmm...maybe we should be exercising instead...?
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- Placing chocolates in cups
- And chocolates finally being placed in tins until they are boxed up closer to Christmas.
It was a LONG day, but we got everything done! Yay! Aren't these chocolates just beautiful?
We were pooped, but we love love this family tradition!
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Lee is barely able to keep his eyes open!
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We had finished up the night before with all of our centers and arrived early in the morning armed with everything:
Just remember you have a lot of points to make up in the favorite Aunt category with the nephews. We'll accept lots of chocolate. MTD loves chocolate! (and we'd HAVE to help him eat them).
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I'm ready to join your family for a few days a year. As long as dark chocolate was involved anyway!
ReplyDeleteYou should be a food blogger, Winty. These pictures are awesome! Thanks for sharing all of that delicious hard work with us.
ReplyDelete