Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable (6 page)

5.
Sprinkle crushed candy pieces over the white chocolate. Press them lightly so they stick. Let the white chocolate set, about 30 minutes.

6.
Break bark into small, irregular pieces.

Yield:

About 24 pieces

Storage:

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 week.

General Description:

Charlie Bucket could afford only one candy a year, and he always chose a Willy Wonka chocolate bar
. Hershey’s iconic rectangular bars of milk chocolate are the most famous, but now a variety of high-end chocolate
bars showcase the flavors of cacao beans from around the world. The higher the percentage of cacao bean content, the darker the chocolate bar.

History:

The Azetec ruler Montezuma served a spicy, bitter chocolate drink to Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez in 1519. The Spanish took cacao beans to Europe, and decades later rich Europeans drank chocolate made of finely ground cacao beans mixed with cinnamon and vanilla or milk and sugar. In 1847, English confectioner Joseph Fry discovered how to recombine cocoa butter with cocoa powder to make a paste that could be molded and hardened to a solid: the first chocolate bars. These early chocolates weren’t the smooth bars we know today until 1879, when Rudolphe Lindt of Switzerland invented the conching machine that works chocolate into a smooth consistency.

Serving Suggestions:

Making chocolate bars from beans is a labor-intensive process, but tempering and pouring your favorite chocolate into molds is easy. Homemade chocolate bars are a sweet gift year-round.

Candy-Making Notes:

Sprinkle in nuts, dried fruits, cocoa nibs, or other additions after step 4.

Recipe:

1.
Check that the mold is completely clean and dry.

2.
Melt and
temper the chocolate
.

3.
Carefully ladle tempered chocolate into the mold cavities, filling them to the top. Tap the mold lightly to eliminate air bubbles.

4.
Using a spatula, scrape away any extra chocolate, leaving the tops clean and level.

5.
Place mold in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes.

6.
Remove it from the refrigerator when the chocolate looks firm and is starting to shrink away from the sides of the mold. Flip it over onto a clean surface to unmold chocolate bars.

Yield:

About 5 chocolate bars

Storage:

Wrap bars in foil or store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 1 month.

Variation:

Filled Chocolate Bars

Many of the fillings in this book can be used to fill chocolate bars. Try
mint ganache
,
caramel
, or
melted fondant
.

1.
Ladle tempered chocolate into the mold cavities.