Chocolates with baked white chocolate ganache and rum raisins

A few years ago I have heard of baked chocolate. I was immediately intrigued and I have decided to try it one day. A month ago I was thinking about making chocolates but I did not have any ideas for the filling. This was the perfect time to try and bake my white chocolate and then make a ganache out of it. The whole process is not hard, you just need good quality white chocolate and an oven. The chocolate should bake at low temperature for 30-40 minutes and you should check and stir the chocolate every 10 minutes to ensure even baking and caramelization. My first attempt was not that great, the oven was too hot and my chocolate caramelizated in 10 minutes and got pretty dark. The chocolate was dry and not what I was looking for. But after some mixing in the food processor it got smooth again. So even if you accidentally leave your chocolate for a few minutes longer there is an easy solution. In the picture below you can see how my baked white chocolate looked after it was done mixing, the color is similar to the color of the peanut butter.

Baked white chocolate

To make the ganache just add a little of the hot heavy cream and mix until smooth.

Baked white chocolate ganache

This ganache is perfectly smooth and tastes a little nutty because of the caramelization. Because I love salty-sweet combinations I always add a little of the  flaked salt to all of my chocolates. I think it really brings out the flavor of the chocolate and makes it taste even better. 

After I have decided for the baked ganache I had this idea of pairing it with some booze. Me and my husband recently went on our honeymoon to Mauritius and they produce really high quality rum so I tough of soaking the golden raisins, which are my favorite, in some of the Mauritius rum we brought home. The result was delicious and I could eat the raisins alone with a spoon.

Chocolates with baked white chocolate ganache and rum soaked raisins

(Makes about 24 chocolates)

Time:

Soaking of the raisins: Few hours or over night

Preparation: 15min (shells) + 5min (filling)

Cooking: 15min (shells)

Baking: 30-40min (filling)

Cooling: 20min (shells)

Resting: Few hours or over night

For the chocolate shell:

• 200g dark couverture chocolate (high quality chocolate that contains extra cocoa butter)

For the filling:

• 100g white chocolate
• 20ml heavy cream
• flaked sea salt 
• 30 golden raisins
• Rum (any kind, I used golden rum)

Making the filling:

First you need to soak the raisins in rum. Put the raisins in a bowl and pour over the rum just enough to cover. Set aside for a few hours or even better in you leave them like that over night to allow the raisins to really soak up the rum.  

  

Rum soaked raisins 

After the raisins are done move on to the white chocolate ganache. Preheat the oven to 100°C (212°F) and place the chopped white chocolate on the baking tray. Try to chop the chocolate in even pieces so that the chocolate caramelizes evenly. Put the baking tray in the center of the oven, check and stir the chocolate every 10 minutes. At first it may seem the chocolate is dry but when you mix it the chocolate will become smooth again, so keep stirring. If you take the chocolate too far (becomes grainy and a bit dark, like it happened to me) put the chocolate in a food processor and blitz until the chocolate becomes smooth again. When the chocolate is nicely brown and smooth heat the heavy cream and pour over the baked white chocolate. Mix it all together, add the salt and pour the mixture in a piping bag. Leave to rest in the fridge while you make the chocolate shells.

Making the dark chocolate shells:

Chop 150 grams of dark cuverture chocolate in medium sized pieces, put in the heat-proof bowl and set aside. Chop the remaining 50 grams of the chocolate in tiny pieces and set aside.Put some water in a pot and heat gently to a simmer. Place the bowl with 150 grams chocolate on top of the pot, the water should not touch the bowl. When the chocolate starts to melt, stir and check the temperature. Keep checking the temperature until it reaches 45-48°C (113-118°F). When the chocolate reaches the right temperature take the bowl of the heat and stir in the remaining chocolate. The temperature should drop. Stir the chocolate gently to cool until it reaches 27°C (81°F), this may take a while, depending on the room temperature. When the chocolate is cool enough place the bowl back on the pot of simmering water and heat back to 30-31°C (88-90°F).

Now the chocolate is at the ideal working temperature, and you must work quickly. Fill the mold with chocolate, tap the mold a few times so that the air bubbles pop. This step is very important if you want to have the prefect chocolates. Make sure the mold is fully covered in chocolate then flip the mold over the bowl of remaining chocolate so that the excess of chocolate drips off back into the bowl. The whole process is a bit messy but try to save as much chocolate in the bowl for later. Smooth off the chocolate from the mold with the palette knife. Flip the mold upside down on the cooling tray to ensure an even coating then put the mold in the fridge to set, it should set fairly quickly. Keep the remaining chocolate at the working temperature by gently heating it up or you can use a hair drier to gently heat the chocolate directly in the bowl. Be careful that it does not exceed 31°C (90°F) because then you will have to start the process all over again.

Pipe a little of the prepared filing in the chocolate shells, place the raisins on top and then pipe a little of the ganache on the raisin. Do not overfill and leave room for the top layer of the chocolate.

Pour the remaining chocolate over the mold and smooth out with the palette knife, tap the mold a few times on the bench to make sure that there is no air inside. Place in the fridge for 5 minutes. Take out of the fridge and let the chocolates set in the mold for a couple hours or overnight at room temperature for maximum shine. If you are in a hurry you cold unmold the chocolates after 10 minutes but the chocolates won't be as shinny.

In the pictures above you can see that a little holes have formed on the top of the chocolates. This is because of the air bubbles that have formed in the silicon mold. I did not tap the mold enough before placing the chocolate in the fridge. It tastes just as good but the appearance is not what I wanted it to be. 

If you give these chocolates a try have fun and I would really appreciate your comments and suggestion to make my blog better in the future :)