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Belgian Chocolates

Belgian chocolates or pralines as we call it is normally "something inside" (Ganache) with "something chocolate outside".

But every time I come back to Malaysia, my whole family wants those Belgian chocolate delicacies. Unfortunately, KLM airlines let me only carry 20 kg (yes, about 40 pounds), which is a joke if you go for 2 months to cold Europe.

Anyway, not to make more excuses, I told my little nieces that from now on they are in charge of Belgian chocolates each time their parents, uncles and aunties want chocolates. Having to make do what was available in the little Chinese grocery shop next door in Taiping, this is what the kids made yesterday:

Belgian chocolates made by my nieces

Belgian chocolates preparation

Making Belgian chocolates is all about using your imagination, melting the ingredients, making a filling or ganache and coating it.

In order to not burn the chocolate, you need a warm-water bath (au bain marie), which I rapidly made up by 2 stainless steal pots, the bottom pot filled with cooking water, the top pot filled with the chocolate filling.

Chocolate filling

In the above au bain marie pot are:

• 4 3/8 ounce (125 gr) brown cooking chocolate (this already has sugar inside, so it is not the pure chocolate, yet again, it is what was available in the shop next door)
• 2 fluid ounce (60 ml) double cream (40+ % fat)
• 1 fluid ounce (30 ml) Kahlua (a coffee liquor)
• 1/2 ounce (15 gr) non liquid honey
• 1 egg yolk

To fasten things up, we grated the chocolate. Do chocolate, cream and honey in the top pot, let the chocolate melt and stir until all is mixed. Take the pot out of the au bain marie and add the egg yolk and Kahlua. Beat until you get a chocolate mixture that is not very liquid, yet not hard. (An electrical mixer could fasten things up again!)

Put this chocolate filling or ganache in a clingwrap covered pan so you get at least a 1/2
inch (1.25cm) thick chocolate mixture:

As you can see, this is kids easy Put the chocolate ganache in the freezer (1/2 hour or so)

Chocolate cover: outer layer

• 2 5/8 ounce (75 gr) of the same brown cooking chocolate
• 1 ounce (30 gr) real cocoa powder (no sugar added here!)
• butter as needed to make a chocolate paste (1/2 ounce (15 gr) in our case, depending on how much fat already is in the brown cooking chocolate)

Again in a warm water bath: melt the chocolate and add in the cocoa powder. When the whole mixture becomes to dry, add in some butter and stir again. Add more butter until you just get a paste. Again an electrical mixer can help you out very well.

How to make Belgian Chocolates

Take the ganache out of the freezer and cut into squares like so:

This is why it is practical to have your chocolate on clingwrap, as you can easily transfer it on a flat cutting board for easy cutting.

Now get dirty: the kids loved it and euhm… it is not smart to let them wear white T-shirts in this stage of the chocolate making…

So take out one square of the ganache, put it in the coating mixture, turn them around until they are completely coated and put them on another clingwrap. Repeat this for each square of the ganache.

If you have too much ganache, just coat the left-overs with cocoa powder.

If you have too much of the chocolate coating, you can start coating nuts with it Or freeze it in for another day of making chocolates. or … with chocolate: anything can

Happy Easter!

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