Homemade Chocolate
The Chocolate Connoisseur March 6th, 2007
Chocolate has been popular for thousands of years and to this day most people’s love for chocolate just continues to grow. It does not matter if someone makes homemade chocolate or buys it, nothing compares to this ecstasy-producing, luscious treat. Whether it is chocolate fudge, hot chocolate, chocolate ice cream, chocolate bars, chocolate sauce, chocolate truffles, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate brownies, chocolate cake or a box of chocolates, it is definitely a favorite of adults and children everywhere. The four main types of chocolate are baking chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate. Baking chocolate, which is pure cocoa liquor, has nothing added to the chocolate. Cocoa powder is cocoa liquor and cocoa bean solids that are pressed to remove the cocoa butter. Milk chocolate has extra sugar, cocoa butter and milk solids added to the pure cocoa liquor. Semi-sweet chocolate has extra cocoa butter added to the pure cocoa liquor, but less added sugar than the milk chocolate. With white chocolate, there are no cocoa bean solids, just cocoa butter with milk and sugar.
For anyone that enjoys baking homemade chocolate candies, brownies, fudge, truffles and other treats, chocolate items make a delectable and wonderful gift. Sometimes it is difficult to know what to give as a gift, for occasions such as giving a gift to someone that you do not know well, someone new in your neighborhood or even a thank you gift. Homemade chocolate is also a great gift for the mail carrier, church bazaar, paper carrier or co-workers at the office.
Homemade chocolate fudge is a treat that most people enjoy and is great to give family, friends and acquaintances. Here is a recipe for homemade dark chocolate fudge that tastes fantastic, is easy to make and yields approximately two pounds of delicious fudge.
Ingredients
· ½ cup of light corn syrup
· ½ cup of whipping cream
· 3 cups or eighteen ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
· 1 – 1½ cups sifted powdered sugar
· 1- 1½ teaspoons of vanilla
· ½ cup of chopped nuts (optional)
In a heavy saucepan, bring the corn syrup and cream to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil this for one minute. Remove this mixture from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring constantly. Once melted, add vanilla, powdered sugar and nuts (optional), until blended well. Pour this into an eight-inch square baking pan lined with tin foil. Cover the fudge and place in the refrigerator until firm. Cut your homemade chocolate fudge into sixty-four, one-inch pieces. This recipe makes enough fudge to give some away as a gift and still have enough for your family and friends to enjoy this luscious treat.
