food
Me: I want those hot chocolate bombs
Also Me: they're like $3 each.
Me: maybe I should make them
Also Me: no
Me: it would be cheaper
Also Me: stop
Me: *reads through recipe*
Also Me: your time has value you know
Me: It doesn't sound that hard
Also Me: please I'm begging you
Me: *assembles online cart with ingredients, molds, thermometer, etc.*
Also Me: You don't even like hot drinks very much!
Me: *total is $82*
Also Me: IT'S NOT EVEN CHEAPER IN DOLLARS
food
Me: it sounds like fun though
Also Me: YOU HATE COOKING
Me: but this is chocolate
Also Me: Why is this happening
Also Me: if you REALLY NEED chocolate bombs please just buy the $3 each ones
Me: but most of this is reusable
Also Me: You will do the process once and go "wow, this was way too much work" and never do it again. It will not be cheaper.
Also Me: I have been you for a long time! PLEASE BELIEVE ME.
Me: Well
Me: I'll think about it
food
Me: The silicon mold I ordered arrived! I could make hot chocolate bombs!
Also Me: You ordered the ingredients from chocosphere.com (thank you Petrov!) and they haven't arrived yet.
Me: I have chocolate chips ....
Also Me: You don't have hot cocoa mix.
Me: I've got cocoa powder! Hot cocoa mix is pretty much just sugar and cocoa powder.
Also Me: You don't have a candy thermometer either
Me: I've got a meat thermometer? It measures temps as low as ~40, probably will work.
food
Me: And how important is it that it be tempered anyway?
Also Me: ... these are going to turn out *so badly*.
Me: It'll be my first try! It's going to be bad no matter what I do. You don't want my first try to be using *expensive* chocolate, do you? What a waste!
Also Me: I hate that that actually makes sense.
food
*heats chocolate on low power for a few minutes*
*checks temp*
Oops, already too warm.
*looks up seeding instructions, adds more chocolate*
*by the time it's cooled enough, chips no longer melting into it*
Trying to temper chocolate chips instead of finely-chopped chocolate is *probably* doomed, because the max temp is at the point where chocolate *barely* melts.
re: food, advice feel free to ignore
@Rowyn yeah I’ve found that they tend to put higher-melting point fats in chocolate chips, so that it holds its shape better while getting baked, which means you’re working with an even narrower temp range than normal if you use them. Throwing in a spoonful or two of an oil thats liquid at room temp may make it so that it’s actually pourable at temper temperatures. But also I wouldn’t worry about a few small lumps for something like this — you can strain/pick them out if you care but if anything they’re improving the seeding
(I havent done hot chocolate bombs but I’ve done a fair bit of other work with chocolate in silicone moulds. It really is a pain but its fun)
re: food, advice feel free to ignore
@Satsuma Thank you for the encouragement! I ended up nuking (on minimum power) and stirring and nuking and stirring through a few cycles and got out enough of the lumpiness that I could work with it. It doesn't seem to be any worse the wear for the ordeal. 😂