Chocolate Class: Final Project and Grade

Sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I've been crazy busy and sick since the middle of last month.

For our final project, we were to make molded chocolates with ganache filling. We could either use a recipe from class or our own. I made dark chocolate shells with a white chocolate chili-lime ganache filling. I ran a swipe of red cocoa butter on the inside of the mold, by way of decoration.

For the filling, I adapted the vanilla lemon ganache we made earlier. I replaced the vanilla with chili oil, and used key lime zest in the cream.

Overall, it went well. I got 19.5 out of 20 on the final. My shell was perfect, very thin and super shiny. The ganache had a nice, smooth mouth feel. The lime came through nicely, though I lost the half point because chef felt the chili wasn't strong enough. I was conservative, as chili oil can be aggressive.

I did finish with an A in the class.

Chili - Lime White Chocolate Ganache

5.4 oz. cream
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
 1 tsp. chili oil
zest of 4 key limes
.8 oz. by wt. cocoa butter, melted
 8 oz. by wt. white chocolate

Line an 8" x 8" pan with plastic wrap.

Combine chili oil and cocoa butter, set aside.

 In a small heavy saucepan over medium heat,  combine cream, corn syrup, and zest. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes. Return to heat, bring back just to a boil.

Strain liquid into chocolate. Let stand two minutes.

Whisk to combine. Whisk in cocoa butter mixture. When smooth, Pour into pan. Allow to cool. When thick, transfer to a pastry bag.
Happy Eating!