Sometimes when I make Macarons I have left over ganache and it always sits there and eventually…………..eventually, it gets thrown out, despite my best intentions of using it for something. But on a recent trip to Melbourne, I stopped in to the local Aldi store and found a chocolate mould for $2. I know……BARGAIN!! Unfortunately, we don’t have Aldi here in Perth, but hopefully one day they will come. It really is a fantastic store, and my husband and I think we would save about $30-$40 per week if we shopped there.
Anyway, back to the chocolate…..
So, I thought the ganache would be really nice with chocolate (what isn’t nice with chocolate???), and on Mother’s Day we went to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory in Swan Valley, and I picked up some 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate. My first attempts were a bit of a shambles – they tasted great but looked like a hot mess, but the hungry hoards ate them anyway.
You will need to make your ganache the day before or at least have 3-4 hours for it to sit in the fridge and get thick enough to be able to spoon it into the moulds or use to sandwich your macarons or biscuits together.
Ganache
Ingredients
60g White Chocolate
50g cream
15g softened butter
2 drops pink colouring
1/4 tsp strawberry flavour
Method:
- Place chocolate in the bowl and blitz it on Speed 10 for 5 seconds
- Add cream and melt at 50 degrees for 3 mins on speed 1
- Add softened butter, colour and strawberry flavour and mix for 10 seconds on Speed 4
- Pour into another bowl and refrigerate until mix is firm and no longer runny
Temper Your Chocolate
Ingredients
500g Good quality 70% Cocoa Chocolate
Method:
NOTE:* I temper half of the chocolate at a time
- Break chocolate up and blitz on Speed 10 for 10 seconds
- Mix on 50degrees Speed 2 for 2.5 mins
- Scrape down bowl and mix for a further 1 min on Speed 2 NO HEAT
Assembly
- Once your first batch of chocolate is tempered, pour a small amount into each mould
- Work the chocolate around so that it has a good cover of chocolate on all sides
- Pop the mould in the fridge and let it chill so the chocolate gets hard
- Remove from the fridge and place a small amount of the Strawberry ganache in each mould
- Temper your other half of chocolate and fill in the moulds with the chocolate
- Refrigerate and serve cold
Hints and Tips
- I did dark, milk and white chocolate versions using the same method for each
- I also substitute green colour and peppermint flavour to give a different filling for the ganache
- Serve the chocolates on a plate or box them up for a cute little homemade gift
- Tempering chocolate is easy! Give it a try!
