Ruby chocolate bonbons

Ruby chocolate’s distinctive flavour gives the possibility to try out new flavour combinations. Here I discuss the process of making ruby bonbons and a few ingredients that I found match well with ruby chocolate. Ruby Chocolate is made by Callebaut/Cacao Barry and can be bought online through Amazon. or at specialized retail stores.

Contents:

1. Tempering ruby chocolate
2. Making colored chocolate shells
3. Making the bonbons
4. Bonbon fillings

Required materials:

• Polycarbonate chocolate molds (Mold used in the picture)
• Stick blender or food processor
• Thermometer
• Tempering equipment, I use a temperature controlled chocolate melter.
• Piping bag
• Spatulas, pallet knife, or something else to clean up the molds after filling

1. Tempering ruby chocolate

1. Measure out your chocolate. 300 grams of callets is usually enough for a single mold. In general it is easier to melt a larger batch of chocolate, especially when filling the molds. Left over chocolate can be reused in other recipes. An additional +/- 50 grams is required as a seed.
2. Start by heating the chocolate to 45°C (113 °F).
3. When the chocolate is completely melted, lower down the temperature and let the chocolate cool down to 27 °C (80.6°F). To speed up the process and to promote crystallisation of the chocolate, add a batch of your (unmelted) seed chocolate. Add more chocolate until it does not easily melt anymore. Make sure to stir regularly.
4. After the chocolate reached the target temperature of 27 °C, heat it back up to 32 °C (89.6 °F). It is now ready to use.

To test whether tempering was successful: With a knife take a small portion of the molten chocolate and store in the fridge. Within a minute the chocolate should be hard and glossy.

2. Adding color (optional)

To add colors to your chocolate shells:

1. Melt coco butter with food coloring. For the bonbons in the picture of this post, I used a combination of red and white Power Flowers, other options are available through Amazon or special stores. 1/4 of a flower is more than enough to color a mold.
2. Apply a thin layer of the molten coco butter to polycarbonate chocolate molds. Apply colors you want to show on the outside first; e.g. first red and then a layer of white as a ‘base’ coat. Silicon molds can also be used but will not result in the same glossy finish as when using polycarbonate.

3. Making the bonbons

1. (Optional) color the molds (Section 2).
2. Fill the molds with tempered chocolate (Section 1). Tap the molds to remove air bubbles. Turn the molds upside down and let the chocolate drip out. Clean the outside of the mold with a scraper. The inside of the mold should only be covered with a small layer of chocolate.
3. Let the chocolate cool down and harden.
4. Fill the shells with a filling of your choice (Section 4). Make sure that the filling is not hot as it can melt the chocolate.
5. Let the filling harden before continuing. If needed, move the bonbons to the freezer for a few minutes to cool down completely.
6. Close the bonbons with a final layer of chocolate. Clean the top of the mold with a scraper, this is essential to cleanly release the bonbons in the next step.
7. Let the bonbons cool down completely, optionally a few minutes in the fridge or freezer (but be careful of condensation). Turn the molds upside down, the bonbons should come out without to much trouble. If they do not release from the mold: add the mold to the freezer and wait a few minutes, then try again. The colder temperature makes the bonbons shrink slightly making them easier to release.

Ruby chocolate bonbon fillings

Below you can find a few of the fillings that I combined with ruby chocolate.

Ruby hazelnut praline

Mix 75 grams of hazelnut paste (100% hazelnut) with 110 grams of melted ruby chocolate. Fill the bonbons completely with the cooled down praline.

Ruby hazelnut with spiced raspberry

In a saucepan slowly heat 200g raspberry jam with 10 pink peppercorns, a cinnamon stick, 4 cloves and a splash of lemon juice. Don’t cook the jam, heating is only required to make it more fluid and to infuse the flavours. Strain the jam, discarding the seeds and spices. Let cool down.

Add a small portion of the spiced jam to the bonbons. Top off with hazelnut praline (see previous section).

Crunchy Speculaas

Mix 30 grams of crushed speculaas with a few table spoons of rapeseed oil or any other neutral oil. Add just enough oil to make a very coarse paste. Add molten ruby chocolate and mix well. Let cool down and fill the bonbons.

Tip: If you like speculaas, check out this recipe for dark chocolate bonbons with speculaas and ruby filling.