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I must thank Weddingbee and Mrs. Starfish for the Elephant endeavor into chocolate making. I saw Mrs. Starfish’s post on making chocolates for her OOT bags and I loved the idea! These would be great favors. How hard could it be?
The answer is pretty hard! Well I take that back—not hard enough to scrap the idea, but there were some major fails on the way to success.
After ordering candy molds in the shape of Texas and Pennsylvania (representing the states Mr. E and I were born in), I searched online for tips/instructions on chocolate melting. They say to use the chocolate that you like to eat…well stupid me thought of actual chocolate, not baking chocolate.
Big fail. I spent the time to unwrap Hershey’s milk chocolate Kisses and then found out that they don’t really melt.
Measuring out the kisses
After 20 mins of heating and stirring in the double boiler (thank you Mr. E for buying that!)
I refused to let this mess go to waste, so I filled a couple a molds and threw them into the freezer while Mama E and I ran up to Kroger to get better melting chocolate.
Boy, am I lucky to have a mom that is much better in the baking/cooking category than I am. We picked up Nestle and Ghirardelli milk chocolate baking morsels and got to work.
Mom added a little Crisco and in 7 mins we had this!
Much better looking!
We used squeeze bottles to fill the molds, although I think the spoon worked just fine… a little messy, but fine.
Always tap the molds to level out the chocolate and remove any air bubbles. Into the freezer for 5-10 mins…
…and you’re left with yummy chocolates that just pop out of the molds!
Can you tell which one was my very first to fill?
I think the iPhone/lighting in the kitchen made the PA chocolates look lighter than the Texas ones. In reality they are all the same shade. The finishing touches were to bag & tie them up.
The plan is to make them next weekend and store them in the freezer until the week of the big day when we’ll box them up. Big thanks to BM Aggie who helped me to put together all of the boxes so all we’ll have to do is drop in the chocolates!
Would you ever consider making your own chocolate favors?
Yes - thanks for the refresher post. We are doing our own chocolate favors using a Washington DC (the Capitol Building) mold.
Hi there
I just wanted to say that if you’re planning on freezing the chocolate that you should have a trial run with freezing and bagging because some types of chocolate will weep after they come out of the freezer. Also, try freezing some in their bags and some outside so that you can see if there will be problems with condensation.
Good luck with them! Looks like so much fun! Can’t wait to do mine 
Cheers,
Rez
So Cute! I’m thinking of doing some sort of chocolate too.
Some other tips:
1. NEVER add water or milk after the chocolate while its hot. Crisco, butter and canola oil will all make chocolate thinner, but if you add too much it will take a long time to harden.
2. Remove the chocolate from the heat once melted, it will stay melts for a long time (if the water in the bottom of the double broiler evaporates them you’ll burn your chocolate)
I’ve had alot of failures while making chocolate, but it really is simple if you know the rules. Good Luck!
@Rez: Thanks for that tip! We froze the ones from this test period, so I’ll check them/their bags when I head back to my parents to see if we need to keep them out of the bags until the wedding.
@ChocolateMice: Thanks! I’ve found it to be a trial and error, but the 3rd and 4th sets were a lot easier then the first two.
I make them all the time. Love them. Yours turned out great for your first time. Cudos!
Great job! Chocolates can be problematic. Hooray for success!
Adorable! Where did you order the molds from? I’d love to do state molds and have had a hard time finding molds that can make as many in as nice a size as yours!
@jessicanicole156: I ordered the molds online from here:
http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/candymolds/M-states/M-states.htm
Good Luck!
These came out awesome! I love that you did your home states. I tried freezing some in a trial batch early on and they ended up kind of sweating and didn’t look as good after. In our second trial, I stored them in a cool place instead and they turned out mcuh better. Not sure if that’s typical or just my experience. But you may want to try a test run on this.
Your guests will love them!
My sister made white chocolate flur de lis candies for her wedding, and died them blue to match her colors. The only problem was they looked so much like soap that no one would eat them!
@Mrs. Starfish: Thanks! We’re going to check on the freezer ones before we start the real batches for the wedding. I’ll have to check for the sweating!
these are awesome! where did you get the molds from? I’ve been searching online for some and cant find a good site.
So cute! I am definitely thinking about doing this for our OOT gift bags too.
@808mjm202: Where did you get your Capitol mold? I looked on the internet but didn’t see anything I loved. I’d like to see what you found!
For future reference:
- Kisses aren’t made for melting, Hershey does however have other products that are better suited for melting called ‘chips’ or ‘pieces’. I’m just not sure if you can easily find them outside of PA/Chocolate World. (However, if you can get someone to Chocolate World, they are in the candy retail section on one of the metal carousels, usually closer to the rainforest than the back wall. I believe, they could have rearranged it during January’s slow days)
- Freezing will likely lead to the chocolate blooming- that white stuff on the surface, depending on the kind of bloom, it is either the sugar or the cocoa butter (this is usually what you see on Reese’s Cups as they are more susceptible to blooming for some reason).
I believe the ideal temperature is just above 50 (you can store 70+ but it’s generally not a good idea)
Oh I would love to do this! How many are you making and much chocolate will you need to buy for it?
@Elizabeth: We’re making enough for each guest to get one Texas and one PA chocolate. Funny you should ask, because I was just talking with my mom about how much chocolate we will need. We made about 6 batches from 2 bags of baking morsels. One batch is two molds for for each state, so 16 PA molds and 12 Texas.
These came out great! I love the star on the Texas mold.
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Mrs. Elephant, Dallas, TX Age and Occupation: 27, Financial Operations Analyst Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, IT Student/Store Manager Engagement Date: March 29, 2009 Wedding Date: April 2011 Venue: The Tribute Golf Club About Me: I'm a Philly native creating roots deep in the heart of Texas. I might be a little obsessed capturing those Kodak moments of anything and everything (mainly on vacations). I've become more of a gamer thanks to Mr. Elephant, who I met online and can't wait to spend the rest of my life with. We are planning a wedding based on our favorite colors, blue and green, with a travel theme for 150 of our closest friends and family. Hopefully our long (2-year) engagement won't kill me!
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