Chocolate Moulds

Have you ever tried making your own chocolates? I tried a while ago with some moulds from my mums coffee shop gift shop. At the time they were top of the range, plastic affairs and to be honest they made a decent chocolate, if you could get the silly things out! Although, that did make for a lot of wastage and somebody has to eat it!!!

Well, one of the Christmas presents I bought for my self last year was one of the moulds pictured. In fact the one at the top, and I am definately going to be adding the others to my collection!

They are silicone moulds which means they are all bendy so each little 'insert' can be turned completely inside out! This means the chocolates can be popped out cleanly and easily and there is no broken chocolate.

I rustled out a batch last weekend as a present for my mum as we were visiting. (Well, I had made dog biscuits for the dog, it seemed only fair.) It is a great way to use up all that left over chocolate and nuts. I used both dark and white chocolate and layered it. White chocolate filled to half way, pop in a hazelnut, dark chocolate to finish, pop them in the fridge to set then he presto! they are ready.

I will be experimenting with different fillings and additions to the chocolate over the coming weeks so watch this space.

I do recommend these moulds but I would say, for the frugal kitchen equipment buyer destined to only buy one for emergencies, go for a generic shape, like the square, as this will cover a range of events. Hearts are nice but a bit limited to their usage.

Hey! I'd love to know if people are using my recipes!! If you are leave a wee comment on the recipes post! Also, why not head back and let me know how you got on!!?

Product Review - Panasonic SD - 254 Breadmaker

This is the breadmaker that we got as a wedding gift!! Thank you! I love this thing. I used to make bread, as there is NOTHING like the smell of fresh bread but it always took so long and there is just nowhere in our current house that was warm enough to leave the dough to rise. My bread making life has changed since getting this machine!!! Let's go through the basics. It is pretty much just a drum with a removalable pan where the bread is made. The lid lifts up so you can get it in and out! It essentially works like this: put in ingredients close lid select loaf size, bake type and crust colour. press go That's it! It IS as easy as that.

This particular model allows you to make three different sizes of loaf: Medium, Large and X Large. If you want to do smaller loaves or rolls there is a setting for just making the dough allowing you to then remove the dough and shape it yourself! It can cook various styles of bread: basic, french, italian, sandwich, gluten free, pizza and bake only. So far I have tried basic and sandwich, both have been excellent. The machine is also capable of making bread with ingredients, with this model you must add the ingredients yourself, but the unti beeps to let you know when it is time. The machine can be placed on a timer so, pop the ingredients in the machine before bed, set the timer, warm fresh bread ready for breakfast!! We have tried that and it works wonders, it was great to come down the stairs in the morning to the smell of freshly cooked bread!! The unit is also capable of making cakes although I have yet to try out this facility but no fear I shall let you know how it turns out. All in all I love this machine, and it is certainly a welcome addition to my kitchen toys!!!