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12.5 pounds of Home Made Romanian Chocolate

bahPosted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago4 min read

IMG_20190210_225957.jpgYou need a 4 Pound bag of Non-Fat Powder Milk. Then 666 Grams of Butter, which is 13 grams less than 6 whole sticks of Butter (113g each), and about 266 grams of Coco Powder, 2330 grams of Sugar and 666 ml of water plus the flavors, be it baked walnut, hazelnut, or pecan pieces or raisins or cranberries, even dried up apple bits and vanilla or rum essence, for this one I used about 66 ml of McCormick Rum Essence.
In case you, for whatever reason, think 12.5 pounds of homemade chocolate isn't a good idea, the proportions are as follows :

3.5 parts of Sugar to (g)
1 part Water (ml/g)

1 part Butter (g)
2.5 parts Non-Fat Powder Milk (g)
2/5 parts Coco Powder (g)

Measure the sugar and water and in a large 8 qt pan dump the 5+ pounds of sugar in there with the water and put it on medium-low heat and stir it slowly with a large spoon making sure the mixture is free of any chunks then place it on med heat, watching to make sure that it is not to hot to make it boil.

Meanwhile sift the powder milk and coco powder, all 4 and a half pounds of it, don't worry about the big pieces of powder milk, use them for other things as pushing them through with a spoon might affect the fine texture, but you don't need to worry about the chocolate, but make sure you sift it all. Measure out the butter and melt it, either in a sauce pan on very low/simmer/keep warm or in the microwave on low power (3/10) for 3 minutes.

Next continue slowly stirring the sugar which by this time should be syrupy to the point that no more sugar crystals are felt while stirring and stirring feels smooth. When the syrup starts foaming you turn down the temperature and slowly turn it back to where it's simmering and this is crucial.

The less you cook the syrup, the more soft the chocolate will be, the more you cook it the harder. I keep it simmering after it begins foaming for 6-7 minutes, stirring it occasionally. While the syrup is boiling you line 1 large baking sheet (1 inch sides) with aluminum foil and spread the Cranberry or Raisins, covering as much as you like and breaking apart any clumps. After the syrup is done I take it off the stove and pour in the essence with the butter, stirring it in well, and then pour it all into the syrup and stir it good.

Then you pour in the Coco powder, mixing slowly but deliberately along the sides and bottom and until you cannot see any more powder, after which you star pouring about a pound at a time of the powder milk in, mixing it thoroughly each time, this recipe needs a little shoulder and elbow grease. After it is mixed well you are going to taste test, if you haven't already, and don't be afraid to add more essence if you think it needs it, just know that you can't take it away.

As soon as you're satisfied with the flavor you can pour it on the baking sheets, distributing it around with a silicone spatula so it's even. At this point you can sprinkle roasted nuts on top and press them down, half into the chocolate. Depending on how long you cooked the syrup will determine how quickly you can eat them/cut, the hazard being that it might come out too dry and chalky/hard to cut. If you cooked the syrup longer should be ready to cut when it is no longer warm anymore, otherwise if you wanted a softer chocolate, like a fudge, you can cook the syrup less when it's foaming (3-4 minutes) but you have to let it cool overnight.

For me the texture must be soft enough that it crumbles/breaks when you bend it, but doesn't shatter when you cut it or is otherwise hard to cut, once it's completely cooled down, and hard enough that when you press a piece a between your fingers it doesn't easily make an indentation, but that's just me.

I made mine with rum and cranberries. Next time I plan to substitute the water with some coffee and putting in whole/half hazelnuts per piece.

This is the last desert post you'll see from me for a while.

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