Here’s an easy, step-by-step method – and a couple of tricks –  for making unfussy homemade chocolate shards and slabs:  thin sheets of fine chocolate into which you’ve embedded surprising and delectable elements, like chopped Marcona almonds with a dusting of Pimenton de la Vera; or curry powder and sea salt; or dried cherries and lavender; or roasted pistachios and candied orange zest…Possible improvisations are endless.

Once the sheet of chocolate hardens, you break it into shards or slabs and pack it as a gift (and keep some to serve at your own dinner parties, or as a restorative when your spirits are flagging).

Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

There is two tricks to making chocolate shards:

—Start with VERY good chocolate, delicious enough to eat as a snack. Vahlrona,GhirardelliGuittard, Lindt, Callebaut and Scharffen Berger are all reliable, with some variation in flavor and texture. For dark chocolates, I recommend at least 70% cacao. Some come formed into easy-to-melt pastilles, feves, callets, and wafers, making chopping unnecessary.

—you have to temper it to make sure it will set properly. Untempered chocolate will be flabby and rubbery, refusing to snap when you break it. It’s essential for the proper chemistry to use the best and freshest chocolate you can buy: fragrant and glossy with no trace of a gray bloom on the surface. My method of stirring chopped hard chocolate into melted chocolate insures that your chocolates will harden properly and break into pretty shards.

chocolate-feves

 

Method: Chocolate Shards with Surprising Flavors

You can improvise endlessly on this formula, devising unique combinations of chocolates and flavorings to embellish the chocolate. (You can also simply stir the embellishments right into the melted chocolate before pouring.)

Makes about 1 1/2 pounds

1 pound fragrant premium chocolate: bittersweet 70% cacao chocolate, or milk chocolate

About 1 1/2 cups chunky embellishments, in any combination, such as:
Nuts such as pistachios, pine nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, peanuts, roasted and coarsely chopped. Spanish Marcona almonds are particularly delicious
Dried fruit such as raisins, currents, or cherries
Toasted coconut
Candy bars, such as peanut butter cups, peppermint patties, nut brittle, nougat or torrone,  diced or coarsely chopped
Candied orange peel or crystallized ginger, chopped or diced (these are potent and should be used sparingly
Herbs or spices, such as lavender (unsprayed), curry powder, garam  masala, pimenton de la vera (sweet, smoky paprika), freshly ground pepper, Mexican cinnamon (figure about a scant 1/2 teaspoon)
Flaky sea salt or fleur de sel. Maldon is particularly lovely.
Malted milk powder, stirred into the melted, cooling chocolate will make for an intense Malted-Milk-Ball-effect.
Crisp smoky bacon, blotted of all fat and finely chopped with coarsely ground black pepper (both best stirred into the chocolate before you pour it)

Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

Line a baking or cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper (or simply place the paper on the work surface). With a chef’s knife or in a food processor, chop the chocolate into 1-inch or smaller pieces.

Place half of the chocolate in a heavy saucepan and place on a flame tamer over a low flame. Alternatively, use a double boiler, making sure that the bowl of chocolate is suspended over NOT IN the simmering water.  It is essential that no water gets into the chocolate or it will seize up and turn to unusable clumps. Stir the chocolate frequently with a rubber spatula until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining chocolate until completely melted.

Pour the melted chocolate onto the wax paper and spread it about 1/8-inch-thick with a cake icer. Let the chocolate set about 5 minutes. This is your palette for improvising really fun and interesting combinations.

Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

Scatter or arrange your desired embellishments over the chocolate. To dust with ground spices, let the chocolate sit until the surface has firmed up and the chocolate is still pliable, from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how cool the room is. (This way, the spices will stay visible.)  Place the spice a fine strainer and gently sift evenly over the chocolate. Sprinkle coarser herbs or sea salt over the chocolate with your fingers.

If I’m making several sheets of chocolate, I use a tiered rack to hold them.

Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

Let the chocolate set 1 to 2 hours until firm.

chocolate-spread-and-flavored
Ellen Silverman

Break the chocolate into shards.

Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

The chocolate will keep up to two weeks in a sealed container at room temperature.

Package it as gifts as you need them.

Here are a few ideas for packaging the chocolate as gifts: Pack into in cardboard candy boxes (lined with wax or parchment paper), bought or saved from a local bakery; antique or repurposed tins (available at flea markets, yard sales and Ebay); or paper bags or clear cello bags bought from your local market (they will often sell them by the piece) or online at Papermart.

Ellen Silverman
Ellen Silverman

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