'Tis the Season for Chocolate!

I haven't been blogging much lately, because my life has totally stopped as it does every year around this time since I learned to make chocolates! This is my tenth year doing it. I learned when I lived in Washington. Glenna Dean taught me. I had to do it with her for three years before I dared to venture out on my own. Thanks Glenna!
I started my chocolates early this year! I started the Sunday before Thanksgiving and got done with them today! I usually start the week after Thanksgiving. I made more chocolates this year than I ever have before. Wisconsin is a great place to make them! I closed off my kitchen and made it very cold! It was not a hard thing to do here. In Las Vegas, I had to do them in the wee hours of the morning to even get it close to the freezing temperature that it has to be at when I make chocolate. They didn't turn out near as well as they should have. Here, I could do it in the middle of the day! No problems! They turned out wonderful. I didn't have many people come and talk to me while I was doing them unless they were bundled up, even then they didn't stay long. Tori helped a lot by putting the centers in the chocolate for me. You wouldn't think that it would save me much time, but it saved me tons!

I made two of everything that I make. I made 8 batches all together of the fondant. (That's the white stuff I am working on my marble slab.) It takes anywhere between 35 minutes to an 11/2 hours to work it. It starts out as a syrup and gets really thick and glossy. It then will lose it's shine and go really creamy. I then will add whatever flavor that I am doing. I think this was a mint batch. I did cherries (my mom's favorite), cherry-nuts, pina coladas (my dad's favorite), and mints. The non-fondant chocolates were caramels, turtles, and peanut butters (Chad's favorite). I can't decide which one I like best. It is a toss up between the cherries, the cherry-nuts, and the turtles. I also made 5 batches of Walnut Rocha. I was going to do six, but I don't think that I will need to. Here is a picture of the finished products. I will only do this once a year. My family is glad to get the kitchen warm again. Making these chocolates, totally gets me into the Christmas Spirit! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! (I am yelling this from Wisconsin. Can you hear me?) :)