bonbons

So Shiny, Narcissus Might Fall In

Turkish tea and cookies bonbons, with Turkish tea milk chocolate ganache and a shortbread cookie inside.

Turkish tea and cookies bonbons, with Turkish tea milk chocolate ganache and a shortbread cookie inside.

People often ask us how we get our chocolates so shiny.

Step one: Cut a hole in the box. Step two: We’re just joking with you. Really, step one is polishing the polycarbonate (hard plastic) molds with microfiber polishing cloths. This is the first thing you do to get chocolate super shiny. Next, we melt and keep colored cocoa butter at the right working temperature and paint the molds. Lost of folks use airbrushes, and we’re not poo-pooing that technique, but we prefer to work without them. We fingerpaint, use brushes, and blow cocoa butter off of spatulas or around in the molds using a handheld air pump. Sometimes we use a little luster dust, with or without alcohol, to make designs. Then we temper chocolate and line the molds with it, creating a thin chocolate shell.