Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Lemon Dream Chocolates - Mrs. Claus Dipping Factory 2012

Mrs. Claus opened her Chocolate Dipping Factory
once again this year and we have been busy little elves.


Friday was spent creating centers for chocolate dipping
at
Purple Chocolate Home
and Saturday was spent dipping hundreds of chocolates!


I created a new favorite
Lemon Dream Chocolates.

It is a variation on my Lemon Truffles.
Now I am a dark chocolate girl when it comes to pairing
with fruit fillings, but we always have to dip some
milk chocolate for those who haven't heard that dark
chocolate is heart healthy! (Or who still, just don't like it.)


I topped these with a little crush lemon candy.  I love it when the
chocolate tells you a little about something that is inside.

These are definitely going to be include in
the
NICE LIST
from now on.  

Lemon Dream Centers

8 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 C. lemon curd (I like Trader Joe's or Richardson's
in the square bottle)
1 C. white chocolate discs, melted
2 T. crushed hard lemon candy (like Lemonheads)
additional crushed lemon candy for garnish

Beat the cream cheese, lemon curd and melted white chocolate
together in the mixer bowl until well blended, scraping down the sides.
Beat in the crushed lemon candy.  

Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate
overnight or a few days.  

This center is super soft so in order to form balls,
dust hands with flour and quickly form balls, 
placing them on a cookie sheet covered in
parchment paper and dusted with a small amount
of flour.  You will need to keep dusting your hands
with flour between every few balls so that it won't stick
to your hands.  Place the cookie sheet in the freezer
overnight.

Prepare your dipping chocolate by melting and then
cooling back to between 86 and 90 degrees.  Take
a few balls out of the freezer at a time and dip them.
They will be really soft even when frozen.
After dipping, while the chocolate is still wet,
dust with a little crushed candy.

You must store these in the fridge as they have
cream cheese in them.






See how soft the center is?  
These will make your toes curl they
are so good.  I just love the flavor combination of 
chocolate and lemon.


What a fun new family tradition we are starting with all
of the little ones wanting to help dip!

When the kids were little I would always dip once they went
to bed so I could do it uninterupted.

One of my 
favorite memories 
of dipping was when our oldest
daughter was almost two and I had dipped the chocolates and
stored them in her closet.  She came out of her room humming
with a big smile on her face and chocolate drooling down
her chin.  Her cheeks were stuffed with a couple of 
chocolates and she had a couple in each hand.  She has been
a fine chocolate connoisseur since then.  She is now thirty.
I have been dipping chocolates every Christmas for 32 years.

I have to thank my 
neighbor Liz Knight 
who took me to her
grandmother's house and introduced me to 
hand dipping chocolates when I was a newlywed.
We would always dip using a bowl in the microwave or
using an electric frying pan.  The electric fry pan is used
unheated and the cold metal cools the chocolate.  You can
turn it on for 3 seconds when the chocolate gets too stiff.
Those both work, but my
wonderful couverture machine 
makes it possible to really
crank out the chocolates in volume.  It is kind of a homemade
looking machine that I bought at a candy store, Shepherds, when they
were still in business, but it has served me for about 6 or 7
years now.  I love it and it was a fraction of the cost of
commercially made ones.

As a grandmother, I have enjoyed
seeing the grandchildren
want to help.  You can see my niece at the top of the
picture and four of the grandchildren gathered around.
The one in the bottom right corner has just 
dropped or should I say thrown
a center into the chocolate.  Two did that and
the other two coated the dipped chocolates with
 nuts.

Their favorite thing to dip and eat were
  Cinnamon Santas.

We dipped
 (the ones we are dipping in the above picture)
Lemon Dreams
Raspberry Creams
Mint Meltaways
Grandma Utahna'sToffee
Nut Clusters
and
lots of Cinnamon Santas

It was a 4 hour dipping marathon!


I have to include my favorite picture of one of 
my little elves.  He didn't help this year as he was home
with Daddy.  I just adore the look on his face.

I know just what he is feeling!







12 comments:

  1. That is such a cute cute cute cute pic:)

    Perfect!

    The recipe and tradition are great Jacqueline:)

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  2. I am impressed dear lady that you have been making your own chocolates as a family tradition for so many years. I see it as a lot of work but I guess if I had someone showing me and there was teamwork involved, I'd find it fun too.
    Hmm, lemon and chocolate sounds divine Mrs. Claus.
    Judith

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  3. I'll take two dozen. Either the candy or the darling tot. :)

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  4. I was going to praise your corage, thank for the lovely stories full of warmth and happiness but after seeing that lovely face (also dipped in chocolate) and those dreamy eyes, I can't.

    I'm speechless. Such a lovely post. Sweet and I'm not talking about precious little girls with chocolate drooling down
    her chin or that "me, first!" picture you posted.

    So many memories you're able to create for them to treasure.

    Be Blessed!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yum, the lemon ones look soooo good. I need to make some raspberry ones as those are always our favorites at See's. I am making some more Almond Rum Balls tomorrow -- they were a hit with our friends. Made some Utahna toffee today. I am not sure I have the patience to have everyone around while candy making, although Talley did help a little with the dipping of Almond Rum Balls. So fun Mrs. Santie Claus

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  6. Oh my, I'm sitting here a little puckered up wishing I had a (dark chocolate) lemon one to try! It looks like you all had a great time Jacqueline-enjoy:@)

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  7. Those look so yummy! What a fun tradition too.

    That picture of your grandelf is absolutely beautiful!

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  8. I've been very nice- I wish Santa would leave me some of these! Those lemon lovelies would have a hard time staying around for Christmas. :)

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  9. Yumm! I will be stealing this recipe. you always come up with the most decadent desserts. Love your little elf....

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  10. You need a small bon-bon size ice cream scoop for these - it makes for quick work. These look delish. I love anything lemon.

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  11. K, Jacquline,
    If I bring Sparkling cider and some of that chocolate Shepherds used to sell, can you give me a class?!! I had gone to Shepherds for years and cried when I went there and they had turned into a toy store! This is at the one on University Parkway in Orem. My hubby and kids said, "We are gonna go in and look, Mom!" I said "NO! I can't go look, I'll just CRY!"
    And lo and behold, and to my happy surprise, they were still carrying some of the items Shepherds carried! I was crying with JOY NOW! I have lots of things from there, a dear friend of mine here in Washington makes hand dipped chocolates, and I am an honored recipient of a pound of her chocolates each year for my birthday...My mom in law also has made them. But I still don't have the hang of it...
    I''m dreaming of a Lemon Chocolate Christmas! I LOVE lemon, it has been a favorite flavor of mine forever!
    Betsy

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  12. OMG, that last photo is amazing!!!!

    - The Tablescaper

    ReplyDelete

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