More than a hundred different chocolates may be found in the price lists of some manufacturers. Almost all of them may be duplicated at home, if care is taken to follow directions explicitly. Regular coating chocolate must be used for dipping.

It may be bitter chocolate, sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or what is known as bittersweet chocolate coating, and is obtainable in ten-pound cakes. These will be sold in pieces of smaller size by dealers in confectioners' supplies. During the melting and use of the chocolate the greatest care must be taken that the temperature is right. Full directions will be found farther on in this chapter. Before preparing the chocolate the centers must be made ready.

Centers for Chocolates Chocolate creams may have centers that are hard or soft, and of many different flavors, colors and shapes. Fondant either cooked or uncooked, made by recipes in Chapters II and III, may be used. Directions for making centers are found. They should be small, as the chocolate coating adds to their original size.

Caramels should be cut smaller than when used without coating, as should fudge, nougats, marshmallows, candied fruits, or fruit pastes. Nuts should be shelled, and sometimes blanched, and be perfectly dry.

Dragnets and other decorations for the tops of the candies should be ready for immediate use. Several kinds of centers may be made ready at one time, and then dipped one after another. A pound box can be soon filled with assorted chocolates.

The name of the center gives the name to the chocolate; thus almonds dipped in melted chocolate are called chocolate almonds; almonds dipped in fondant and then in chocolate are chocolate cream almonds.

The following suggestions for centers for assorted chocolates may be extended almost indefinitely.

Almonds

Almonds blanched and dipped in white fondant Almond paste shaped in balls, or cut in strips or cubes Apricot paste in cubes or fancy shapes

Brazil nuts, shelled

Brazil nuts, brown skin removed, mixed with chocolate

opera fudge Butterscotch wafers Butterscotch wafers, with peanuts

Center cream, with and without nuts, and variously colored and flavored Checker berries, dipped in fondant Cherries, candied, dipped in fondant Chocolate caramels Chocolate fudge with walnuts Cocoanut, shredded Cocoanut caramels Coffee beans, freshly roasted Coffee fondant

Dates, stuffed with salted peanuts or peanut butter Dates stuffed with opera fondant

Fig caramels

Fig creams

Filberts, dropped three together, in a row, or clover leaf shape Fondant, flavored and colored as suggested and mixed with nuts, candied fruits, or jam. Fruit cake

Ginger, preserved, mixed with opera fondant, bit of ginger on top of chocolate Grapefruit peel, candied

Maple Cream

Maple cream with walnuts

Maple cream with blanched almond or walnut on top of each chocolate

Maraschino cherries dipped in fondant Marshmallow caramels Marshmallows Mint jelly

Nabisco wafers cut in pieces Nougats

Opera fudge, all flavors Orange peel, candied Oyster crackers

Peanuts, roasted, dropped in bunches of three or four

Peanut Brittle

Peanut butter cream

Peanut butter fudge

Pecan nut meats, whole

Pecans dipped in coffee fondant

Pecans dipped in maple cream, whole pecan on top

Peppermints

Pineapple, dried canned fruit, or candied pineapple, dipped in cherry-flavored fondant. Bit of pineapple on top of chocolate

Raisins, large, seeded, dipped in fondant or stuffed with fondant flavored with vanilla Raspberry jam mixed with opera fondant, bit of candied rose petal on top

Turkish delight

Vanilla caramels

Walnut meats whole

Walnut meats dipped in maple cream, whole walnut on top

Wedding cake other suggestions may be found in the following pages.

The centers should be. kept in the room in which they are to be used, that they may be neither too warm nor too cold. When a sufficient supply of centers is ready, the chocolate may be prepared.

To Melt Chocolate

Sweetened, unsweetened, or milk coating chocolate should be used and it is not wise to start with less than one pound. More than that is desirable even for a small amount of candy, as it keeps at the right consistency for dipping for a longer time, and that which is not used at once can be melted and used later. Some authorities say that never less than five pounds should be melted at one time.

The room in which the dipping is to be done should be free from steam and of an even temperature of about 650 to 750 F. On a hot or a rainy day, chocolate dipping should not be attempted at home.

Break chocolate in pieces, and put into a double boiler or saucepan over hot water. The two pans should fit closely, that the steam may not escape. Set both pans over the fire until water boils in the lower pan. Remove from fire, and stir until chocolate is melted, then remove dish from hot water to ice water, and beat chocolate gently until it feels a little cooler than the hand, or registers between 80° and 85 F. on the thermometer. This will take from five to twenty minutes, depending on the temperature of the room and the amount of chocolate used. At no time should temperature of chocolate go above 125° or below 80° F.

To Dip Chocolates

When large numbers of centers are to be dipped, the melted chocolate is poured on a marble slab, and the beating is done with the hand and the dipping with the fingers. Much experience is necessary to produce the markings seen on the best chocolates. The amateur will probably prefer to use a wire bonbon dipper or a two-tuned fork. For small centers, like nuts, a small pair of tweezers is useful.

Set the dish of chocolate on the table with centers to be dipped on the left, and chocolate dipping paper, paraffin paper, or white table oilcloth on the right. It is well to have the paper on small boards or tin sheets that candies may be easily moved.