What to do with chocolates besides the obvious?

February 13, 2009 9:37 AM

Creative cooks, I need your help. What can I make with a whole bunch of filled chocolates?

This is a somewhat ridiculous question, but bear with me. I just came into five pounds of assorted chocolates, mostly filled with various hazelnut pastes and creams. There is nothing in this world that makes me happier, but in this case, the chocolates are just too sweet to enjoy. I thought maybe I could melt them down and bake them into something, brownies maybe? Or melt them and whip in cream to use as cake filling? (It would have to be a lot of cakes!)

If I tried to make brownies, could I just melt them and eyeball the amount of flour to add? (I'm not much of a baker, though pretty handy at other stuff.)

Any other ideas? I'm at a loss.

posted by CunningLinguist to food & drink (18 comments total)

Leftover Valentine Candy Cake!


You could probably also collect like-candies (all nougat) and melt them down to pour over cakes as ganache, but I wouldn't want to mix the different kinds of centers. Carmel melts differently from nougat.
posted by headspace at 9:41 AM on February 13

Rather then melting them, with unpredictable and extremely sweet results, I would chop them up and add them to brownies, cookies, cake, etc., make the background dough or batter less sweet to compensate.
posted by ottereroticist at 9:48 AM on February 13

I agree with ottereroticist. Chop them up and use them to replace the chocolate chips in your favorite chocolate-chip cookie recipe. They might melt a little strangely but they'll probably still taste awesome.

Oooh! Make some standard plain cookie dough and wrap a whole filled chocolate with it, then bake. Round cookie balls with gooey centers! (I've never done this, I just had the idea this second- it may take some experimentation for optimal results.)
posted by doift at 10:12 AM on February 13

You could wrap them inside cookie dough and bake them to make surprise cookies (haven't tried that particular recipe, but you get the idea).

If I tried to make brownies, could I just melt them and eyeball the amount of flour to add?

Sadly, I think this idea is doomed to serious failure. Chop them up and add them to a normal brownie batter, sure. But the chemistry involved in the fats, sugars, eggs, leavening, etc. in most baked goods does not lend itself well to being replaced by unknown melted candy with an eyeballed amount of flour.
posted by vytae at 10:13 AM on February 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

Chop them up and add them to ice cream? If you don't have an ice cream maker you can always do it ala Cold Stone Creamery and mix it into the ice cream manually.
posted by evilcupcakes at 10:22 AM on February 13

You could probably make some really yummy chocolate equivalent to those turtle pretzel candies. I have usually seen them made with rolos popped into the middle of a pretzel, but these would be a nice variation.
posted by Joh at 10:36 AM on February 13

But the chemistry involved in the fats, sugars, eggs, leavening, etc. in most baked goods does not lend itself well to being replaced by unknown melted candy with an eyeballed amount of flour.

Yeah, I suspected as much. I was thinking of melting the chocolates and subbing the resulting goo for melted chocolate in a recipe and omiting some of the sugar.
posted by CunningLinguist at 10:37 AM on February 13

You could make a normal cookie, such as a chocolate cookie or white chocolate cookie, and when the cookies are half done, press a place in the center of them (not all the way through the cookie, just an imprint) to put the chocolates in once they're done. Place the chocolates in the center of the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. This will melt the chocolates just slightly, so they stick to the cookie, but not too much, so as to lose their form.
posted by metalheart at 11:00 AM on February 13

Make these chocolate chip cookies, but replace the chocolate chips with the chopped, frozen yummies you have.

Just make one batch so you don't waste too much if it fails.
posted by elpiconeroalcognac at 11:01 AM on February 13

>> ... the chocolates are just too sweet to enjoy.

Even one at a time? After dinner, in small nibbles?

If I couldn't eat them at all, I'd probably take them to work. There's always someone around who'll eat free chocolate.
posted by Bruce H. at 11:13 AM on February 13

I was just about to give metalheart's suggestion. I'd make the cookies a little less sweet than usual to balance things out.
posted by abcde at 11:35 AM on February 13

I was watching Food Network last week when I saw Ina Garten make Deeply Chocolate Gelato on her show, Barefoot Contessa. Normally a recipe like that would catch my attention for the chocolate alone, but this one was particularly intriguing because one of the ingredients is one of my favorite candies, a chocolate hazelnut truffle called Baci. I'm pretty sure it would be delicious with any other chocolate candy as well!

Of course, if you don't like chocolate, this may not be an ideal recipe for you. In that case I think I'd go with elpiconeroalcognac's suggestion to use them (chopped) as a substitute for chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies.
posted by geeky at 11:44 AM on February 13

Chocolate fondue! Melt them down with a little bit of milk; cut up some fresh bananas, strawberries, and apples; make some low-sugar cookies; dunk and enjoy.
posted by tomatofruit at 12:15 PM on February 13

Add one to your after dinner coffee or some hot chocolate?
posted by 26.2 at 12:24 PM on February 13

If they're filled with hazelnut pastes then you should be able to make a nutella like spread. You can also melt them and make poptarts with pie crust and the melted chocolates for the filling. Just use cream to thin them out if the texture sucks when you melt them.
posted by foodgeek at 12:38 PM on February 13

I like candy and I know where you live.
posted by Evangeline at 1:07 PM on February 13

Hah. Seriously, these are gorgeous looking but inedible. (I could take them to work but I hate all those bastards.)
Fondue is a great idea! I could mix in some bitter chocolate to leaven the sweetness.
posted by CunningLinguist at 1:23 PM on February 13

You could chop them up and use them in the thumbprint variation of these drop cookies.
posted by crazycanuck at 5:12 PM on February 13