St. Patrick's Day Chocolate Shamrocks

Intro: St. Patrick's Day Chocolate Shamrocks

In tribute to Saint Patrick I've made green chocolate shamrocks. Who doesn't love chocolate?


Today, St. Patrick's Day, I passed these out to my friends. Next year I'll have to make more because even though i made nearly three dozen, I ran out in less than fifteen minutes.

STEP 1: Supplies

-Shamrock shaped things. I made mine out of some scrap wood.
-Plastic, milk jug sides work great
-Vacuum Former. Sheekgeek has a cheap and easy was to make one How to Make Your Own Prototypes: How to Make Your Own Plastic Vacuum Former
-Vacuum
-Heat gun
-Wax Paper
-White Chocolate
-Green food coloring
-Double boiler
-Spoon(s) and Knives

STEP 2: Make Chocolate Mold

Use your vacuum former, plastic and shamrock shaped items(more are better) to create one or more molds to pour chocolate into.

Again, check sheekgeek's instructable for great directions on how to form.

When I made my shamrocks, I doodled a decent shamrock on some scrap wood and went at it with the band saw. Don't cut yourself.

When heated enough to form, milk jug sides will turn semi-transparent. For a good form make sure the entire piece of plastic is heated until it's nearly sagging. The quicker you get the hot plastic on the former and the vacuum on, the better it will come out.

STEP 3: Melt Chocolate

Get your double boiler, or two pots, and fill the bottom with water. Put a handful of the white chocolate into the top. Once the chocolate has started to melt you must continually stir it. Add food coloring until you get a nice shamrock green, or however dark you want. Keep stirring.

Make sure you don't run out of water, it smells horrible and can ruin the pot.

STEP 4: Mold Chocolate

After the chocolate is well blended with the food coloring, drizzle it into your molds. Try not to go too thick, use a butter knife to scrape the extra off. Stick the molds in the freezer to speed the cooling process. After a few minutes take the molds out, pop out the candies and fill them right back up.
The chocolates will probably have some extra that you don't want. Tidy the chocolates up with a sharp(er than a butter knife) knife.

Comments

[charlieanderin]

How long did it take to make?

[cloverbird27]

I'm Irish are you?

[Shany120]

yeah

[rogers236]

yup.

[vwinstead]

I've used "Food-grade" silicone before in order to make chocolate molds. Milk jugs are obviously made of food-grade plastic, but does melting them possibly make them harmful to use in food production afterwards? Plastics are sometimes tricky when used as food molds and I wouldn't want to find out in a few years that I had been making "cancer cookies" this whole time.

[necropolian]

hmm, this is something to celebrate here in belgium. another tradition to follow!

[ItsTheHobbs]

Mmmmm.. I melted a bunch of white chocolate, and water got in it, so it was ruined, but I ate a 1/4 lb. block of white chocolate.

[darkmuskrat]

Sweet xP thx for the milk jug idea

[rogers236]

no problem. i actually think it was on sheekgeek's instructable

[joey2542667]

you should add peppermint extract.

[kiwi20]

if you don't eat these on st. patrick's day, you get pinched by Unlucky the leprechaun. (Lucky's cousin twice removed.)

[GorillazMiko]

Yum. Those look good, now I'm hungry for a chocolate snack! Great job!