Chocolate Covered Caramel Patties

I love heart shaped boxes of chocolate. My dad used to get me one as a kid every year. For whatever reason it just made me feel so special. Ok, I know the reason...I love chocolate, but who doesn't. My favorite truffles were the ones with caramel feeling. As an adult I look forward to the day after Valentine's Day, so I can buy all the heart shape boxes on clearance for half off. 

For Valentine's Day this year I decided to make it a personal goal to make my own truffles. I start today with caramel patties. This is the gooey kind of caramel that sticks in your teeth, which is my favorite kind. 

Caramel is just a simple sugar mixture with some sort of cream, in this case it is sweetened condensed milk.

As the caramel cools, it is time to prepare the work station for tempering chocolate. I am new to working with chocolate, so I was so nervous working with the chocolate. 

On a side note, I must point out my awesome plate. I made this plate in a ceramics workshop my husband and I go to once a week. You can get a better look at it on my Creative Homemaker blog.

Ok back to business. I have started to melt the chocolate here. I was using the microwave tempering method because I do not have a reliable candy thermometer. I managed to do the caramel with the cold water and spoon method, but this doesn't work on chocolate.

Once the chocolate has mostly melted, you begin stirring and stirring and stirring. You are suppose to add some seed chocolate pistoles to encourage it to cool. I'm no master, so if you want to try this method you might want to try You Tube.

Every 5 minutes you are suppose to test the chocolate by dipping a spoon in the chocolate and letting it set for 5 minutes. While it sits for the 5 minutes you still need to stir the chocolate.

A half hour later, my chocolate was finally ready to be used. I took a 2 teaspoon measuring spoon of caramel and dipped it into the chocolate.

Here is the chocolate covered caramel ball. The caramel is suppose to be soft enough that it will flatten as the chocolate cools. Once the tempered chocolate hardens, then it holds the caramel in place.