I posted this in the candy forum but can't seem to get anyone to reply, was hoping someone would answer my question here. I have a friend who wants me to make some chocolate shot glasses for new years eve and I have no idea on what to charge. These will be made with real chocolate so I will have to temper it. Also, she wants some chocolate truffles. I had given her some for a Christmas gift and now she wants to order them. I made a chocolate shell, then poured some caramel in them and made a truffle filling and piped that on top. Everything will be made from real chocolate. Can anyone suggest what I should charge for these two items? I thought maybe a $1 a piece but then I saw someone on the internet selling belgium shot glasses for $4 a piece which I think is way to expensive. Anyone have any ideas?

Same as with cake making you need to figure out your cost of ingredients and time then you'll know better how to price them. I would start at least at $3 a piece, depending on the size of the chocolate shot mold.

So, I am going to make truffles for Easter. I am going make three flavors. Cherry, vanilla bean, and one with chocolate ganache in the middle and a white coating on the outside. What do you all think?

That sounds awesome!! Be sure and post pix! I have to upload my hearts I made for Valentine's day. (It'll get done... eventually...)

Oh, I love vanilla bean, that sounds good.
I make lots of truffles for work. I'm not sure what I'll make for Easter, but I have to work on Easter so I guess I better figure it out soon.

This will be my first attempt at vanilla bean. I hope itturns out good. I will deffinatly try to post the pics but my only Internet access is my phone right now. I am going try to swirl the outside with 2 colors. I'll be using candy molds for these. Yeah let me know what you come up with for work. I like making candy for work too. If I have enough I might take some over there on my vacation.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to ship chocolate pops??? what to use for packing & how to stack? Would really appreciate a response. Thanks.

With the weather warming up I'd be careful shipping anything chocolate.
I've never shipped any product so I can't tell you. Sorry.

This might have been posted already but I couldn't find it. So, I'm going to go ahead and ask anyway, just in case. Does anyone know what I should charge chocolates? Truffles, bonbons, etc. I did some research but I'm still not sure.

can't you use cold or cooler packs if the weather is warm?

I'm not sure about using cold packs. I would do some research into it first through google probably.

Luvlaugh -- the only way to price out chocolates is the same as you would a cake. How much in ingredients and time.
There is a chef near me who charges $1.10 per chocolate truffle. I'm not sure what chocolate he uses but I know it's not the melts. I believe he uses Godiava (sp?)
Doing chocolate work by tempering can be a little tricky sometimes and there are different grades/levels of chocolate. The more expensive the chocolate, for sure charge more even for a little piece.
When I was charging for small chocolate truffles dipped in chocolate not rolled in cocoa powder, I used cocoa Barry chocolate. Which is middle of the road chocolate. I charged $16 a dozen and honestly should have charged probably more. An 11# box of the chocolate cost me around $110. It can be difficult making money while doing real chocolate work. That's why it's important to figure out your costs since it will be different from other people simply because of the product you use.

Well, I made the vanilla bean chocolates but I made it with white chocolate. It was good but way too rich. So, I am going to try it again and use a different recipe for the center. I am also going to use chocolate instead of white chocolate.

Well here they are, my leftover chocolate hearts. I like to make these out of leftover chocolate -- they're very easy to do, just pour the chocolate into plastic cookie cutters on a silpat sheet and let them firm up. I like to dress them up with sprinkles and such before the chocolate sets. They make great little yum yums for people to snack on.

Those are really pretty. Is it ganache or just white chocolate? Do you spray non stick on the coockie cutters? Will it work with metal cookie cutters? I have been thinking about trying this lately. Those look great.

Thanks! They're so easy to do it's almost sinful! (Well it's chocolate, which makes it sinful!) It's just white chocolate that was colored pink (I did a bunch of pink and blue chocolate cigars for a baby gender announcement party recently) and I had all this leftover pink chocolate. I use the plastic cutters as they are with no spraying necessary. I put them on the Silpat lined cookie sheets for easy release. I've heard that this works well with metal and cupper cutters, but I haven't tried it so I don't know. I've also done little easter yum yums with mini plastic rabbit, egg and such cutters and pastel sprinkles. Use whatever you have and have fun with it!!

I'll have to try that. I do take pictures of my candy but right now I do everything from my phone. And the site won't let me. But all my pictures are on my facebook.

I try to take pix of everything but some things just get forgotten. Like the chocolate cigars!! The pink ones read "it's a girl" and the blue ones read "it's a boy." Oh well, I'll just have to wait til another friend has a kid then make some more!

You'll get those pics one day. They sound really good. Very creative.

bob, what kind of chocolate do you use? Do you temper tour chocolate?

Those were just leftover chocolate from candy melts. My students ask me what I do with the leftover chocolate that I don't want to store or throw away -- I make those chocolate yummys with them. It's nice too because there are no measurements, make as many or as few as you want depending on how much chocolate you have leftover.

Ok, thank you so much.

Ok, thank you so much.

Just wanted to let everyone know another very popular chocolate filling that I do that gets eaten almost first.

I buy (but you could make it from scratch) Nanaimo box mix and make the bottom layer in one bowl, the creamy centre in a different bowl (refrigerate for a bit) then use the peanut butter cup mold I pu the chocolate in the bottom and sides, refrigerate, then some of the "crust" and a bit of the cream layer and squish it all flat then the choclate on top, it's just like a nanaimo square but all contained inside the chocolate. Very Yummy!

Does anyone have a recipe that they would be willing to share for Grasshopper Mousse? Sounds wonderful!

Try this site

http://www.grouprecipes.com/18260/grasshopper-mousse.html

hope this helps.

Which center would be better for strawberry truffles? White chocolate or dark? I will be dipping them in pink white chocolate.

Hey, I`m new here. I made oreo truffles today, but have not dipped them in chocolate yet. I have them in the fridge in an airtight container. How long will they last (not eating them is a start ) in the fridge? Is there any easy chocolate I can buy other than Merckens to melt in the microwave?

Thanks very much. This thread is great.

I always buy the bulk chocolate wafers from teh bulk bins and melt them in the microwave, I usually put white chocolate on the oreo Truffles. I wear rubber gloves and then kind of use my hands to dip the oreo balls into the chocolate and then set them down. It works good for me that way I dont have the patience to wait for the chocolate to drip off. Oreo Truffles are my favorite! I keep mine for about about 2 week or so in the frig.

Good luck not eating them all!!!

Aren't these cute? These are the animals from the Team Safari baby theme that my friend Danielle picked out for her shower. I'm doing the cake this weekend and was so tickled with the results of the chocolate transfers I just had to share with y'all!

They are so adorable! That are so cute in fact, that I am just going to have to ask you how you did it. Is it the same as a buttercream transfer?