A Big Slice™ | Chocolate Candy Recipe

1/2 pound of good chocolate
(This can be semi-sweet, milk or white. We purchased a block of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate for our hearts, but you should go with your favorite.)

heart shaped mold
(A couple of Easters ago, some dear friends of ours from Denmark gave us an ice tray that made heart shaped ice cubes. We adapted it for these chocolate. So almost any mold will do, but the more hearts your particular mold has, the quicker the process will be.)

1. Temper the chocolate. This gives the chocolate a nice glossy appearance. Click here to find out how to temper chocolate.

2. Pour the chocolate into the mold. There is no need for any releasing agent like butter or oil. The chocolate shrinks as it cools and releases easily from the sides of the mold.

3. Using a knife or an offset spatula, gently scrape over the surface of the mold to remove any excess chocolate and smooth out the surface of the candies . You don't have to be too meticulous about this. We found that the extra bits seem to fall right off. It might also be a good idea to hold the mold about 3 inches off of the surface of your kitchen counter and drop it a few times. This will bring any bubbles to the surface.

4. Refrigerate the chocolates until they have set. The amount of time will depend on the size of your chocolates. Ours were about one inch at the widest point, and they set up in about half an hour. Then, by pushing on the bottom of the mold, release the chocolate hearts.

Since this was at the end of the wine tasting, we simply served the chocolates with some coffee. But place them alongside any fancy dessert and you have an instant Valentine's Day treat!