Peppermint Bonbons - NOW, FORAGER

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a special charity event at L’École Valrhona in Brooklyn, New York. Hosted by Valrhona and feedfeed, the Holiday Charity Bake Sale benefitted Food Recovery Network; a student-led movement fighting food waste and hunger in America. It was a celebration of chocolate, which included talented New York City bakers and chocolate professionals, such as Patti Page, Yossy Arefi, Susan Spungen, Jessie Sheehan, Michele Tanenbaum, Caroline Schiff, Jill Fergus, and Valrhona pastry chefs Guillaume Roesz and Paul Saiphet. As the feedfeed Chocolate Editor, to create these Peppermint Bonbons for the event was truly an honor. It was a meaningful way to share chocolate and an exciting way to kick of the holiday season. You can enjoy all the bake sale fun in my Instagram Story Highlights here.

All the baked goods and chocolate pieces at the event were made with the vast varieties of Valrhona chocolate. Everything from blondies, cookies, fudge, chocolate candies, and my own contribution with these Peppermint Bonbons. Everything was fantastic! Attendees happily filled their holiday tins while sipping on hot cocoa and spending time at the chocolate enrober to send their treats through a chocolate waterfall.

One of the best parts is that each treat had a recipe card to accompany it and all these recipes are now up on the feedfeed website. I’m sharing the recipe for my Peppermint Bonbons on the blog as well today. They’re a play on peppermint bark, with a delicate top layer of OPALYS 33% white chocolate ganache and a bottom layer of ILLANKA 63% dark chocolate ganache. All infused with peppermint to get you in the holiday mood. Don’t let these little pieces intimidate you. Give yourself time to create them and take them one step at a time. In the end, you’ll be rewarded with a holiday showstopper that’s both delicious and will open up endless possibilities for creating your own bonbons at home.

Helpful Tips For This Recipe

*Creating bonbons may seem intimidating, but don’t let that stop you. I’ve provided all the resources you’ll need to create these chocolate pieces by linking to websites for the tools needed. Take it step-by-step. Your own pieces don’t have to look exactly like mine. This is a creative process, so enjoy it!

*Watch this YouTube video of L’École Valrhona’s Molded Bonbon Essential Techniques before beginning. It’s a great resource to understanding the bonbon making process.

*For those not up to tempering chocolate, feel free to skip the decorating bonbon molds process and simply make the chocolate ganaches. They make excellent sandwich cookie or cake fillings. Even more, you can omit the peppermint and flavor the ganaches however you like.

*These silky ganaches take up to 24 hours to fully crystallize (to set firmly). If your kitchen is on the warm side, it may take more time. The final ganache should be very silky, but firm enough to bite or pipe.

*Find this Peppermint Bonbon recipe on feedfeed’s website as well! The feedfeed recipe version uses IVOIRE 35% white chocolate, but this blog recipe uses OPALYS 33% with a slight adaptation to the recipe for the chocolate modification. Both are great white chocolates, so take your pick and use either one. I absolutely love Valrhona’s OPALYS white chocolate (it’s not too sweet + ultra light and creamy), so it’s my personal go-to.

Peppermint Bonbons

Makes 32 domed bonbons

Decorate Bonbon Molds

32 cavity domed polycarbonate mold
Colored cocoa butter (red, brown, white, and gold)
ILLANKA 63% dark chocolate, tempered

Using colored cocoa butter, decorate the inside of each mold cavity with a colorful design of your choice. Allow colors to set. Fill cavities with tempered dark chocolate and turn upside down to pour out chocolate (see video link, under Helpful Tips, for a visual). Tap mold firmly with a bench scraper to remove excess chocolate from cavities. Turn right side up and scrape off chocolate from the top of mold using the bench scraper. Invert again and when chocolate begins to set (becomes matte in appearance) turn the mold back over and allow chocolate to set fully before filling.

Peppermint White Chocolate Ganache

8 ounces (227g) OPALYS 33% white chocolate
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons (100g) heavy cream
2 teaspoons (15g) glucose
2 1/2 tablespoons (35g) unsalted European style butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon (4g) peppermint extract

Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler or in a microwave for 20-30 second intervals, mixing often, until completely melted.

In a small saucepan, bring cream and glucose to a boil. Pour 1/3 of the cream mixture over melted chocolate. Using a spatula, mix from the center out to obtain a smooth and glossy texture. Gradually add remaining cream, mixing to keep the ganache smooth and emulsified. Stir in soft butter and peppermint extract or use an immersion blender to thoroughly combine until smooth. Allow ganache to cool to 97F (36C) before filling molds.

Peppermint Dark Chocolate Ganache

6 ounces (171g) ILLANKA 63% dark chocolate
¾ cup (186g) heavy cream
2 1/2 teaspoons (18g) glucose
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon (4g) peppermint extract

Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler or in a microwave for 20-30 second intervals, mixing often, until completely melted.

Filling Bonbon Molds

Place ganaches into separate piping bags. Pipe white chocolate peppermint ganache into each mold cavity about half way up the sides. Pipe dark chocolate peppermint ganache on top of white, leaving a thin space at the top. Allow ganache to set overnight, preferably 24 hours to allow ganache to firmly crystallize.

To seal, very gently heat the top of the entire mold with a heat gun (or even a blow dryer with hot heat- just don’t melt the chocolate rim), then pour tempered dark chocolate over the top of cavities and scrape the top clean with a wide scraper. When chocolate has set, turn mold over to release bonbons and enjoy. Tip: If the bonbons don’t want to release from the mold, place them in the refrigerator for a few minutes until bonbons separate from mold.

*Disclaimer: The chocolate used to create this recipe was provided by Valrhona. All opinions and thoughts are my own. A big THANK YOU to Valrhona for their generous provision of chocolate to create these for the Charity Holiday Bake Sale with feedfeed!