Nothing fails to brighten up a dreary day like a bit of sparkle and shine in sweetness. I held a glass up to the sunlight and watched the rays reflect of the surfaces of these bon bons like polished emerald-streaked diamonds. Stunners, and with taste to boot. I used a white chocolate with too low a cocoa percentage which resulted in the shells being a little less sturdy, but use one with more than 30% and you’re golden.
If you’re new to making bonbons, you’ll need a few tools to get started. Namely, a chocolate mold of your preferred shape, a scraping tool and if you choose to go down the gold shimmer dusting route, a fluffy paintbrush. Also, the star purchase of this year so far, an infrared thermometer! It measures the temperature of your chocolate, custards etc instantly and so accurately. You don’t have to worry about constantly having to clean it as well if you have to measure the temperatures of multiple components. I got mine from Cotta, a Japanese baking supplies website, when I was living in Japan. Apart from that, I purchased all I needed off Amazon and I’ve linked the ones I got, if not similar ones, down below.
Matcha White Chocolate Bon Bons
The original recipe is from Les Sens Ciel, a Japanese youtube channel I adore. I recommend that you watch his video for a clearer understanding as to the process of making these bon bons.
makes 21 bon bons
For the chocolate shell:
350 grams white chocolate of at least 31% cacao butter
edible gold powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon of matcha powder
For the matcha ganache:
35 ml cream
5 grams glucose syrup
3 grams matcha powder
60 grams white chocolate, chopped finely
Prepare the chocolate mold: Using a paper towel, wipe the cavities in the mold to make sure that they are squeaky clean. This helps to make the surfaces of the bon bons shinier. As an optional step, lightly brush with edible gold powder. I shopped for my chocolate molds online and I used a half-spherical one for this batch of bon bons. Other variations I purchased, or was thinking of purchasing are the diamond and bullet shaped ones respectively, as I felt that they are classic shapes.
Temper the white chocolate: Temper the chocolate by melting it to 40C, cooling to 25C and then reheating to 28C. Take about 3 tablespoons worth of chocolate and mix in the matcha powder. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe random lines across the cavities.
Transfer the remaining chocolate to a piping bag and pipe into the cavities of the mold. Invert and tap out the excess chocolate. Leave in a cool environment until the chocolate has hardened. You can tell by the way it starts to shrink away from the mold. If you live in a country with consistently warm climate like I do, you can chill it in the fridge instead.
Make the ganache: Place the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream and glucose in a small saucepan to a simmer. Immediately pour the hot cream mixture over the white chocolate. Let it stand for a few seconds and then stir to combine. Sift the matcha powder into a smaller separate bowl. Pour a small amount of the white chocolate mixture into the matcha powder and stir to make a thick paste. This helps to prevent clumps of matcha powder in your ganache. Stir the matcha paste back into the white chocolate mixture until smooth. Let cool until about 30C before piping into the chocolate shells. Allow the ganache to set in a cool environment (or a fridge) overnight.
Temper more white chocolate: Temper the leftover white chocolate from forming the spherical part of the chocolate shell and pipe on top of the ganache. Scrape away the excess and allow it to harden and all that’s left to do is to remove the chocolates from the mold! If the chocolate was properly tempered the bon bons should fall out easily but if there are any stubborn ones, tap on the bottom of the mold a couple of times and they should release. As a last resort you can freeze the bon bons for 15 minutes or so and the extreme cold will cause the chocolate to contract from the mold, which will definitely help them fall out.
wild reverie 