Making Chocolate Pine Needles
Part 1c of Edible Forest Elements for the Forest Floor Dessert
It wouldn’t be much of a Forest Floor (living in the PNW) without an abundance of pine needles. Instead of painstakingly piping individual chocolate pine needles for 20 dessert cups, I fortunately found a couple silicone molds with an array of little pine needle clusters.
Setting chocolate into these small, but detailed molds can be a bit tricky at first, but you start to get into a rhythm and find out what works. If some don’t work out, you can re-melt (and re-temper) the chocolate.
You will need:
✓ Tempered chocolate or melted candy melts (see instructions for Tempering Chocolate)
✓ Silicone pine needle molds (the more you have, the quicker this goes).
✓ Small metal spatulas (pointed end helps, but the small flat ones will do).
✓ Prep tray lined with parchment
✓ Patience of a saint, or a freezer space to speed up the set
Clean, Dry Molds
Gently wash your silicone molds in warm soapy water and rinse well. They need to be thoroughly dry.
To help make sure everything is very clean and dry, you can use a cotton swab dipping in a little plain vodka to polish out the inside areas. Or just a dry cotton swab.
Prep Station
Set up a clean, dry area where you can have all your chocolate, molds and equipment at hand. As working with chocolate can get messy, I like to work over a silicone mat with lots of paper towel at hand.
Smush Chocolate
You can try setting up a small piping bag with very small tip snipped out to push the chocolate into the molds. Or you can scoop it in with the offset spatula.
Use the spatula to really force the chocolate into all the crevices and avoid any air bubbles. As these are sold molds, it is hard to “tap them” to get the bubbles out.
I use only parts of the overall molds, as I wanted small bits of chocolate pine needle clusters. But this is the artistic part that is up to you.
Scrape
Scrape around the edges and across the top of the mold to flatten and level the backside of the chocolate. You don’t want a weird edge around the finished piece. If there is a weird edge that is very thin, it can easily trim off.
Set
Tempered chocolate can set quickly, but it may still be a bit soft in try to demold. You can refrigerate (or blast chill in the freezer) to ensure the chocolate is hard enough to take out of the mold.
Release
Go around the edge of the mold and gently pull away the mold to ensure the edge is releasing. Then gently pop the rest out. A longer piece is likely to break – but for forest floor, breakage is part of nature.
Finish
Trim off any weird piece that may have attached outside the mold of the chocolate pine needle shape. Place on a tray lined with parchment to fully set. You can then add highlights and shadows to bring out the details.
Store in an airtight flat contain one layer at a time. Use parchment or wax paper between layers.