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Spooky Chocolate Eyes Project

By Bob Sherman

This fun project shows how to make stylized chocolate eyes with a squishy center. Although essentially just a fancy mint patty, the "gross out" factor will be a favorite with kids and a hit at your Halloween party. with a squishy peppermint surprise inside. These may also be made in other flavors if desired.

I have shown two stylized variants, however if you are skilled with a decorating bag you could make these more realistic.

Many of the items you may need can be ordered directly from this page for your convenience.

PLEASE NOTE!! - Although chocolate making is relatively safe for the entire family to participate, adult supervision is required.

Squeeze Bottles
If you need to make a large quantity of these the process can be sped up tremendously by doing the painting with squeeze bottles in place of paint brushes. Note that this does not work as well for small quantities as cleaning the squeeze bottles will negate any time savings.

Chocolate
I prefer to use chocolate wafers designed for home molding chocolate. My preferred brand is Merckens which works well with all chocolate molding projects, is available in a wide selection of colors, and tastes great.

Melting Chocolate
Either melting method may be used, but I find the double boiler works best for these. The small amounts of colored chocolate are more easily melted in a microwave.

Double Boiler - See Double Boiler Usage Instructions.

A microwave may also be used but care must be taken not to overheat the chocolate.

Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
Heat for 30 seconds.
Remove and stir.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the chocolate is creamy.
Optimum dipping temperature is about 90 degrees F. Do not place the thermometer in the microwave!

Chocolate Making Supplies And Materials

The following chocolate making supplies and other materials were used to make this project. Clicking on the item name will bring you to that item's page with a full description and ordering information.

Item	Amount Used
Chocolate Coating	Milk, White, and Dark colors were used here, but other colors could also be used if desired.
Dry Fondant Mix	One or more.
Green Food Color	One or more. Gel was used here, but powdered works too. Note: I avoid liquid food color in applications like this that contain very little liquid as it may upset the balance of wet to dry components.
Paintbrushes	One per color.
Flavor Oil	One. Peppermint was used here, but any flavor may be used.
Paramount Crystals	Optional. This may be added to thin chocolate for painting if needed.
Black Non-Pareils	One bottle will do many of these.
White Non-Pareils	One bottle will do many of these.
Squeeze Bottles	Optional.
Double Boiler	One.
Thermometer	One.
Dipping Tools	I find the tools in this set greatly simplify dipping.
Wrapping Foil	Optional. If individual packaging is desired a Halloween theme foil may be used.
Bag Of Eye Balls	An alternate packaging is to place several eyeballs in a Pretzel Bag and close with a Halloween Twist Tie.
Milk	Two Tablespoons per pound of dry fondant mix.
Butter	Six Tablespoons per pound of dry fondant mix.

Step By Step Instructions

Step 1
The fondant is prepared using the package instructions. Start by gently heating the butter and milk until melted.

Step 2
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and knead with your hands until it gets solid. Once solid, knead in the green food color and peppermint oil. The amount of flavor oil is largely a matter of taste. 1/4 ounce per pound of fondant is a good starting point. Taste it and add more if desired.

Step 3
Roll the fondant into balls. I prefer them to be slightly larger than marble size as it provides a higher chocolate to mint ratio, but make these any size you desire. Cover and place the finished balls in the refrigerator for several hours to firm up. This will help them retain their shape when dipped in chocolate.

Step 4
Melt some milk chocolate and use a dipping tool to dip all the "eyeballs".

Step 5
Place on waxed paper and allow to harden before continuing.

Step 6
Variant one uses only colored chocolate and a paint brush. Some white was melted and painted in a circle. Adding paramount crystals thins the white making it easier to paint.

Step 7
Paint a dot of milk or dark chocolate in the center to make a pupil.

Step 8
Variant two uses non-pareils. Paint a dot of chocolate for the pupil then sprinkle with black non-pareils. Allow the chocolate to harden.

Step 9
Paint a ring of chocolate around the pupil and sprinkle with white non-pareils.

Step 10
The finished chocolate eye.

Support Free Projects
You can help ensure the continued availability and production of free chocolate projects by telling your friends about them. The more popular they are the more we can produce so tell your friends, mention them on message boards, link to them from your web site, etc... More information is available here.

Disclaimer: The information presented here is accurate to the best of my knowledge and common chocolate making practices as of the time of this writing - September 2007. The author and the publisher accept no liability for the use or misuse of any of the information presented in this article. This article is presented for informational purposes and is used at your own risk.

Author: Bob Sherman

Publisher: Bobby's Craft Boutique Inc.

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