Candy, Gluten-Free, Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Treats: Red Velvet Bonbons

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I love Valentine’s Day. And I love making treats for Valentine’s Day.

red velvet bonbons

When I think of Valentine’s, my mind immediately turns to Chocolate Truffles. I adore truffles.

For a few years, I’ve been trying to get up the courage to start working with chocolate. This year I decided to take the plunge and make my own truffles…The only thing was that I wanted to turn them into Red Velvet Truffles–something different, something red. (VERY red.)
 chocolate dipped red velvet bonbons white chocolate dipped red velvet bonbons   red velvet bonbons
What I came up with wasn’t exactly a truffle, but more of a bonbon. I ended up adding some cream cheese to the melted chocolate and heavy cream. I wanted to make sure the cream cheese flavor was in there somewhere, after all it is an integral part of Red Velvet Cake, right?

dipping white chocolate

Also, because I’m a novice with dipping chocolate and the word “temper” sends me into a bad temper myself, I went with easy and bought 7 oz. of white chocolate disks. (I had to add another ounce of white chocolate so there was enough to dip half of the bonbons. Buy two if you want them all dipped in white chocolate.)

You just follow the directions on the package and dip away. Also, it’s a lot cheaper when you buy it like this than in the little cubes. (And I should also mention that I have used the white chocolate disks in cookies and they work great!)

red velvet bonbons drizzled with chocolate

After I dipped half of the bonbons in the white chocolate, I got a little braver and decided to do a few in bittersweet chocolate. So, I tempered some bittersweet chocolate. (See this post from David Lebovitz for great info about tempering and a quick how-to.)

You want to see what it looks like inside? It’s glorious. And red. Just like I hoped.

red velvet bonbon cut open

The inside is so creamy and buttery. I combined bittersweet with milk to create just the right amount of depth. The tang of the cream cheese works. These really are the perfect Valentine’s Treat.

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Valentine’s Treats: Red Velvet Bonbons

★★★★

4 from 2 reviews
Print Recipe

A delicious red velvet chocolate-dipped treat perfect for Valentine’s Day.

  • Total Time: 12 hours 20 mins
  • Yield: 18 bonbons 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • For the centers:
  • 8 oz. milk chocolate
  • 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
  • 4 oz. heavy cream
  • 4 oz. cold cream cheese, cut into 16 pieces
  • 1/2–1 tsp. red gel food coloring (I used Wilton)
  • 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • For dipping:
  • 8 oz. tempered white chocolate (at about 80 degrees F.)
  • 8 oz. tempered bittersweet chocolate (at about 88 degrees F.)

Instructions

  1. For centers: Chop chocolate and place in a large, heat-proof bowl. Add the cream. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. (You can take the bowl off the heat when there are still some larger chunks–they will melt.)
  2. Remove bowl from heat. Add the cream cheese chunks. Switch to a whisk. Whisk until smooth. Add the food coloring and vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature. Press waxed paper to the surface and chill overnight or at least 5 hours.
  3. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Use a small ice cream/cookie scoop and drop evenly sized blobs of the ganache onto the waxed paper. (You should get about 18.) Place baking sheet in freezer for two hours to harden.
  4. Once the chocolate blobs are firm, remove them from the freezer. Dust your hands with cornstarch and roll into smooth balls. Put the balls back on the baking sheet and chill again for a few hours.
  5. For dipping: Take one ball of ganache at a time, and drop them into the tempered chocolate. Carefully turn the ball around in the chocolate so it is uniformly covered with chocolate. Use a regular fork, or chocolate dipping fork to remove the ball from the melted chocolate. Drag the bottom of the fork over the edge of the bowl to remove the excess melted chocolate.
  6. Place the bonbon on the waxed paper. Repeat with remaining balls. Drizzle leftover chocolate over the tops of the dipped bonbons. Let harden in the fridge until ready to eat.
  7. Store in the fridge in an airtight container, or layer bonbons on waxed paper in a freezer-proof container. Let some to room temperature before serving.

Notes

The prep time includes the time needed for the bonbons to chill both before dipping and afterwards. Plan about 1 day to make these, though they only take about 35-40 minutes active time to make.
Keep them in the freezer or refrigerator. Don’t let them sit out at room temperature for too long (like for hours and hours) or the red centers may start to leak through the outer chocolate coating.

  • Author: Lindsey Johnson
  • Prep Time: 12 hours
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Category: candy
  • Cuisine: American

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23 Comments

  1. Hi Lindsay,

    I am Liz’s mom and will be visiting her in 2 weeks, and these will be part of a sweet treat for she & Patrick. I think I will have to make some today for Jim & myself. I like the Red Velvet idea.

    Reply

  9. These look SO good, I realy want to try them.

    Whenever I’m dipping in chocolate I add a very small amount of paraffin wax – the kind you use for canning, and can get in a grocery or hardware store.

    Just melt it right in, it makes the chocolate a little thinner and slipperier – so that you don’t get that glumping as it starts to cool, it doesn’t alter the taste. If you you use too much, it will alter the texture and it will seem like that fake thin yucky chocolate, but just a little isn’t noticeable and gives it a nice sheen too. (It isn’t absorbed at all my the body.)

    Experiment with how much you need – it’s only a very small amount. Like if I’m doing a pound of chocolate, I’ll slice about a 1/2 Tbsp of wax to go in it. Play around and see how you like it.

    Reply

  14. Hey Linds… where’s the best place in Westchester to buy good chocolate and the type of food coloring you recommend? Trader Joes? Or is there a much better place that I should know, but don’t.

    Thanks… miss you

    Reply

  19. Not to ruin this love theme here, but I am going to use this for a Halloween treat for the office, opting to paint red lines all over from the center topper of a green, blue or brown M & M…thanks for the great recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  20. It would helpful if you updated the prep time at the top of the recipe to reflect the 10+ additional hours of chill time. I thought this was going to be a relatively quick recipe until I had already started making it – and realized how long it would take to chill the chocolate at various stages.

    ★★★

    Reply

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