Spent a good part of the day watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today with LatteKid and making our own Christmas Chocolate Candies (picture coming soon).

She had a blast coming up with ideas of what molds should be what colors, and we even gave an attempt to a few multi-colored ones. Which is far tougher than they make it seem when you read the instructions. Just let it be said that a “chocolate brush” is an awful lot like a paint brush. And I have never been very good with a paint brush.

OK, I bought the chocolate and melted it, but have you ever looked into making your own chocolate from scratch? This is NOT an easy or inexpensive proposition for a hobbiest or for “fun.” I did some research, and may give it a whirl in the future if I can find the justification for the tools needed. If you are interested in this, I did find a great site on doing it yourself, which is Chocolate Alchemy. Just as importantly, I found a site here that shows you the results of trying to improvise, not purchasing the needed tools and trying to do it with products from around the house. If I hadn’t stumbled across that site, I may have given the same thing a try, with the same poor results.

So, at least for now, I will stick with tried and true chocolate from others. I have been using Wilton’s up until now, but after spotting Wilbur Chocolate available for melting, and reading Bakerina’s rave on Wilbur Chocolate, I think that may be the way to go.