Thyme and Sea Salt Chocolates

The second food in my series of meaningful food is a chocolate. My very first real culinary job was at Christopher Elbow Chocolates. I was involved in all aspects of making the chocolates back when the shop was in the back of a high end furniture store in the Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City. Now Chris has his own shop in the Crossroads District and a store front in San Francisco.
It is obvious why Christopher Elbow Chocolates has been successful, the chocolates are bright and playful, the flavors are fun and fresh because there are no preservatives or artificial flavors.

The chocolate counter in Kansas City.

This was after we boxed a few hundred boxes one evening before Christmas.

For my graduation open house, I thought for a very long time and quizzed all of my friends about which flavor I should make to represent me.  I knew it had to be fun and unexpected. One night while making dinner I added fresh thyme and thought for a moment about how much I like thyme; instantly I knew the flavor I should make: thyme and sea salt. The chocolate is to honor the time I spent with Chris, so it needed to be colorful. I chose green and blue to represent thyme and the blue of the sea. That also happens to be my favorite color combination.
Here are the steps to make these colorful chocolates:
First, paint the mold with colored cocoa butter.

Since I am molding these in dark chocolate the colors have to be backed in white in order to be seen.

(Unfortunatly, I did not take pictures of the following steps.)
Second, create the chocolate shell by pouring melted, tempered chocolate in the molds and pouring it back out.

Third, make the ganache filling and pipe it into the molded shells almost to the top. Let the ganache sit over night to firm.

Fourth, pour melted, tempered chocolate over the filled mold. Using a wide flat scraper, scrap the chocolate over the mold; the chocolate that fills in the molds creates the bottoms of the pieces.

Fifth and lastly, the pieces can be unmolded by quickly flipping the mold over. If your chocolate has been tempered correctly, the pieces will easily fall out.