Mithai Inspired Diwali Chocolate Box (Indian Inspired Chocolates)
What’s the best way to improve anything? Cover it in chocolate 🙂 The traditional mithai box gets a makeover. Easy to make chocolates with Indian inspired flavors. Each chocolate is based on a popular Indian mithai, takes its flavor profile and fuses it with chocolate for a fun twist.
Every year we make traditional Indian mithai (sweets) and decorate them to give out in boxes as gifts. This year, we didn’t have that much time so I thought this could be a fun, quick way to give out unique gifts!
Each chocolate takes literally a few minutes of active time. You melt the chocolate, add in flavors, coat molds and let sit. Make the filling, pour filling in molds, then melt and coat the remaining chocolate.
Mithai (Indian sweet) turned chocolates are:
Date and nut roll: milk chocolate, date/nut/coconut filling
Chum chum: white chocolate, coconut, rose
Jalebi: White chocolate and saffron
Coconut Ladoo: Milk chocolate, toasted coconut/cardamom/almond filling
Gulab Jamun: White chocolate with rose/cardamom and caramel saffron filling (sticky like gulab jamun!)
Notes:
– I used the double boiler method to melt the chocolates. This post outlines the method well: Double Boiler Method
– Use quality chocolate! I used Green and Blacks: https://us.greenandblacks.com/ Available and Wegman’s and Whole Foods.
– Natural food coloring used for the chum chum and gulab jamun chocolates: McCormick’s Natural Food Color
– Quantity is dependent on the mold size you use so I would use my measurements as guidelines. The amount of filling needed for each may also change depending on how much you room you leave for the filling. But luckily, all the fillings are easy to make so this should not be a problem.
– These are the chocolate molds I used:
Recipes for Chocolates:
Jalebi Chocolate
Ingredients
- White chocolate bar
- 2 pinches of saffron ground
- jalebi pieces
Instructions
- Melt chocolate bar using double boiler
- Take off stove when melted. Add in saffron.
- Pour into molds and put aside to set.
Date & Nut Roll Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1 date finely chopped
- 5 – 6 Roasted chopped pistachios
- 1-2 tbsp shredded coconut
- Milk chocolate
Instructions
- Melt 1/3 of milk chocolate bar using double boiler
- Pour milk chocolate with a small spoon into mold ¼ of the way. Use small spoon to coat edges. Let set for 10-15 minutes in fridge.
- Make little balls using a date and pistachios. Roll in coconut powder. (size dependent on size of your mold. Leave enough room at top to close off chocolate.)
- Take chocolate molds out of fridge. Place each ball into chocolate mold.
- Melt remaining chocolate bar and pour into molds to cover and close off each mold. Scrape off any excess around edges. Let stand until cooled.
Chum Chum Chocolate
Ingredients
- White chocolate bar
- 3 drops rose water I used Nielsen Massey, it’s very strong
- 2 tbsp shredded coconut
Instructions
- Melt chocolate bar using double boiler
- Take off stove when melted. Add in rose water and shredded coconut.
- Pour into molds and put aside to set.
Coconut Ladoo Chocolate
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Condensed milk
- 3- 3 ½ tbsp shredded coconut
- 1 tsp chopped almonds
- ¼ tsp cardamom
- Milk chocolate bar
Instructions
- Melt 1/3 of milk chocolate bar using double boiler
- Pour milk chocolate with a small spoon into mold ¼ of the way. Use small spoon to coat edges. Let set for 10-15 minutes in fridge.
- Toast coconut on stove on low-medium for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside
- In pan (on low) add in condensed milk, cardamom, almonds and coconut. Stir until thickened. Make small ladoos (balls).
- Take chocolate molds out of fridge. Place each ball into chocolate mold.
- Melt other remaining chocolate bar and pour into molds to cover and close off each mold. Scrape off any excess around edges. Let stand until cooled and set.
Gulab Jamun Chocolate
Ingredients
- White chocolate bar
- 1 drop rose water
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- Make caramel saffron sauce and set aside in fridge link:
Instructions
- Make saffron caramel sauce(takes 15 minutes): Saffron Caramel Sauce
- Melt 1/3 of milk chocolate bar using double boiler. Mix in 1/8 tsp cardamom.
- Pour milk chocolate with a small spoon into mold ¼ of the way. Use small spoon to coat edges. Let set for 10-15 minutes in fridge.
- Take chocolates out of fridge. Pour in caramel saffron and let stand to set.
- Melt remaining chocolate. Mix in cardamom and rose water.
- Pour into molds to cover and close off each mold. Scrape off any excess around edges. Let stand until cooled and set.
