Ever since seeing the movie ‘Amadeus’ many years ago, I have lusted after the large and rather provocative looking chocolates which were offered to Mozart’s wife by the composer, Salieri. My memory is that he tells her in a rather seductive way that these delicious looking morsels are called Nipples of Venus and that she promptly wraps her plump lips around one of these generously proportioned items, wide eyed and giggly.
I have never seen nor heard of Nipples of Venus apart from in the movie and so decided to investigate. It seems that they were made from chestnuts and chocolate, formed into balls and topped with a ‘nipple’.
Our version is made with our home made marzipan, chestnuts, chocolate, butter and vanilla. They have a lovely rich flavour and soft internal texture. I think the ‘nipples’ are probably traditionally coloured pink but we’ve made ours from marzipan as that is what was on hand and haven’t coloured them. The choice is yours.
I can highly recommend our Nipples of Venus and now see what Madam Mozart was getting so excited about.
Rosie
NIPPLES OF VENUS
Makes 20
The filling
85 gm dark couverture chocolate
230 gm cooked chestnuts
25 gm unsalted butter
100 gm marzipan plus extra for decoration (recipe follows) or use shop bought
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. Allow to cool.
Place chestnuts, butter, marzipan, vanilla extract and salt in a food processor and pulse to process to a fine crumb.
Combine with the cooled chocolate.
Roll into balls weighing 20 gm each (a scant tablespoon). If the mixture is too soft to shape, chill it for 10 minutes or so. Refrigerate shaped balls for 15 minutes before coating.
Meanwhile, make the marzipan nipples by rolling tiny amounts of the extra marzipan into balls to place on top of the finished chocolates.
Chocolate Coating
250 gm dark couverture chocolate
Temper the chocolate (see below). Dip the chilled chocolate balls into the tempered chocolate to coat. Place on a rack and top with a marzipan nipple. Allow to set.
Store in an airtight container in a cool place. If storing in the fridge, allow to return to room temperature before serving.
Tempering Chocolate – the quick but risky method
Tempering chocolate is necessary to achieve a glossy chocolate with a crisp ‘snap’ which will keep well. Un-tempered chocolate is dull and has an unattractive white ‘frost’ look to it.
Roughly chop the required amount of chocolate and place three quarters of it in a plastic, microwave safe bowl (glass retains its heat to well) and microwave in 20 second bursts until 85% of it has melted and you can still see lumps of unmelted chocolate. Immediately add the remaining quarter of the chopped chocolate and stir well until all the chocolate has melted. If it won’t all melt, place the bowl back in the microwave for 5 second bursts, removing and stirring well after each burst. Don’t be tempted to rush the procedure and overheat the chocolate, which is very easy to do in a microwave, as it will not temper properly.
To test that you have properly tempered your chocolate, dip the end of a knife or corner of a piece of baking paper into the chocolate and scrape off the excess. Wait for it to set. This should take 1 – 2 minutes for dark chocolate, 3 or 4 minutes for milk chocolate and 5-6 minutes for white chocolate depending on the room temperature which should not be hotter than 22°C. The chocolate is now ready to use.
Home Made Marzipan
Commercially manufactured marzipan is often made with almond essence which we find gives a strong and unpleasant taste so we prefer to whip up a batch of our own and keep it in the fridge.
250 gm almond meal
500 gm icing sugar
1 egg white
1 tablespoon lemon juice, strained
1 tablespoon dry sherry
Place almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor and process until fine. Add egg white, lemon juice and sherry and process until the mixture comes together in a ball.
This will make more than you need for the above recipe but will keep for a month or two wrapped tightly in glad wrap and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
To make another quick and easy chocolate using the marzipan, add some chopped walnuts to some of the marzipan. Roll into balls and roll in unsweetened cocoa. Top with a marzipan ‘nipple’, tiny shape, gold leaf or whatever you fancy.