Owl Chocolates with Maple Filling

        In the photo above, you see a parliament of chocolate owls.  Here is the story of how they came to be.

       A few weeks ago I was shopping around on Amazon when I came across what I thought was an adorable cupcake mold shaped like owls.  It was a fabulous price and since I had quite a bit of money on my Amazon gift card because of Ibotta, I went ahead and orderedthe mold.  I can't find the exact ad on Amazon with the picture that made me think it was cupcake size.  But, it came in the mail yesterday and it is actually tiny chocolate mold size.

This is very close to actual size. Not really, maybe 2/3 of actual size.

        It is still stinkin' cute and you know how we feel about owls here at 3 winks.  So, I knew that I could do something with it.  A long time ago, before I was really doing anything with my blog except writing it and my family was looking at it, I posted about making dipped chocolates.  I decided that I could make that work for these little guys.  In my old post, I used citrus flavors for Spring, for these guys, I chose to flavor them with a maple extract because it seemed appropriate for owls and for Fall if you follow my weird train of thought.  I gave the recipe for the fondant filling back then, but I will try to do it for you as a printable today.  First, I will give you the directions for filling the mold.  I used Milk Chocolate Chips for this recipe.  Click on the pictures for the directions.

After melting and tempering the chocolate in a double boiler, I used this tiny baby spoon to fill the molds about 1/2 way full.

I used the tip of a steak knife to push the chocolate into the tips of the wings and ears, etc.

Here they are half way filled.

      Now it is time to make the fondant while the chocolate sits at room temperature.  Click the button for the recipe.

No Cook Fondant

    Once the fondant is made, follow these directions:

Once you have your ball of fondant, pinch off a small piece, form a ball with it and then make it a little oblong and place on top of the chocolate in a mold.

Don't push the fondant down to firmly or it will show through the chocolate when you unmold them.

Because these molds are different shapes, you may want to change the shape of the fondant as well so it fits in nicely.

        Next, you fill the rest of the mold, covering the fondant with chocolate.  You may want to use the tip of the knife again to shape it and to take out air bubbles.  When the fondant is all covered,  I pop it into the freezer for about half an hour to harden.  Then, you just pop them out.  Click on these pictures for tips.

Here they are, all covered and out of the freezer.

I pop them out onto a paper towel.

Look at this cute little guy!

This is what I told you would happen if you push the fondant down too far. The fondant shows through. He got eaten.

Another cute one. Notice one wing had a bubble. Usually the knife point helps get rid of those.

Here is one broken open to show you the inside. They taste yummy.

      I decided that these might work out well with our owl theme to sell at the Ugly Sweater Express.  I used mini muffin cups to put them in and I stacked them in the little plastic bags that I wrap Hot Cocoa Bombs in and they fit just right in my littleowl boxes from Oriental Trading. 

Sitting in his little paper cup.

C.S. Lewis coined the phrase, "a parliament of owls" in his Narnia series.

I put 5 in a stack.

They fit in the box perfectly.

Cute box, all loaded with chocolate.

Waiting to be eaten on a tray. They are so cute.

     Of course, you can use this method with any shape of mold you may have.  It is a simple process.  I don't really know if it is any easier than just dipping the chocolates, but they are super cute and don't really need any decorating afterwards.   But, you could decorate them! Let me know if you do it, I would love to see them.
      I found it!  I want you to notice the a mold below.  See how it says cake mold?  No wonder I was confused.  I guess I could make some teeny tiny cakes.