Collecting Shells: White Chocolate Treats You Can Eat

Look at my beautiful collection of shells. I mold each one, dusted it with edible luster and set it on a bread-crumb covered tray. Pretty realistic, isn't it?

Oh yes, these are candy. Each shell is made of white chocolate.

The process is as easy as can be. You'll need a bag of white (vanilla flavored) Wilton Candy Melts and plastic candy molds in different shell shapes.

Now you simply follow the instructions of the candy discs to melt them in the microwave - I put a cup of them in a Ziploc bag and microwave at intervals of 10 seconds, kneading the bag in between.  Once the candy is smooth and pour able, snip a small corner of the bag off and pipe into the molds.  I use a flat plastic scraper to wipe off the excess chocolate and leave a smooth flat back to the candies.  Then holding the mold just above the counter top, gently tap-tap-tap the filled mold on the counter over and over again and watch the bubbles rise and break on the surface of the chocolate.  This removes the bubbles and helps the chocolate to flow into the intricate detail of the mold.  

Keeping it flat, place mold in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to set the candy. Then remove from the refrigerator and hold it over a cookie sheet gently flip it over so that the candy falls onto the cookie sheet.  If any of the pieces don't fall out, twist the mold slightly and they should release.

Dip a paint brush into the edible pearl luster dust and gently brush it over the white chocolate to add a lovely light color. 

When I am going to serve them on a cake or cupcakes, I use graham cracker crumbs as my sand. I don't have any graham cracker crumbs in the house, and since I am enjoying them as edible art, I arranged them on a platter of bread crumbs. It looks just as realistic, don't you think?