Tuesday, November 27, 2012

French Sabot Chocolate Mold for Christmas Gift Giving!

Do you remember a blog post that I shared last Christmas describing the use of French clog-styled shoes called "sabots" as a significant part of French Christmas traditions?




If you did, then you may recall the following from the post,
 


"In France, Father Christmas is called Père Noël. After dinner on Christmas Eve, French families prepare for the arrival of Père Noël and his donkey, Gui (French for "Mistletoe.") Children fill their shoes with carrots and hay and leave them by the fireplace for Gui. A glass of wine is placed beside the shoes for Père Noël.

In earlier 18th and 19th century France, peasants’ wooden shoes, called "sabots", were often used at Christmas time. Today shoes of any kind are set before the fireplace for Père Noël to fill. You can still see sabots throughout France in candy and pastry shops where chocolate wooden shoes are made and filled with candies."
 
 
 
Since I didn't have a Sabot to fill with carrots and hay, I used one of my favorite pairs of shoes instead.
 
 






Well, a few weeks ago I searched and found a wonderful vintage French chocolatier's sabot mold in an Etsy shop on-line!  I've decided that I'm going to attempt to learn a new skill this holiday season and try my hand at molding chocolate for Christmas gift giving. So I purchased the sabot shaped mold!

It arrived from the shop in France....................







........wrapped in paper from a French bakery or "boulangerie,"




.........and is sitting in a kitchen drawer waiting to be used! I'm doing my research and will share my chocolate molding attempt with you soon.

Until then,




Joyeux Noël, Mitty



2 comments:

  1. That sounds like a great Christmas tradition, I have made chocolate in my earlier days, did all the Easter candy with molds lots of fun. Enjoy the holidays.

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  2. Dreala, Did you use metal molds? I'm curious how easy/difficult it will be to get the chocolate out of the mold! We'll see soon enough. I'm going to attempt to use the mold tonight. Take care, Mitty

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