<p>The amount of well-meaning misinformation on this thread is astounding! :)</p>
<p>In the first place, what kind of chocolate do you have? Chocolate is formulated for different uses. The kind of chocolate chips one generally finds in the supermarket, for example, are formulated to keep their shape after melting. What do you mean by “bark”?</p>
<p>Forget about cornstarch–yuck–and other weird additives. If you want to mix chocolate with egg, make a flourless cake such as Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte. It’s great. </p>
<p>If you want to make a ganache, use chopped chocolate and hot heavy cream. Put the chocolate in a metal bowl, heat the cream to just boiling, pour it over the chocolate, wait for 20 seconds or so, and begin stirring from the center in one direction using a metal spoon until all of the chocolate is melted and the cream is incorporated and it has the consistency of pudding, more or less. </p>
<p>The proportions will depend on what you plan to do with it. A good starting point for truffles is 6 fluid ounces of cream to 1 lb of chocolate. You can increase the cream a little, but don’t go over 8 oz or it will be hard to handle. I would add a pinch of salt to the cream when heating it. If you want a really nice mouthfeel, wait until the ganache is room temp and beat in some softened unsalted butter. You can add additional flavors by infusing the cream with spices and straining them out, by adding oils and extracts, or by adding liqueurs (usually 3-5 tablespoons per pound of chocolate).</p>
<p>Assuming that you do not want to go out and buy chocolate molds, the best way to get a softer center inside a shell is the <em>real</em> way to make truffles: make a soft ganache, form it into balls, and dip it in melted couverture. (Which you will have to temper. Tempering is the process of melting chocolate, then cooling it until the point where a sufficient number of the right kind of cocoa butter crystals have formed before bringing it back up to working temperature.) </p>
<p>Be aware that Lindor Truffles are made with garbage ingredients in order to get “flow” and extend shelf life. You can do better at home if you start with good ingredients, the most important of which is good chocolate. Garbage in, garbage out. </p>
<p>I could go on and on about the refinements of making truffles and chocolates forever. 
It would help to know what you have and what you actually want to make.</p>
<p>Oh, and if you want to make something yummy that doesn’t involve a lot of equipment, try lightly toasting some sweetened shredded coconut and mixing it into melted chocolate, then dropping it by teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper or waxed paper. It’s really very good, even if you aren’t a big coconut lover. They call them “haystacks.”</p>
![http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/images/ms101/chocolate.gif[/url]](http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/images/ms101/chocolate.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
