CanadianBakin'

I just saw some like this for sale recently and it looked really nice. Just a thin layer of dark on the bottom like a crust, then the white chocolate and the crushed candies.

Someone on another thread mentioned negotiating 1 free hour for cleaning.

Lorna, you lucky lady, you!! More details please? This might be for another thread but I'd love to hear how you got the opportunity and what you got to do, how the experience was, etc.

Joie - the bakery on Granville Island that has the wonderful Foccacia only sells baked items and nothing else so you don't have the option of soup. They are so filling as is. Re: Savoury mini muffins, you might want to go back and check the take-out menu at the Secret Garden Tea Company as they have savoury mini muffins.

I always use a 6"springform when I make half a 9"recipe. It will be a bit taller than the original. I would start checking it at 3/4's of the baking time.

Another vote for focaccia rounds. There's a bakery at Granville Island that makes individual size rounds in a variety of flavours that are delicious. Great snacky thing as well as a quick lunch.

Patrick, which apple bread recipe did you use? Was it the one Wendy suggested in the apple bread thread?

OK, here's the full recipe for CIA's Mudd Slide Cookies. This is out of The Professional Chef, The Culinary Institute of America, 7th Edition. Copyright 2002. makes 12 dozen cookies (2-1/2 oz/75 g per cookie) 2 lb/900 g unsweetened chocolate 6 lb/2.75 kg bittersweet chocolate 1 lb/450 g butter 32 eggs 6 lb/2.75 kg sugar 1 oz/30 g coffee extract 1 oz/30 g vanilla extract 1 lb/450 g cake flour 1-1/2 oz/40 g baking powder 1/2 oz/15 g salt 1 lb 5 oz/600 g walnuts 4 lb 8 oz/2 kg chocolate chips This is word for word out of the textbook so I've gotta think this one is correct. I don't know whose the other recipe is. It might be easier for weighing to get it down to a 4 egg recipe so here's the reduced weights: should make 18 - 2-1/2 oz Mudd Slide Cookies (if I've done my math right ) 4 oz/113 g unsweetened chocolate 12 oz/344 g bittersweet chocolate 2 oz/56 g butter 4 eggs 12 oz/344 g sugar 1/8 oz/4 g coffee extract 1/8 oz/4 g vanilla extract 2 oz/56 g cake flour 3/16 oz/5 g baking powder 1/16 oz/2 g salt 2-5/8 oz/75 g walnuts 9 oz/250 g chocolate chips The method in the linked recipe is close but not quite, so here's the correct method. 1. Finely chop the chocolates and melt with butter over barely simmering water. Set aside. 2. Beat eggs, sugar, coffee extract, vanilla extract on high for 5 mintues. 3. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and blend into egg mix. Add nuts and chips and stir just till blended. 4. Roll into log and wrap in parchment. (I found I had to chill the dough first) Freeze or chill until needed. 5. Cut into 2-1/2 oz slices and bake on parchment-lined sheets at 350F for 14 minutes. Can be stored for 1 week.

Here's a half recipe of jgarner53's recipe 2-1/4 oz unsweet 4-1/2 oz bittersweet 2 oz butter 2 eggs 1-1/2 Tb espresso powder 6 1/8 oz sugar 1 oz pastry flour 1/8 tsp bp 1/8 tsp salt 4 oz bittersweet, chopped They are VERY close. Basically just a bit less chocolate and a bit more butter. It will be interesting to see how that makes a difference.

Wow! That recipe is way different. 7 eggs for 24 cookies seems a bit much. I don't have time this morning but I'll double check with the original later on today. I could even post the original amounts and then you can decide for yourself how many to make. I hesitate to adjust sugar because of how it might affect the end result. I mean, as far as tenderizing, adding crisp, etc. Come to think of it, my mom always reduced the sugar. I guess after making the original I could always try again with reduced sugar. I just like to see how the creator of the recipe intended it to be. ...there's nothing wrong with MORE cookies!!

Just my 2 cents worth... I tried the Deception cookies before making the Mudslide cookies and I found them too sweet and too many nuts which is why I kept looking. I can't remember which chocolate I used but that may have been the issue. I could try them again with a more bittersweet chocolate and less nuts but I like CIA's so much, I don't think it'll be anytime soon. There has to be a cookie to satisfy everyone's taste though, so it's a good thing there's so many. By the way, they look very similar to Patrick's Deception cookies, except with a few nuts, but the general shape and thickness are about the same.

I'm sorry the recipe didn't work out for you. I have one of CIA's textbooks that has a huge recipe. I reduced it to a size that only used 2 eggs. It turned out perfect. Not thin, good texture, etc. Here's the weights I used: 2 oz unsweetened chocolate 6 oz bittersweet chocolate 1 oz butter 2 large eggs 6 oz white sugar 2 gr vanilla 2 gr coffee extract (I think I used about 1 tsp espresso powder & 1 tsp water) 1 oz pastry flour 2-1/2 gr baking powder 1 gr salt 1-1/4 oz pecans 4-1/2 oz chocolate chips I chilled the dough to get it firmed up a bit, then rolled it and froze it for a few hours. Cut off 1/2" slices and baked.

Galloways has many varieties of flour including graham. They sell it packages from 800ml to 20 kg. Just remember they've moved recently. The new address is on their site.

Congratulations! I would check to see if there are any used bakery equipment places in your area. Unfortunately places go out of business often, although I hope this doesn't happen to you, it does make a lot of used and sometimes barely used equipment available at much reduced prices. I'm sure there are some caveats to buying used equipment and hopefully others can give some direction with this. I am in the process of costing out putting a small commercial kitchen in my basement for the catering I do so I'd be interested in this info as well.

Here's a previous discussion on Bacon Desserts.

Soooo.....

I recently bought a mini cheesecake pan that has 12 cups with removable bottoms. It takes just under half a normal recipe to fill it and it takes about 18 minutes at 325F to cook. The first ones I did completely cracked so the second time I placed a pan of water on the lower shelf when I turned the oven on to warm up. That seemed to take care of the cracking. They are a perfect size that you can still squeeze in even after a large meal. They are also fun to garnish and look lovely all dressed up on a plate. You could click on the camera in this link for some inspiration as well as the recipe providing some instruction. The recipe was ok but I thought a bit dry. I would use the same concept but with my own filling recipe next time.

CIA's Mudslide Cookies are to die for! They are a chewy chocolate cookie with chips and a few walnuts (I used pecans). The proportions are just right, deep chocolate flavour, the nuts offset the sweetness, mmmmmmm. Let me know if you need the recipe. Oh, and they are about the size and shape of normal chocolate chip cookies. The dough is very soft so you roll it in a log, chill or freeze and cut off slices.

I usually sit my springform on a double layer of foil and pull it up around the pan, rather than lining it. Something I learned from...nightscotsman, I think, was that you don't need to have water coming half way up the sides of your pan. You can just put a 1/2" or so of water in a sheet pan then set your foil wrapped springform on that. It's still enough water that it doesn't all evaporate and adds enough moisture that it doesn't crack.

What proportion of pistachio paste to buttercream did you use?

You could also check out Creative Packaging in Burnaby. Lots of great ideas. Their website doesn't list prices but they are happy to do pricing over the phone or through e-mail. Now I've got another reason to go to Richmond besides Galloways. It's a bummer I just went last week, Daiso will have to wait a bit.

One more thing I want to check, the original calls for 2 - 10"pans. Does this all fit in 2 - 9"pans?

So the question is....has it been worth it? Did you get your money's worth? I know you've all enjoyed the company but have your skills improved? Did you know most of what Chef Tony taught already and maybe just got some tips to improve, or did you learn totally new things that you never would have tried on your own? Did you find there was enough instruction or were you left "winging" things a bit? I'm seriously thinking of taking this course but due to the 90 minute drive each direction I might start with some of the 2 night pastry courses.

WOW! That is gorgeous! I still haven't had time to try danish but I just might have to squeeze it in next week.

ditto