pastrygirl

Quite pleased with these - shells are a blend of valrhona strawberry & zephyr, sprayed red & purple. Filled w/ white chocolate passion fruit ganache.

Commercial exhaust hoods do. I worked one place where the makeup air was heated to help keep the food warm (otherwise cold air was blowing down on the hot line). I have a type 1 hood, can definitely feel outside air being blown down while at the stove.

Worth a try, works with other yeast-risen pastries like croissants and cinnamon rolls. Cake doughnuts might be easier to make a tiny batch of, they're usually a simple dough that can be mixed together quickly.

Yes, but doing some anyway because there's nothing else. Events are canceled and shops are closed but I can sell online and ship or deliver. I'd already made some really fragile eggs that can't be shipped, sold a few at an event before everything got shut down but now I won't make more of those. I made some solid dark bunnies and caramel filled egg halves today. Eggs will be 3 halves in a box. They're big, over an ounce each. I'll make more solid bunnies and some holiday-neutral bonbons. Even if I have added costs for advertising and shipping it shouldn't be any worse than selling wholesale. I also dropped some truffles off with a caterer friend who's trying to pivot to take-out starting tonight, we'll see how it goes.

@Jim D. perfect, thank you!

I recently got a CA Air Tools compressor with 1/4" quick connect. How do I connect my 1/8" Grex Tritium to it? Do I need a 1/4" hose or just a couple of adaptors? Or a different spray gun altogether?

I've been ogling the near-seamless eggs that so many other chocolatiers produce. Mine have room for improvement, any tips? How much melt to you really need to get hollow halves stuck together?

@curls beautiful!

The milkman is alive and well, I see a lot of Smith Bros boxes on porches around my neighborhood. They do offer a much wider variety than decades ago. BTW, my Grandpa was a milkman at one point, I've found old order sheets in the garage. https://www.smithbrothersfarms.com/how-it-works

I wonder how the meal kit biz is doing. This should be great for Blue Apron et al.

heavy cream AND butter would be quite rich, but I could see replacing milk + butter with cream and no additional butter to skip a step ...

photoshop

Sometimes, if the chocolate has been tempered then left to sit, it thickens enough that you have to raise the temp above the usual range to melt out excess crystals. The right proportion of the right crystals is more important than temp (within reason).

Does the recipe have gelatin, or can you add a bit as insurance?

add salt