pastrygirl

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

The intention is larger 4" eggs filled with loose truffles, smaller 2" eggs with various caramels, small solid bunnies with almond or strawberry, and a few plain big bunnies for purists. We'll see what actually happens! testing today ...

And, some companies are going for a rough, minimally conched product. I couldn't tell you why ... ask him if barely tempered is what he's going for. He's probably just excited to have made something resembling chocolate. But as many of us will attest, chocolate is a bitch

cut-out cookies in the usual shapes - eggs, rabbits, chicks, lambs russian tea cakes aka mexican wedding cakes aka those little round cookies coated in powdered sugar - round and white, that's egg-like, right? little coconut macaroon 'nests' with a couple of jelly beans glued on with white chocolate chocolate truffles rolled in white or colorful sprinkles - or leave them brown and call them bunny droppings lemon bars just because they're yellow and go with pastels pastel-tinted meringue kisses

You could go back and say, "FYI your tempering sucks" but that's hard to hear. How about engaging him in discussion - act curious & ask how he tempers, how to know when it's right. Commiserate and share what works for you.

My SIL organized a surprise party for my youngest brother and asked if I had time to make a cake. She suggested Dungeons & Dragons or Lord of the Rings as a theme and this is what I came up with, had a lot of fun with it. All my V-day stuff was done so I had time to play. Fire breathing dragon for Joe. A good time was had by all. chocolate scales and flames, marshmallow fondant mouth The flames were my favorite part and some bonbons of course - i don't tape molds for just anyone! Note, green painters tape is not the best for this birthday boy and our nephew discovering the layer of sprinkles between cakes, plus the only shot of the tongue so messy! scales and buttercream everywhere, it was a cold wine cellar so the buttercream was brittle.

sure - makes about 2 qts, I keep various flavors in the freezer, thaw & beat until fluffy as needed for cupcakes, etc 150 g egg whites (about 5) 200 g sugar (1 c) pinch of salt 450 g unsalted butter, soft (1 lb) +/- 3-500 g caramel sauce, ganache, lemon curd, etc mix egg whites & sugar in kitchenaid bowl & heat over simmering water until hot (165f). whip on high speed until meringue is thick and bowl is cool. Add soft butter in small chunks. Add ganache. It's pretty forgiving, softer if you add more liquid but if your ganache is firm you can add a fair amount

is it a white chocolate shell? How many do you have to re-purpose? You can totally melt them down and make a new ganache. Add a bit of liquid (lemon, lime, more passion fruit) to allow for the chocolate in the shells and adjust flavor at the same time. Then make more bonbons or fill macarons or layer cakes, tartlets or cream puffs. Make whipped ganache frosting or add ganache to italian/swiss butter cream. I did the last option just today - had thrown together some vegan strawberry bonbons with Valrhona Fraise but the texture was weird so I melted them, added the resulting goo to SMBC and sent strawberry cupcakes to my catering client.

@Anna N Nordstrom has always had a very accommodating return policy. I admit, I do enjoy selling chocolate at neighborhood wine walks, a few glasses really loosens up the credit cards!

Mine's set around 55. I've been doing more airbrushing than usual for Valentine's and it's been slow going with a Grex 0.5 mm airbrush and tiny compressor. You had commented on my photo in another thread but I'm not 100% happy with my coverage, it's a bit speckle-y and takes multiple passes from different angles. I did just buy a 0.7 mm nozzle and a larger compressor but haven't put them into use.

Oh, well then cook your syrup a bit hotter and beat on high after all the syrup is added.

The ratio of sugar to water in the syrup shouldn't matter because excess water boils off as you cook to temp. Which seems low to me, I thought 250F was the usual recommendation. You could try hotter syrup, but it might just be that hand mixers are weak. What are you making with it?