pastrygirl

Good eye!

The cheese is already aged a few months, I wouldn’t worry about a few more hours. The manufacturing process has already been approved as not spreading botulism to the world, I don’t think you’re at risk. Plus, how likely is it that fresh raw produce is added to cheese curds? Wouldn’t the onions more likely be cooked or dried?

How about a little salt?

Some of the textures look like crumbs were sprinkled into the molds before filling.

I love coconut, but the sweetened shredded is ridiculously sweet. I prefer a finer shred, unsweetened coconut. As a bonus feature, it will pipe relatively smoothly. https://www.bobsredmill.com/shredded-coconut.html

Just depends on what you're going for. I make a bar with the candied zest of fresh oranges sprinkled in. I also have a seasonal (Christmas) item for which i use LorAnn pure orange oil. (The tangerine is also nice)

If you have money to burn ... otherwise I’m sure you can find a jeweler’s or postage scale to weigh small amounts for much less.

You know, I was just about to edit to add that. I've had fresh ginger curdle warm creme anglaise but dried ginger works fine. Maybe he could infuse like 1/3 of the cream with the galangal and not heat that part, do a cold infusion and add it last? Or use coconut milk.

Why wouldn't it emulsify? It's water-based juice and you probably don't need a huge amount. Is it a cream ganache? You could grate the galangal into the cream and let it infuse then strain it out, pressing on the solids to get all the juice.

You could skip the tray and use a box like this, https://glerup.com/shop-now-candy-packaging/clear-candy-containers/rectangle-square-truffle-candy-boxes/clear-md-clear-square-4-1-2-x-4-1-2-x-1.html this would be a tighter fit but too tall, i guess you could add a base or filler https://glerup.com/shop-now-candy-packaging/clear-candy-containers/rectangle-square-truffle-candy-boxes/clear-4pc-large-truffle-box-4-1-4-x-4-1-4x1-5-8.html How many of these do you plan to make? What if you didn't assemble the puzzle, but packed the pieces as normal for people to put together themselves? Either in a tray or just random in a box? https://www.aspecialtybox.com/893

Most of their chocolate says 'canada only', but I have bought cocoa butter through them 🤔

Something like this? They have too big or too small ... https://www.aspecialtybox.com/9099 https://www.aspecialtybox.com/9098

If serving the fish with crispy skin still on, I’d serve it skin side up so the skin stays crispy and doesn’t steam or get wet from sauce. I like a nice bit of crispy salmon skin but I may be in the minority.

Thanks, I just ordered a bag of Valrhona Abinao from Caputo's, I could special order a case from a more local distributor, but this will be faster and I don't need a whole case right now!

the 15 g of tartaric acid is pretty strong, that might contribute to a softer texture.

What kind of coating or breading are you using? Would it be possible to stuff the halves then coat and fry them as halves? Or would the filling fall apart or get too brown? The avocado flesh does seem like good insulation - too good!

If you've never tempered chocolate and you don't have a lot of extra money, start with the basics of tempering. Decorated molds can wait, the first expense is some decent chocolate, now start practicing your tempering. Dip various things in chocolate - cookies, pretzels, dried fruit, ganache - see how your finished product looks & get used to maintaining the temper.

Jim, thanks for the article. It is counter-intuitive to me that caramels absorbing extra moisture would crystallize rather than turn to syrup. Sugar works in mysterious ways, maybe as one molecule is pulling in water from ganache it is also pulling water away from it's neighboring sugar molecule, causing it (the neighbor) to crystallize? 🤔 And now I'm curious about Aw ... I have had marzipan and ganache go off, but shouldn't a fondant center with high Aw still be ok because the rest is sugar and nothing grows in sugar? I mean, what is the Aw of honey or jam? Or a Cadbury creme egg, that stuff is mostly sugar but flows at room temp ...

It’s been 7 years, but fondant is timeless ... Just for fun, and thinking about Easter egg fillings, I made a small batch of grewelings fondant. Yes, it was a good upper body workout but it seemed to set up. Then I started looking at other sources and found fondants with cream and butter in them, which sounds far better than just sugar. And maybe less sticky on the marble? Does the presence of fat derermine what you can do with it? Seems like a peppermint patty or cherry cordial would not have fat, but if I was adding pecans I sure wouldn’t mind a little butter. Can you layer fondants next to ganache or marzipan, or would weird things happen like the sugar in the fondant sucking the water out of ganache? Since it is mostly sugar, can I add liquid flavorings without worrying about shelf life? Like if I finally want to make that way-better creme egg, is a little passion fruit purée in the ‘yolk’ going to go off?

I think it's just more convenient. I don't want to have to micro-plane it to get it fine enough, and bigger chunks are always at risk of not melting. And I don't have an immersion circulator, so have never tried that method. There are many ways to temper chocolate, do whatever is easiest as long as you get the results you want.

If you're taking requests, I could use a zombie Jesus for Easter 🙃

An important difference is that the EZ Temper keeps the silk soft and ready to use, always at your fingertips. I wouldn't want to mess around with a wet jar, trying not to drip in the chocolate before the cocoa butter solidifies!

What is your goal here? Have fun and break even, part time job that makes a little money, support the family and pay the mortgage ... ? I would say don't spend too much until you figure out what actually sells and what actually makes a profit, then re-invest and grow the old fashioned way.

Fernet Branca instead of raspberry.

Is the change supposed to be intentional or a mistake?