pastrygirl

I think Teo is right and I was taking it too literally. Since it specifies 'to be used warm' it probably means hot process pastry cream powder such as this: http://www.pastrychef.com/ELSAY-PASTRY-CREAM-MIX--HOT-PROCESS_p_3130.html

I happen to have some powdered heavy cream that I bought for chocolate experiments, but I wouldn't say it's a common or easily available ingredient. (I bought this via Amazon). It does taste like cream rather than like butter, but it's mostly fat so I think you could substitute butter, whisked in at the end. Or, instead of the 1000 ml milk, try something like 800 ml milk and 200 ml heavy cream to boost the fat content.

e. coli in vegetables can't necessarily be washed off. If it's in the water it gets into the plant cells. As in the baby spinach-related outbreak 10 years ago, cooking thoroughly does kill e.coli but washing alone did not - all that baby spinach was supposedly triple-washed and ready to eat!

Yet another thing we all do differently! I'm recalling the lovely molds that I found at a culinary school liquidation sale and posted in the backroom finish thread- if that's what a high heat or commercial DW does to polycarbonate, I'll continue to pass.

Yes, commercial dishwashers are not usually recommended for chocolate molds. They have high heat, harsh chemicals, or both!

Speaking of The Chocolate Lab, on his Instagram Q&A there's a video of the drip and shoot air technique using a mix of CB & water. This rocked my world! I can see how that would lead to super cool effects, but how do you get rid of the water, just let air dry?

Also, Qtips are fuzzy and you'd get cotton bits stuck.

He's being such a tease! What's even left? It doesn't look drippy or flowing to me, my first thought was a sponge. How about wadded up cloth or paper towel?

I'd like to see their finished product. Dish machines don't always get into every crevice and corner where CB can hide. I would still polish.

I just rinse under cool water to get any dirt off. I’m not particularly concerned about pesticides.

I agree, skip a step by grinding your nuts & sugar smooth, add purchased chocolate and temper only once.

Thanks! I was looking at Premier's own site.

I looked but didn't see it. Can you please link to it?

There's a flaw in your premise. Combining cacao powder and cacao butter is not making chocolate from scratch, it is combining two already processed products. Anyone wanting to avoid big chocolate companies would not enthusiastically use Hershey's. They're big, wouldn't you say? (and did they ever come out against child slavery?) To me, making chocolate from scratch means starting with the whole cacao beans or at least nibs. Which may or may not be worth it but is a good learning exercise on how chocolate is actually made. It's great that you've found a way to produce confections in a place with so many limitations but you're not exactly doing bean-to-bonbon. They don’t teach that method in schools because it’s not a traditional method. In order to get cocoa powder, you first have to roast, crack, winnow, and grind the beans then press the cacao butter out and grind the hard cake left behind into powder. Your method is simply. putting those parts back together. Can you get beans or nibs from your friend in Africa? Are you already using a grinder to combine things and pulverize the sugar? Then you can really try making chocolate from scratch!

No, and I don't think so. But! Maybe you could try those bitter almond kernels or bitter apricot seeds that are supposedly healthy and cancer-fighting but may contain arsenic and kill you if eaten in excess (I don't recall if we debated their merits on this forum before). But a few should be fine, especially if heated to neutralize the poison ... 😉 I believe they are the same bitter almonds used to flavor almond extract.

Of course I thought of this because I just bought pumpkin seeds for other reasons but do not also have pistachios. I'll have to go back and get pistachios so I can taste them side by side. But preliminary testing is encouraging. They needed some added fat to liquefy in the cuisinart, but they have a nice green color not adequately captured and a vague nutty flavor. Plus they were only a few dollars a pound. 250 g pumpkin seeds, warmed up still crumbly after 10 minutes in the cuisinart added 25 g avocado oil, getting runnier added 25 g cacao butter because on second thought it'll probably get mixed with chocolate the color is brighter than this, closer to basil than olive

If it's croissant dough and has yeast, I think not only a thorough defrost but a bit of proofing time would definitely help.

I like them toasted, and don't mind one in hot chocolate if the chocolate is not too sweet. I don't like just plain marshmallow, though, like as a layer in a cookie. The texture plus being so very sweet. ... next question, how to make them less sweet? Hot chocolate with cocoa marshmallows? More glucose than sugar? Every now and then I decide to make some but they never wow me. I'll probably make another batch and decide against them yet again 😆

OK, but I definitely draw the line at rainbow marshmallow bits a la Lucky Charms

I was talking to an ice cream maker recently, we were dissing another local small batch producer who puts mass-made ingredients like Oreo cookies and mini-marshmallows in her $10/pint ice cream (my guy makes his own cookies and marshmallows). I've been debating adding some sort of marshmallow to a hot chocolate mix this year, don't really love marshmallow enough to make my own, but also feel like the commercial mini ones scream "cheap" and are kind of gross. But I also feel like 98% of the public doesn't care. Full disclosure, I do occasionally use marshmallows for quick rolled fondant, but I also tell people to go ahead and peel it off because it's pure sugar and rather disgusting. What do you think, is it worth making them and charging extra, or will people be equally tickled by the cuteness and nostalgia of little puffs of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives?

Probably want full price for two singles. All I can say is that for the new price they better finally be organized! Previous years they've been doing construction up to the last minute and had poor communication about things like media and VIPs coming an hour early. I was considering a NYC show in Sept but with travel time and expenses decided it wouldn't be worth the schlep. I guess at least Kerry doesn't have to bring much inventory, it's more about selling to pros who can wait for it to be shipped.

NW Choc? I just got around to registering, and the booth fees have doubled! 🤑 I hope it's still worth it for you, or you get a discount for doing a demo, because if I didn't already live here that might be a deal-breaker. Last year was crazy busy, but still ... we do want to actually make a profit at these things!

@Sweet Impact Mama if you're near a Trader Joe's, they tend to have good prices on nuts, here they're usually $6-7/lb for almonds, $7-8 for hazelnuts, $12 for pistachios. Not bad when you don't want to buy in bulk.

Just wanted to say I can sympathize with the sourcing difficulties, so I applaud what you've done with such limitations! 10 years ago I worked for a hotel in Bhutan and getting good ingredients was a constant struggle. Some things came by truck from India and would be cut off if there was a mudslide on the road, or eggs wouldn't be imported because of bird flu concerns, and heavy whipping cream and unsalted butter were both precious commodities. Sometimes I would be able to import "good" chocolate from suppliers in Bangkok or Singapore, but just as often the local staff would buy cheap compound coating stuff because they didn't understand. Or it arrived out of temper due to hot conditions in shipping, which must be even worse in Qatar. I hope you'll get the chance to work with ready-made couverture soon!

Agreed, gianduja is traditionally hazelnut, usually milk chocolate, too. The Northern Italians started grinding local hazelnuts in with imported cacao, hazelnuts would have been an inexpensive way to add bulk. Plus, they're delicious. IIRC, the birthplace of GIanduja is Turin/Torino, or at least I visited some old chocolate chops with tasty gianduja when I was there! But yeah, in common usage, any nut butter mixed with chocolate becomes gianduja. Just make sure to declare all the nuts used in your ingredients or contains statements.