pastrygirl

While you Easterners are battening down the hatches for the hurricane, we're seeing our first snow flurries here in the West. Chocolate peppermint snowflake flurries, that is! 60% dark chocolate with a bit of pure peppermint oil and silver decor powder. I can't believe I've actually started making holiday product in October - I'm really pretty Scrooge-y when it comes to Christmas - but I have a client doing a holiday pop-up shop who wants to pick up product next week. I think I got smart this year and applied the silver dust to the whole batch after un-molding instead of brushing each mold cavity individually. #efficiency!

@Jim D. I only did two molds, I was just making sure things worked together. The little ink cups are metal, so I'm sure as the kitchen gets colder it'll become a challenge. Re-warming every few cavities would be totally maddening! I did hit it with the hair dryer a few times just to make sure, but the real test will be trying to do actual production.

Yeah, the Valrhona bags say to melt it for at least 12 hours or something totally impractical. As for the melting temp, by all means be careful and don't leave your bain marie on a gas burner with flames shooting up the sides or put a bowl of chocolate in the microwave for 5 minutes on high. But going a little bit above 120F isn't going to damage the cocoa butter or make it not temper, it just means you'll have to add more seed or wait longer for it to cool down. I've had dark chocolate accidentally get up to 140 or 150 while melting and it still tempered fine once it cooled down. (I have a 6kg melter but more often than not I use a bowl over simmering water because it's faster and more convenient for small batches.) Chocolate can be super frustrating, and will frequently remind you that you're not in charge, the chocolate is tempered when it's tempered, and you can't really fake it. But it does get easier with practice, and when it turns out nicely it's so satisfying!

LOL! Um, I might have to invoke my 5th amendment rights Would it help if I tell you I used purple, orange, and dark chocolate and the test shells came out shiny but super ugly? I definitely need to play with pressure and possibly tip sizes, I think the spray was a bit too fine, the color was not very saturated. And I'm not sure how to get splatter, is it lower pressure, thinner CB, larger tip, or some combo?

I tried out the new Grex airbrush and Point Zero compressor today, worked fine with no need for an adaptor (got a Grex hose at Chef Rubber when I bought the airbrush). Reasonably quiet, like a refrigerator running. MUCH quieter than the Wagner airless paint sprayer! Or even my KitchenAid mixer. Now to practice ...

You're welcome! Practice, practice - the first hundred times are the hardest

Trying to get psyched up for Christmas. I do really want to sell lots of chocolate, despite not a lot of events booked and being the sort of person who normally starts her holiday shopping/planning around December 20. Anyway, picked up some 4" eggs at Chef Rubber so made attempts at reindeer and penguins. They need red noses and smaller antlers but could work. My brother described the penguins as having "The thousand yard stare of a penguin with nothing left to lose..." They need to get happier before Christmas!

Party in Kerry's room!

Or you can get it pretty smooth in a food processor then push it through a fine mesh strainer. If you're obsessive about it, that is

You know, Danny, chocolate is tricky stuff. And it simply doesn't do well in warm temperatures. At 76 F, chocolate should still be solid but may start to get a little soft or glossy. It would be better to work with and store your chocolate someplace cooler if there is any way possible. Can I ask where you are located? If you are in the tropics and it's never going to cool off, you might be better off making really great brownies or chocolate cake instead of chocolate bars or decorations that will melt. By all means, keep practicing and working to understand crystallization. You seem very focused on temperature which is important, but not as important as proper crystallization. I suggest sticking with the seed method and always test your temper.

It is a problem if all your seed is melted when the chocolate is at 95. You still need some unmelted seed at lower temps to provide the most stable forms of cocoa butter crystals, which melt at lower temperatures.

I have to disagree with Lisa. Melting your chocolate to 125f is not the problem, I routinely go over that. Yes, white chocolate can scorch easily, but you also want to melt all forms of cocoa butter before tempering. At what temp is all of your seed melted? I seed but don't go by weight. There should be a few pieces of unmelted seed at 95f - enough to provide those stable crystals that you need but not so many that they won't melt out as the chocolate cools to 90. Also no need to buy acetate just for testing your temper. If it sets up quickly on parchment without any streaks or spots, go with it. (IIRC streaks mean too warm and spots mean too cool). 74f is a bit warm for molding chocolate, I've learned that's about the max room temp I can be successful in. ( working with chocolate that is ). Do you have a fan you can use to improve airflow and cool the chocolate quickly? Maybe Kerry will stop by and explain the latent heat of crystallization. Do you have a real fridge closer to 40f? Your wine fridge doesn't sound ideal.

I ordered this one from Amazon, 1/5 hp, up to about 60 psi, and inexpensive. I hope it works!

With cheese especially, water could be used instead of cream to balance fat and solids. In in the goat cheese recipe, there's no liquid except lemon juice and the small amount in the cheese, so adding water makes sense. Adding cream would add too much fat and be hard to emulsify.

Thanks, all, I'll look around and try to resist the ridiculously huge yet relatively cheap Home Depot compressors. Sounds like a little more power than the Iwata would be nice for working quickly but not crucial.

Thanks. The Iwata is listed as 1/8 horsepower max 35 psi. I saw some other brands on Amazon that were 1/5 or 1/3 hp and up to 60 psi. Do you think that would be enough?

I've read through this, but I'm still not sure how large a compressor to get for airbrushing colored cocoa butter into chocolate molds. I just got a Grex airbrush on sale at Chef Rubber, along with a bunch of their colors, and am looking forward to playing with it. I won't be doing large volume, probably not more than 20 molds on a given day. Lower price is more important than whisper-quiet. Is a 1/5 or 1/3 horsepower compressor designed for artist's airbrushes enough or do I need a big one from Home Depot? What is a good tank size? What range of psi works with cocoa butter? Thanks!

I realized that Melissa's lack of concern about egg in marshmallow or ganache may be related to her being from Colombia. Many people outside of the US leave their eggs out at room temp and don't freak out about them like Americans do.

On food and cooking by Harold McGee. If you understand how food works, cookbooks are just for pictures.

What have you been cooking for the past three years, and in what quantities? Do you follow recipes or directions well? Can you substitute successfully when needed? Are you constantly trying to improve quality and consistency while also doing it faster and more efficiently? Can you lift and carry at least 50 pounds? Do you still love cooking even when nobody thanks you and your whole body hurts? Can you keep track of eight things at once? Then sure, see if you can get a trail shift in a restaurant for a taste of real kitchen life.

And speaking of skinning cats, does this have to be a molded bonbon? I hate hand dipping as much as anyone, but it would be a lot more straightforward to make your layer of marshmallow, top with ganache, cut and dip. Graham cracker next to marshmallow should do better than next to ganache, especially if you have a firm marshmallow. GC pieces or crumbs could be adhered to the marshmallow before dipping or added after as a garnish..

@bentley oops, yes she uses the 91%, not 70%. I asked about spraying cocoa butter, she didn't encourage it. It would have to be a pretty thick layer to really waterproof, might as well dip your Grahams in chocolate. Egg is not crucial in marshmallow, you could try the gelatin and syrup version if you're concerned about egg.

Have you tried freezing them? Even 10-15 minutes should help the ganache release. Or at least refrigerate until firm.

Or cook your pineapple to neutralize the enzyme, but you probably know that by now. Canned pineapple is just fine in Jell-o, it's only raw that's a problem. (And raw kiwis, papayas, and maybe a few more, I don't recall.)

@Jim D., class wrapped up today, I'm heading back home tomorrow morning (after a little shopping at Chef Rubber). Melissa Coppel seems way more interested in making cool stuff and keeping it new and different than shelf life (and I think being a Cacao Barry Ambassador requires a certain focus on presentation and innovation). We made a handful of things with crispy layers that she acknowledged would only stay crispy next to soft ganache for a matter of days. I'd guess the effect of alcohol would be whatever effect is has on AW, and you'd need a lot to rely on alcohol as a preservative. She is a big fan of dextrose, invert sugar, and sorbitol in everything, to both lower sweetness and bind/retain water. A lot of her stuff just isn't practical for mass production, and she admits it. Tape stripes and three different colors of cocoa butter airbrushed in then multiple fillings look amazing but are really hard to make any kind of profit on with all that labor. Pretty freaking tricked out kitchen though - 3 selmis, enrobing line with cooling tunnel, panning machine, gelato machine, blast freezer, large spray booth. But back to shelf life - didn't you spring for an AW meter? Is it helping with your formulations? We did make one ganache with parmesan but that was infused and strained out, and another with mascarpone but that's not really cheese in my book, just thickened cream. Off topic, but interesting - she cleans her molds with 70% rubbing alcohol. I dislike the smell of the stuff, but if it contributes to that impossible shine, I might have to adopt it.