Mette

The stuff for this holiday season - the blood orange is my favourite, but the christmas cake one goes down very well with the English side of the family

Happy holidays to all! I have been given a home chocolate fountain for Christmas (I know, it is almost retro).The make is C3 - probably means nothing. In the booklet it suggests thinning the chocolate with oil (10-20% by weight), but I cringe at the thought. I'd like to thin it with something else that will give a good flavour to the chocolate allow me to reuse the chocolate for other applications, such as baking - i know it may have bits in it and that it has sat out, but I'm not too worried. Any suggestions? Also favourites for dipping? It is just for home use and fun with guests, so I don't have to worry about catering hygiene standards. Thanks so much

It is a prebaked sweet pastry shell, a layer of nutella and a thick layer of baked chocolate filling (chocolate, sugar, eggs, butter), sprinkled with nuts. The nutella comes through surprisingly strongly

The legendary Pierre Herme Nutella-tart. I have strange colleagues - they did not finish it, so I had to take leftovers home. That's a first.

What did you use for the imprint? looks really cool

Hi nice work on the second batch. The first batch looks like the chocolate may have been over-tempered - I've had that problem before with those symptoms..

Whau, looks like a wonderful time with new and familiar faces. I am happy that it all went so well and it ooks like a great program and, of course, great people. Next year, perhaps..... Will there be recipes?

Bloody hell - now I really regret not coming.... And I was also looking forward to seeing everyone :-) Next time!

I'm off the list - the cost will be too high for me. I hope you all have a lovely time and remember - photos, people, photos!

I have no panning equipment, but do a low-tech manual panning-type thing for nuts and such. in a bowl, add a bit of tempered chocolate, stir vigorously till set, repeat, toss in cocoa. They have a "rustic" look I'm sure there's a thread around on the manual process but I can't seem to find it

I envy - always - the beautiful work you all do. It's been so long since I did any choccolate work that I seem to have lost my touch - nearly 2 years.... My white chocolate, most of the milk chocolate and the cocoa butter had gone off, so had to be binned, I forgot to bang out the air bubbles and the fleur de lys mold was a bit of a disaster - it released find but the surface of the chocolate looked 'grainy' - I suspect some old cocoa butter residue has gone through a weird reaction from sitting so long - the flavour is fine so I hit it with some gold dust.... that's what going to university and having a full time job does to you, but now the end is in sight...

Simple balls of (quality)marzipan covered with dark chocolate with a skinned almond on top

Blackberry and lemon go particularly well together - they often lack acid if they are properly ripe - blackberry jam with lots of lemon zest/juice is a favourite round these parts.

My husband is part-owner of an artisan micro-brewery, so obviously, beer ganache has been worked on... I find that it is very difficult to get a good flavour with the actual beer (too much water). Instead, I've worked with the various components, using spray dried malt and dry hops for infusion, similar to your approach. The spray dried malt makes it easier to work on the ratios. Also, I find that the combination of the bitterness of hops and chocolate is a flavour-challenge. I'm interested in how you get on with this, so keep us posted

I know this should probably be in the NYC-forum, but you guys are the experts! I'm going to NYC next week for a week's summer school, and will have a little bit of spare time. Which chocolatiers and kit-shops to visit? I will not have a car and I'm staying in Manhattan. Thanks