John DePaula

Wow, what a cute picture, Mette! The kids are precious and the cupcakes so bright and colorful.

Delicious-looking and beautifully photographed, as usual, Patrick.

Welcome Jeff, we'll be interested to hear about your products and hope you'll become involved in our many discussions about chocolate. Did you catch the earlier thread about 'Balancing your Ganache'? I'd be interested on your take on shelf life of your products. ← I did read the Balancing Your Ganache entry. I use many recipes from both Greweling´s CIA book and Wybauw´s Fine Chocolates. I like Wybauw´s because they all provide the Aw, and find the guidance provided for shelf life is just about spot on, except for the Gianduja. I´ve had them mold up after about 6 weeks, which is a bit too long anyway. But I think there is too much free water in the formula, and have tried reducing the dairy. Also, dairy hygiene is not quite as good here as in the US which may have affected the shelf life, despite boiling the cream. Also, butter here is not consistent like in the US; depending on the time of the year I believe the amount of fat and water varies because of the changes in season from rainy to dry and back again. Things are not nearly as high tech for quality control. I do find that most of my products have easily an 8 week shelf life, without any preservatives. I had all my products lab tested here and they were given 90 days. I am still, however, tweaking recipes, especially for export, to extend shelf life as long as possible. ← Marmalade, would you care to share a sample ganache recipe? I don't get anywhere near a 90 day shelf life and I think others would be interested in taking a look at what you're doing; for myself, especially, since you're not using any preservatives. Thanks!

I don't think so but it's definitely added to keep the ganache from crystallizing and to extend shelf life by reducing the amount of free water.

Ah, but I bet they still taste great!

I have made them before but I'm not really a fan of macarons, though I do appreciate the art. But give me a slice of Opéra any day!

Yes, that's great news Tammi; Congrats!

Honestly, I think it'd be a very difficult undertaking. But possible, with diligence. Probably it would get easier each time you do it, though. If you had to do each recipe, I'm not sure it would be worth it. ← Perhaps you could be my translator (LOL, joking!)... I thing ingredients wise it would be easy...but the tough part would be the various methods and instructions, no? ← Ingredients would definitely be the easiest. I think that the text is fairly clear and well written, so you'd probably be able to translate that fairly well, too. Seems (from other threads) that you already have some good experience with French pastry e.g. macarons, so I think this will come in handy if you decide to give it a go. Do you have any French language cookbooks at your local library? Might be a worthwhile exercise to grab a couple and see how you like doing the translating.

Personally, I'd just spring for the extra pan that custom fits the unit. If you really want to save some bucks, I guess you could try to find a smaller pan and pad the sides with some kind of non-insulating material.

Honestly, I think it'd be a very difficult undertaking. But possible, with diligence. Probably it would get easier each time you do it, though. If you had to do each recipe, I'm not sure it would be worth it.

I'm interested in seeing your next post about this regarding ganaches. I know that any little change in the amount of water (or altering the relative percentages of fats & sugars) in a ganache will alter the Aw. But Tammy was asking specifically about caramels. Like Kerry said, for any given target temperature, the amount of water will be the same. Using Karo corn syrup will likely take longer than using glucose to reach your target temperature, but in the end you'll have the same amount of water.

Are these safe for use around food? Not all desiccants are.

You can toss in a teaspoon or two of diced up cocoa butter at the end; keep stirring until all of the cocoa butter is melted and then separate the nuts on a silpat and allow to dry.

A little late, but yes, glucose can be used 1:1. Early on, I discovered that there are differences among glucose manufacturers. I, too, wanted to avoid products derived from corn. I got a pail of glucose that was wheat based and it was terrible; the flavor cast was anything but neutral. I wish that I could remember the name but it was a long time ago. The one I use now doesn't say what is the source of the glucose, so it may/may not be from corn. Glucose manufactured in the US is almost always made from cornstarch.

Looks great! Love the floppy-eared rabbit!

Vanessa, Here's one source: Pastry Chef Central : Mol'd'art Melters With the beating that the $ has taken, the prices have really gone up!

Those spoons are fabulous, loving the rest of the items too. ← Hear, Hear!

Ditto. That's beautiful, Vanessa!

Happy to help, John! Does this mean you won't mind me borrowing your idea of selling 5 in the little round? ← Not at all; have at it!

I didn't order an entire case of the small rounds, so they had to repack those for me, and they all arrived in perfect condition. I think the manufacturer needs to use better boxes! ← Actually, I've had pretty good luck with the small rounds. I order by the case and they're packed pretty well. I looked at the larger rounds a few months ago but was told that I would probably want to special order plastic inserts/trays to keep the chocolates in place. Didn't want to go that route. But with your method, Tammy, looks like the larger rounds could work. Thanks!

Thanks, John! Knowing I was going to have one larger piece, I had to come up with a new packaging solution for Easter, so I requested some samples from Glerup-Revere, including the two rounds. I had tried just putting the bunny/egg in the middle of the round, but then it just got lost in there amidst the other pieces. It was my husband who gets the credit for coming up with the box in a box concept. And even better - you can use either the top or bottom of the small round. One warning, though - the large rounds are not boxed well. I have to call Glerup today, because almost all of them had some damage, and a full 25 of my box of 60 are so badly crushed as to be non-useable. Some of that damage was probably incurred in shipping (the box was a little crushed when it arrived) but the style of box they used is also a problem. ← I've had the same problem with the acetate favor boxes... which you usually don't discover until you go to prep a shipment - often long after you got the boxes.

Tammy! Clever Girl! I think the chocolates are gorgeous! I've looked at those larger rounds and thought that the chocolates would just be a mess sliding around in the box; but putting the smaller round in the middle is genius! Wonderful presentation!

The disadvantage with using your fingers, besides being hard on your fingers , is that it may warm up the butter too much. I kind of batter the butter as evenly as possible with the french style rolling pin, then rotate 90 degrees and do it again. Makes it nice and malleable without warming it up. HTH.

Honestly, it would be to your advantage to start a new topic called 'Atelier Pierre Herme;' Otherwise, a lot of people may not see your post since it's not really about Ferrandi.

Those look pretty delicious and flaky! Bravo! By the way, do you soften the butter a bit, prior to folding with the detrempe, by battering it with the rolling pin? This softens the butter, makes it more malleable; that might help prevent it cracking when you roll it out.