patsikes

White chocolate truffles are hard in my opinion. They are just so sweet that you have to find the right flavor. The only one I was every happy with was a key lime truffle. It was a white chocolate ganache and a white chocolate shell. We used an organic key lime juice (purchased at Whole Foods) and just a little bit of citric acid to get that little kick without having to flood the ganache with the juice. The other flavors we tried were strawberry, raspberry, and apricot. One of the biggest problems with the other flavors besides the poor taste was the look of the finished product. You could see the colored centers through the shell.

can you elaborate on the use of the scraper. Luis ← I use something like this. Instead of using a knife, I just use the scraper by pressing is down through the product, moving over and repeating. I can normally get a pretty straight line. The one thing that it tends to do, which I kind of like when doing caramels, is that it causes the top edge of the product to somewhat round out. So instead of the top edges being square, they are rounded. You can see the result (kind of) http://www.psiloveyouchocolates.com/images...ieceCaramel.jpg Hope that helps.

A dark chocolate piece with 5 almonds. Hits two of the current thoughts on good health, dark chocolate and 5 almonds a day. Make if a nice flower shape, foil wrapped, and boxed in a set of 7 for a week full of Mother's Day joy! Just a thought. :-)

I tend to use a large board scraper for cutting caramels and ganaches also. Less worry about sharp blades.

My wire is mounted on the top of my Chocovison X3210 tempering machine. My friend made two brackets that attach under the knobs that hold down the baffle. I then just run the wire or sometimes "weed whacker" line across. My machines are in storage right now so I can't get a photo....sorry.

The bent 3-tine dipping fork and then 45 degree angle is exactly what I use. I also use the surface tension of the chocolate to pull a large part of the extra mass off the bottom of the piece. My one last trick is to suspend a thin wire across your work bowl and slide the bottom of the fork across that instead of your bowl. It provides a cleaner pull since the chocolate drops right into the bowl instead of running down the sides. Besides, with my Chocovision machines, sometimes scraping against the bowl causes the piece to fall off the fork.

So how do you measure the Aw or the pH? Is there test tools that a chef can use or are we talking a lab? I know I have seen pH papers, but will they work for a sample of ganache? Patrick

I have the one with the spinning tines and it works great. Maybe there are inferior brands... I even used it to chop up "Starlight" peppermints for the top of my peppermint bark at Christmas with no issues. Just a lot of noise. I am at work so I can't tell you what brand I have... I will try to check when I get home.

Last year we did a trio of decorated easter eggs. They were "life sized" molds purchased from www.chocolat-chocolat.com. We painted a set (two halves) to match and filled with three different flavors. The halves where then glued together and sold in a three pack. Our flavors were key lime ganache in white chocolate, dark chocolate ganache in dark chocolate, and peanut butter in milk chocolate. Everyone loved the peanut butter! The recipe we used was from Top Secret Recipes. He trys to simulate brand products. See it at http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipedeta...id=83&agree=yes. They were so cute I just had to share. You can see a photo at http://www.psiloveyouchocolates.com/catalo...tail.aspx?ID=34 So definitely go for the peanut butter!

Awesome job Tammy. Great for your first official run!

I have this one: http://www.chefrubber.com/Shopping/shopexd.asp?id=711 I usually tape a half sheet pan on top of it (taping from the edge of the sheet pan to the bottom of the vibrator. I can put two molds on it at once. How I work when doing a lot of molds: - fill a mold and put it on the far side of the vibrating sheet pan. - fill a second mold - slide the first mold to the near side - place the new mold on the far side - fill another mold - in one swift motion, remove the first mold with the left hand, slide the second mold using the third mold and then place the third mold - empty the first mold and flop it upside down on a wire rack The added bonus with the vibrator on the table is that when the molds are upside down on the rack, it helps vibrate the extra chocolate out.

You must also supply a list of allergens that may be present in your product. Such as peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat.... That is the reason for listing the ingredients. Its not that hard to do and just makes sense. What I did was create a Microsoft Access database that listed my product name, weight, and ingredients. Then I used mail merge in Microsoft Publisher to create my labels and merge them with my database. If there was a change to ingredients, I just update the db and then reprint the labels. By the way, the HP 2600n color laser printer does a great job on labels and you can find them in the 200-300 dollar range.

This is a great company: http://www.qualitapaper.com/html/CandyCups_QCup.htm

Hey Vanessa, Most of our holiday chocolate work was a bust...just too hot and humid down here. Had the AC blasting all day long and still could not get things to work right. Most of our peppermint bark and cranberry bark bloomed and the caramels where just not right. Unless we could build a climate controlled commercial kitchen down here (which is a pipe dream) I think PS I Love You Fine Chocolates is done for a while.... Patrick

Vanessa...wow!!!! Very amazing how you get that shine and even color! As with the whole cocoa butter melting thing...get yourself a yogurt maker. I seem to find them at garage sales all the time (although not with all that snow you have right now Vanessa...just missed that winter!). The yogurt maker uses very low gentle heat and keeps everything at working temperature. Something like this http://www.amazon.com/Euro-Cuisine-YM80-Yo...8&s=home-garden

Yep.... Foil is going to mar the finish.... Maybe a very thin piece of tissue just smaller than the foil sheet between the foil and the chocolate? Probably still going to scratch things up a bit and a lot more work.... How about this appoach.... You make some percentage (80?) of your bonbons with the bright shinny painted finish and then you foil wrap the rest in coordinating foil colors without the paint job. Gives a little extra pop to the box and saves some time. Maybe not much unless you get fast at foiling...

Just keep practicing! I had to foil wrap 1000 dark chocolate solid hearts for a wedding last year. After the first dozen or so you get a groove! I might suggest molding just some plain dark chocolate in your intended mold (without color or fillings) to practice on. You can try a few times and then just reuse the chocolate later... Patrick

My technique is to place the foil sheet (make sure it is the really thin confectionery foil) in the palm of your hand with the inside up. Place the piece to be wrapped on the center of the sheet and give it a little press down into the foil. I find it helps me to have that hand gloved with a cotton glove. That initial press gives you the outline of what the foil needs to smooth around. Next just work your way around the piece working the foil into the details. As you work around, just fold down the foil to the back of the piece. Once the foil is on, give the piece a press on the table to seat the back. I will usually wrap all the pieces then go back to burnish them a little bit. I use a cotton cloth (sometimes a spare glove) to just rub the foil to give the piece more definition and shine. That said, I have only done "bonbon" and other flat pieces like little hearts and suckers. Make sure the foil piece is not too big, otherwise you will end up with a bulge on the back. Hope this helps...

In an attempt to use up some of the packaging we bought up after Valentines Day last year (thinking we would still be in business), I think I will do a bunch of boxes of turtles to send to our friends and family. I have 8x5 storage room here in Florida filled with packaging and supplies for Christmas, Valentines, and Easter and no place to make chocolates to fill them! Life sure does throw twists & turns! Happy new year everyone!

Here are two photos. They arn't great as they are from my cell phone. I have some from Disney's Boardwalk Resort on my camera at home...I will try to add them soon. Pinocchio Gingerbread and Chocolate sculpture at Disney's Contemporary Resort My wife Stephanie standing in front of the giant Gingerbread house at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. They actually have a store inside the gingerbread house that they sell cookies and "mini" versions of the house.

Here is one from Alton Brown. He did it on one of his shows. I have not tried it, but it looks simple. He uses a electric griddle. I just got one a couple weeks ago so I think I might try it out. English Muffins

My wife and I have been spending most of our weekends this month at Disney World. They really do Christmas up right. You should see all the gingerbread houses and chocolate sculptures. Most of the higher end resorts do something. I can post some photos tonight if anyone is interested.

Made caramels this weekend too. First time cooking this recipe here in Florida. I did not account for the drop in elevation (moved here from Colorado a few months ago) so they are a bit soft, but still coated well. Also got the first layer of my peppermint bark down but lost the enthusiasm ti finish that off. Will do that tonight.

We use a product called MayaChai (http://mayachai.com/). It is an all natural concentrate that has a great flavor. We mix it directly into the finished ganache before molding. You can even go to their website to request a sample. We are still using samples that we got from the Dessert Expo in Las Vegas last year. I think it is like $55 for a gallon bottle. We use about an ounce for three trays of truffles.

I have never worked with it. Durring my conversation with Jacque Torres in May durring our Alaska cruise, he said that they use both Belcolade and his own from the bean chocolate in thier production.