Desiderio

WHile I have never used the l'harmonie , I often use the 58% eguittard l'etoile du premiere ( or something similar ) , it is a very good 58% dark chocolate , very versatile and with a nice aroma , not overpowering ,but with a nice cocoa taste, plus the ration quality/price is excelent.SOmetimes I do a blend with this and the coucher du solei 72% .

Umm , why not piping little ball shape instead half moon ones.then let them crsut and dip them , sometimes chocolatiers pipe the ganache on top of a fine chocolate disk then crust then dip so you have a nice base for dipping ( the fork doesnt go thru the ganache).Just use a nice size piping tip (1/2 inch maybe? sorry dont know inches mesuraments for those ).Another thing you can do is to spread the ganache and let it rest all night and the you form the ball and dip.Just use a teaspoon to prelevate the ganche inside your pal and roll .

Oh I forgot to say that my favorite at this moment after few tasting , its still the Apamate El Rey , also Caoba isnt too bad either (41% milk not too bad ) ( but i didnt try too many milk chocolate lately , more dark ).I think Eguittard coucher de soleil (72% ) is a pretty good dark chocolate , not overwhelming in taste and a good texture.Heh at this point I am not a big fan of over acidic and fruity chocolates ( Valrhona manjari ruined all for me , I still can't get myself to use it again in anything ).

Thank you Jeanne I just got an email from Rogier ( Kroese-Exclusief ) since I did place an order to see the price for my shipping, He is indeed awesome , always willing to help and cut you a break.My total order for boxes is 255 boxes ( assorted sizes) the total in $ would be around 274 wich will be 1.75 cents ( more or less ) per box. Definately not too bad since the shipping is included in that price.

I second the eguittard , I use it all the time and its very good , good price /quality chocolate .

I found some type of ballotins on the dutch web site http://www.kroese-exclusief.com/en/index.php I know some people ordered from them and they were very pleased ,but their minimum order is 150 euro wich right now is quite bit of dollars, plus I am afraid of the shipping costs, I already spent lots of cash on supplys , chcolates and stuff , but I need to get some more boxes. So this ballotins are adorable and I didnt find this type here in the states Does anyone knows if I can find these type here in the states? Thank you

WHile I was in Italy , I tryed to get some chocolate for tasting , and in a nice wine shop , I found a nice selection of Amedei ( napolitanes ) with all their single origin , and a chuao bar ( that I really liked ),and I found another chocolatier also from Tuscany , their name is La Molina ,I got a box of their spiced chocolates ( just plain chocolate with spices ) tuscan spices, rosmery, wild fennel and sage . Plus two of their many single origin bars, the Venezuela and the Cuba. I didnt care too much for Amedei , I find they all have a common taste that I dont like too much, probably their rosting method i am guessing.La Molina was a nice surprise, their spiced chocolates were very nice , the spices arent too strong , maybe a little bit more wouldnt have be bad, but the chocolate is nice pleasent,the sage one are caramelized sage leaf inside ( micro bits ).The single origin Cuba , was nice , I could taste tobacco and some bitterness and isnt too acidic , leaves a nice mouth feel , very different form the other chocolates I tryed, the Venezuela was at first bite sweet , then I tasted bitter almonds and then a smoothness inside your mouth so nice and persistent . I definately will like to try their other chocolates when I go back to Italy.

I use light corn syrup also when I dont have glucose, it works fine .You might find glucose at your local hobby store , in the cake decorating section , also wal mart has it sometimes I think in the same section.usually they carry Wilton.

Oh Oh Oh , egg nog truffle my my, thank youuuu, you guys are dangerous

Hi, I know what do you mean , the first time I tryed some El rey I bought it at Whole foods , and I think a bar of valrhona was like 17 $ per lb , wich is ridiculos.But thats a good place where I can taste chocolate before buy big quantity. I can link few web sites where you can order bigger quantity for better prices , then Im sure more people here will give you more options. http://www.icaviar.com/store/scripts/prodL...?idCategory=387 ( one of my main buying store they have the best prices on Valrhona and Guittard ,not fancy on customer service but good prices and shipping ) http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/ ( not very chaep prices though ) http://www.chocolatebysparrow.com/scharffenberger.asp ( I got my favorite chocolate El rey from them , I found a good price per lb ) http://www.yourchocolateshop.com/ http://www.cocoaoutlet.com/Default.aspx?ta...&catpageindex=3 http://www.cocoasupply.com/ ( this site isnt too famous , but I order their chocolate the 51% and the rio arriba 65% , cocoa powder and cocoa nibs, and I was very pleased with them , nice flavor nice workability , outstanding customer service) http://www.marquefoods.com/catalog.htm ( I ordered from them just today several lb of chocolate, I dont know their customer service , it seems very friendly I will report as soon as I get the chocolate , a 25 lb case of eguittard 61%, lever du solei I believe.it costs 82$ more or less ) http://www.qzina.com/ ( never orderd from them , cause they dont have the chocolate I want, but they have a huge catalog and many on this forum orderd from them and they said they have great customer service and products)

Thank you Anna , are you getting into the chocolate craziness yourself, for these holiday , I have seen you already started Remember there is no coming back

Its a whole bar , the molds have 12 bars in it , I didnt weigh them yet ,I can try , this ones are filled with ganache , so I would guess the weight would be different form a solid chocolate one.In fact they clled panetto and not bar the number in catalog is the 0912.58 STAMPO 1064 PANETTO 76X40

Kerry thats a great idea I will try to get some soon ( I am trying to get some transfer sheets too , but its hard to find a nice mix bombo they all came in pack of 15 -20) The company in Rome its called Tervi and when I went there they had a room full of molds , I could have bought the entire thing if I had the money .Lots of the molds are the same one you find on bakedeco and similar , the clear ones, the disigns are the same , but you can find Tervi at http://www.tervi.it/index_i.html you need to register to see prices , wich are around 9.55 euro for the regular ones.but no pictures only description.

That might be the inside be humid and the shell , like you said , too thin.What the original recipe calls for , coating or rolling in cocoa? You can try do a double coating for a thicker shell.

I finally found a solution for my left over ganache ,I always had the problem of little bit here and there , so I made some truffle bars they going to be a bomb Flavors are:chai, raspberry,creme de menthe.I have to admit this was the first time I used a bar mold, I just bought a bunch of mold in Italy , since I was there way cheaper even with the exchange, so i wanted to try,I bought a egg one to so I can make some italian easter eggs when its time ( need to practice first ) Some Holiday production

Thank you for posting you recipes guys

I think that was a problem, I didn't stir enough. No luck in being able to get a tempering machine wthin the next week or two. I'm thinking of investing in an electric pot stirrer. ← Invest in some Mycryo and hair dryer that would do

As John said, keep the chocolate in motion its the trick here.I dont have the melter yet ( thinking about get one soon ) so I melt my chocolate on bain marie ( bowl dont touch the water ) then set on my counter and stir stir stir till gets down to the right temperature,I use an hairdryer to keep the chocolate form thickening if I am using it for long , but you need to be very carefull if it gets too hot you need to keep stirring it and then use it ,get the feeling for it, and another thing , the more chocolate you have in your pan the longer the tmeper stays , but keep stirring

Pam , thank you so much for taking the time to explain this tradition and everything comes with.The result is very similar to what we make in Rome ( and that might be for the Jewish community , very large in Rome ) we call them Bombe ( bombs ).I almost forgot how good they are . Thank you

I would like to see a demo on how to work with these molds

Yes Thank you Robert ,always new things to learn here I love it !!

There was a thread on this matter here it is Crunchy praline

Just to keep an update >The 12lb one will cost me 642$ more or less direcly form them .Since the Dollars is very weak at this time it will be about 20 dollar cheaper to buy it from the ebay site ,bonapetit 1.

Kerry I am looking foward to see your progress here , your work is always so amazing and inspiring, go go girl Umm chocolate , pears and tea , thats a great combo.I would like pear and cardamom, maybe you can find a cardamom tea, or a bergamot one ,but the cardamom sounds great with pear and chocolate.

I think there is too much liquid /wet element in that formula , thats why they were hard to work . The white chocolate should be more like 3:1 ratio with all that wettness.I would try a dark chocolate next time , a nice flavor one , not too strong and not over 60%, if you didn like the sweetness that may be better . Good idea , too bad I dont like pumpkin pie ,I do like pumpkin bread though. You can try to dry the pumkin pure in a skillet at low heat ,to get some the extra water out.