Desiderio

If I was you I would try to make one of the marshmallows recepies here on the forum and Kerry soft caramel, layered the caramel on top of the marshmallow after has set, wait for the caramel to set as well, cut with a well oiled knife and dip, I am pretty sure the caramel will keep the shape and be soft at the same time, doesnt seem too hard, just little bit sticky

Definatelly hazelnut ( I am purist since Gianduja is hazelnut in Italy ) Anyway, you could use commercial ready hazelnut ( nut ) paste, I have used the italian one 100% hazelnut paste, its very good quality and the results are great. I dont have a commercial grade food processor or the like so make it myself is out of the question, because you will never reach the smoothness of the commercial one. When you mix the melted chocolate with the nut paste you have to temper the mass, you dont need to use tempering machine, but can be slabbed on a marble slab, I dont have one so I just put the mass on a ice bath and I mix untill nice smooth and start to thicken. The % for chocolate and nut paste can vary, I also use some clarified butter in it. If you skin the hazelnuts you can toast them into the oven then put them in a kitchen towel or towel and rub them untill the skin come off.

I dont have my own packaging yet, way to expensive at this point. So I found alternative ways for my packaging. I made some tag with my logo ( designed by a friend professional) and I ordered few ribbons with the name of my company. I do change package with the season with boxes that fit best my style ( isnt always easy to do so ). Another less expensive way to personalize your packaging would be the one of having your logo/name imprinted on a box of your choice, many company offer hot stamp for a reasonable price.

Thank you so much for the info. I can immagine have to spray so many molds and all that cocoa butter around, maybe isnt too good for our lungs

Applets! You will need to puree some of the apples, lots of recipes online.

Bill, first of all congratulations on the first year of your business/creature!!! It seems like an impressive amount of success accomplished for the first year, I know that the work involved was incredible. If I recall the first post I have read, you were already a pretty successful business man? How that help you on the start of the new business? I think the hardest part is to really know how a business work no matter the field we are in. I am looking forward to see the web site and for the updates, I am sure this post will be an inspiration for all of us that are just starting, even if in a much smaller scale (for me at least). Thank you and good luck!

I think the issue is more of not overfill the shells, but I know sometimes its hard, I tend to fill the molds more than suggested and occasionally I have the trouble you mentioned. Expecially with ganaches that set up firmer or the ones I reuse. What I do to back up the bottoms is to do half mold at the time, I use an offset spatula, the mold rigth on the melter, I hold the shorter side of the mold, I put some chocolate on the half length wise, I spread the chocolate all the way on tha side (like if the mold has 4 rows length wise I do 2 at the time) I make sure is well coated and tap the side of the mold with the spatula to release air pockets the I turn the mold and do the same. Warming up the top of the shells to be coverd also help for a smooth bottom coating.

Ill try next time, thank you John On another recipe, the Cocomels, I just made a batch yesterday and I will coat them today. I have few questions for who already made these. -I have already noticed that the recipe for his carame ( the one with evaporated milk ) produce a very sticky caramel, much different from the one I am used to, and I dont necessarily like it. Is that the way it is or its just me? -The coconut caramel layer is still kinda sticky and when I cut into it it tends to fall over the caramel layer. So the result is a kinda sticky too mushy coconut layer and a little bit to hard and sticky caramel. I know already this recipe isnt for me, its too sweet and too sticky. I dont know why I am having such hard time with his recepies, the theory works fine for all the ganaches, but the other recepies are always a disapointing, or maybe I am cursing myself thinking the recepie isnt going to work . I am about to give up on some of his recepies and just keep the theory.

Thats what a friend of mine told me about luxury items like chocolates, since people will get depressed , I honestly trying not to get into that frenzy state where everybody talks about how the prices are going up and all that stuff that the media love so much.

Hehe the half pyramid is definately one of my favorite then the smooth dome, cause like Tammy, it allows me to play with my colors. Another favorite is a box mold to make a cocoa pod, it works great with colors all the time. The turban type of mold is one of my least favorite, I have notice the colors tend to stick inside the mold more often, not sure why, maybe I need to polish it better.

WHile I dont have a store at this moment, in the recent event I partecipated ( a craft show ), I was disappointed by the sales I made. People really love the product but the sales were one third I made in May. Maybe was the type of show , but its season already and I feel people isnt actually ordering the way the used to do last year. I am really trying to get as much business I can at this point to afford the rest I have to pay, but seems little bit slow. I am kinda glad I dont have to depend on the income from the chocolate business at this point.

By the way Ghee can be found easily at any natural grocery store ( here in Colorado Vitamine Cottage, Whole Foods ) its organic and I dont have to make my own wich I find a tedious task. One question maybe out of topic, but what they intend for liquid sugar? I have notice many candy are made with glucose and liquid sugar, so they are definatelly not the same thing. Just a curiosity.

I have another question about kitchens you rent. I was curious to know if at all possible, how are the deals you guys get from your renter (for the people that rent a kitchen by the hours). For the kitchen I rent I had to leave a deposit of 250, plus they kinds imply that a weekly usage was preferred, but with the amount of work I have rigth now isn't at all possible, I don't have enough income from the business, I am trying to get more, to afford 100 per 8 hours, wich is still a good price compared to 25 an hour from another place here. Now the problem is if someone shows up to rent the space on the day I choose and they work every week, I migth loose the day etc. Not to talk about the fact that I am due in 6 weeks and still work full time at my job, and the carrying of all those containers back and forth from the kitchen is killing my back. I am really trying to push right now to get more places to sell my chocolates and got couple more stores, I am hoping to be able to rent that darn kitchen evey week next year, but for now I am stressing. What's your experience if you feel like sharing. Thank you

What about a nice batch of creme brulee or panna cotta and maybe use it for filling for some cold chocolates.

Kerry, is the chocolate going to be on the web site or need to contact someone there? If so could I have the contact info as well? Thank you.

I keep a sewing needle handy to unclog the tip every time I switch color, I usually work in a colder enviroment and I don't have problem. One thing that migth help us to wash it in warm water after each session.

might be worth a try, isnt too expensive, but I tell you what if they find out that is been used from chocolatiers and bakers they gonna raise the prices as soon as they relize it :-P. I have seen in Italy is getting hard to come around as well, the mainly supplier on google seems CHina and I have no idea why

Definatelly is used in italian bakeries and chocolates shop, but isnt not ready available to the public, the closest thing would be clarified butter but isnt the same, there is still more water in clarified butter. I dont think I have seen anhydrous butter available here, maybe professional suppliers or something?

More like food grade tissue paper? I dont know there but here I found couple of site, for food grade tissue paper for some of my boxes, the thing is that I wanted colored ones. I dont know something like these? http://www.mrtakeoutbags.com/store/high-pe...nce-tissue.html

I finally got to try the hot chocolates and they turned pretty good, I did a full batch since it seems that Greweling formulas don't split well, like for nougat etc. I should have asked this before finishing the chocolates but what is the best way to cut them? Unfortunately the ganache set too hard in my basement cause the temperatures and it end up cracking under the marshmallow, but was ok I guess since the marshmallow kept all together, the problem was doing a clean cut, the marhmallow tend to be sticky and the edges aren't clean and sharp so the final look of the chocolates isn't so attractive. Any tip? I really like the flavor and the combination.

I don't use Lindt for chocolate making, but I have noticed that few of the tasting bars were softer than other chocolates and its because they have butterfat added, I don't know if this is the case.

It isn't mine either!! I hate to have to mathematize everything, but I would love to have a system like that, I did molds, shells and filling calculations, but never actually did a sheet, maybe I could ask my hubby to do that for me since he is the math kinda guy and very good with spreadsheets. This is a good topic.

I don't have the books ( Xmas is getting close!) so I am not sure how they proceed for the cold technique, when I use a colder cream into tempered chocolate, I really love the consistency, plus the fact of using tempered chocolate into ganache doesn't prolong shelf life? Time to get me the books!

They look pretty good! For the cinnamon what about cinnamon oil? We use it in the Pastiera to keep the filling from getting dark due the cinnamon powder. Now I don't know how that will react with the marshmallow batter, maybe ill try it myself.