mrose

Which units are you referring too?

Probaly depends on state regulations. Some states allow for a home based business. This is definately not the case in Michigan. Even for a bakery you would have to work out of a commercial kitchen.

The cheapest I've seen it is for $90. http://www.culinarycookware.com/catalog.as...00&prodid=77800

An idea is to find a local person who does wooding. He could proboaly make one for you. Remember to use a hard wood. I had someone near me make a stand so I could put lables on the bottom of a 1 piece box that held 2 truffles. You could probably pay him off in baked goods, so both of you will come out happy.

I do have a passion fruit heart also...(the orange one with purple). Not sure if this image is going to be very clear. We did a 18 and 19 piece heart box as well as some other boxes. ← I agree with Tammy, they are wonderful & inspiring. Makes me want to play too.

Tammy I always make passion fruit hearts & caramel filled roses. It seem fitting for the day.

Do you supposed this also applies to the recipe in the sleeping beauties, i.e. did I throw away a perfectly good nougat that just needed to age?!? I could cry... ← From the quote stated: you can dip it but let it age 24 - 48 hours before eating.

This is my Valentines Day offering in a solid chocolate box (edible). I will also have them in a smaller square chocolate box, a traditional red heart box, & my usual gold box. greenish chocolates have a lime pastisse filling red hearts have a passion fruit filling roses with redish accent have a red rose filling others roses have a soft caramel filling white stripe have a marzapan filling

I have used Thermosafe boxes . This series of boxes are fairly cheap, $3-4 a box. They also sell cold paks to go with them. Cost will be about $5 for packaging. You have to remember that shipping for 1/2 the year can get to be extremely exorbitant. During the warm months you will have to ship overnight, it will cost more to ship than the cost of the chocolates. From Michigan to Texas, a 3# package costs ~$50 overnight. Be careful about planning a business around mail order. You have to ship an awful lot of product to get good rates.

Will do! Does it matter if it's dutch process or natural? I'm guessing natural would be best, but what do I know? ← Don't think it would matter much. The extract might be worth a try too. ← I have used chocolate extract in some dark chocolate truffles & it enhances the taste a bit.

I made these chocolate logs The center is a hazelnut gianduia surrounded by a pistaschio marzipan. Coated in milk chocolate. I have a question about the marzipan. The recipe wants you to bring a sugar syrup up to 252F, pour on nuts & then grind. Greweling has a recipe that works the same way. The marzipan seemed a bit chewy, not like any I had been used to. It also could have been sweeter. I have always made marzipan as in the book by Carol Bloom which is nuts ground with confectionery sugar & egg whites. This always seemed to be the correct sweetness. It tasted like also the other marzipan I have ever eaten. Why do they use cooked sugar, it tastes like ground nuts with caramel in it?

Lior I was making Valentines Day boxes & I had the same problem as you did with the marking from the mold as in the above picture (the top). This time I brushed it with a badger hair brush right after demolding. It sort of "erased" the mark, you can see light brush marks on the top. It still has a nice sheen to it, even though picture doesn't show it very well.

Kerry Nice toy, how do you find these things?

Tammy The way it was explained to me is if people can eat your product where it is sold, you have to charge sales tax. That's why it is added to your bill in restaurants. (In Michigan)

Lowes has bar stock you can buy. You might consider making it 12 x 6 or 9 x 8 which would be 1/2 batch. Most recipes make 180 pieces which is nice if you are selling but quite a bit for trial or self consumption.

One of the recipes in the Shotts book for banana truffles has you make caramel shards. You process it food processor. After adding to truffles it give a caramel taste but the moist seems soften it. I made this & you don't have any sense that the shards were in the truffle. ← But you could taste it in there? ← You could taste it a bit. If you wanted a stronger taste put more in than Shotts did.

One of the recipes in the Shotts book for banana truffles has you make caramel shards. You process it food processor. After adding to truffles it give a caramel taste but the moist seems soften it. I made this & you don't have any sense that the shards were in the truffle.

Just had the book delivered a little bit ago. Ordered last Thurs. Looks great at 1st page through, same presentation as other. Will post more when I have a chance to read through it. Looks like nice ideas for other gananches.

Was there enough people asking about it to warrant making chocolates for diabetics? Since this will be a smaller segment of your sales, can you afford to carry to extra inventory to sell to this group? How often will you be going to this type of festival or event? You can't be everything to everybody. It might be better to develop a clientele for a for the products you reaaly enjoy making and will sell the best. It might take away from this by getting too scattered & offering a wide range of products.

Absolutely beautiful!! Do you use a hot knife for slicing these? Do you include instructions to buyer/recipient, for cutting neatly? rachel, mumbling to herself that there's cream in the fridge, and all that lovely chocolate left from Christmas makings and how nice some ganache would taste right now ← They need to kept refrigerated till about 30 - 40 mins before cutting. Yes then you use a hot knife. I put a label inside the cover of the box which gives cutting instructions.

What are the cost of the sheets? Can the sheets yoy buy be cut to other dimensions? $35 added to the cost could get the overall cost a bit pricey.

You could quietly continue as you have been. Just continue by word of mouth & sell to friends as you have been. I wouldn't try to act as a business, advertise or do anything as such that might attract. Probably nothing would happen & I believe little chance that you would be discovered. But you can't legally act as a business.

Those look great - I especially like the "turtle" bar. How firm is your caramel? ← The caramel is like a thick sauce, I use it to fill molded chocolates.

These bars are made in triangular mold. They are made like any other molded chocolate. I first stick the transfer sheet onto side of mold with cocoa butter. Fill mold with chocolate, turn ipside down & empty, then let set. I then layer ganache into cavity and cap when ganache sets. Carefully unmold. The one on left is a cherry vanillia with chopped dry Michigan cherries in dark chocolate. The other is a turtle bar with a layer of ganache,then pecans, then caramel and then more ganache.

Book is available from Kitchen Arts and Letters for $89 & shipping.