mrose

Sounds how I feel when my grandkids come to visit! Paybacks are hell!!!

You could also try creme fraiche.

This time of year, you really don't need to ship overnight. Use the cheapest shipping. I have not had any problems. Mark

Try www.gourmail.com, they have good prices for what they sell. You have to spend at least $60. Shipping is only $5. Everyone will tell you what is the best chocolate to use is but your taste buds & wallet will have the final say.

Marti make a Mojito rum. You might be able to get it at a large liquor store in a big city. That's what I had to do.

You could also try a small portion/ice cream scoop. It seems to work better for the release of the ganache. A size 100 give approx a 1" finished truffle.

I have used these Tortilla storage containers to store truffles in both the fridge & freezer. It holds approx 60 truffles & is air tight. I put a piece of parchment paper on top before closing that goes over the sealing lip. It leaves minimal head space for air and works very well. ← That's a very interesting idea. Is it tall enough? can't really tell from the pic. Luis ← It is a bit over 1.25" high. It works great for truffles that are aprrox 1". Seals well. Mark

I have used these Tortilla storage containers to store truffles in both the fridge & freezer. It holds approx 60 truffles & is air tight. I put a piece of parchment paper on top before closing that goes over the sealing lip. It leaves minimal head space for air and works very well.

I got it at Baker's Warehouse in Toronto. It would be worth checking out health food stores. You can make frappe with just egg whites, it's known as Mazetta in Candymaking by Ruth Kendricks. 2 egg whites (50 g), 275 g glucose, 60 grams water, 100 grams sugar. Beat egg whites to stiff and set aside. Bring glucose, water and sugar to 120C, beat into whites. ← Can you use powdered egg whites as a source of albumen? This is the info on Egg white powder from Chef Rubber "Spray dried egg albumen, which can be used in most recipes requiring egg white. It produces an exceptionally high volume, stable egg white foam. Used for uncooked foods such as marzipan and buttercream icing because it has been heat treated to meet USDA standards for being salmonella negative."

Thanks for the warning. The $90 raplette is pictured as adjustable but it's worth asking about. How useful is a fluted comb, and what is it good for? ← Couldn't it also be used to spread chocolate for making those poodle curls that was discussed in the Grewling tread? Not sure of others uses.

Pastry Chef has one that looks good for $90. If you purchase it, please give review.

Do you feel that the Choice Confections book is worth the $75?

I have used airtight containers that do not have much extra headspace (about 1.5" high) for truffles with very good success. If I do not have enough to fill container I use wadded parchment to take up space & a sheet on top.

I found instructions in two books. The most clear instruction was in Choice Confections by Walter Richmond, the other was A Formulary of Candy Products by Harris, Crespo and Peterson. ← How are those books? I saw that Choice Confections is $75 giving formula for both smal & large batches. Are they worth the price?

This is a comment from a friend who is not a member: "In a nutshell the editing into english sucks *badly*. The spanish side has ingredients that are nowhere to be seen on the english side. There are typos and sentences that end roughly halfway through. For that kind of money I expected better quality. I emailed Ramon about it but he's ignoring me."

Last year I used the cheese shredder blade & didn't have a problem. You have to stop every once in a while to make sure things don't get too warm. The harder problem was finding powdered whole milk at a reasonable price.

I will be shredding it with a food processor & mixing it with powdered whole milk & spices. This works well & it melt smoothly in scalded milk. I have zipper pouch bags that you can heat seal after filling.

I want to be able to sell this as a powdered mix, just add milk & cook

I was able to buy 50# of milk chocolate at an extremely good price. I want to use it to make hot chocolate mixes for this winter. It is a bit too sweet for a good mix. I would like to add either a bittersweet chocolate (60 - 70%) or unsweetened chocolate liquor. Does anyone have an idea of a good ratio of dark to milk chocolate as a starting point?

I am interested in trying the Green Faeries but I need some more info on Absinthe. It is to expense to buy just to try this recipe. I know it is liquorice flavored. Is the taste more complex than that? What other flavors are present? Or would using another liquorice (ie. Pastisse) give me a good indication as to the taste of the ganache?

I didn't, just took off the burr. They are solid bars.

I think pastry chef central is probably the better deal. I just used metal depots calculator for 2 stainless steel rods at 1 & 1/2 inches X 1ft and it came to 172.$ and some change ← If you are willing to use aluminum, I got a 1/4" x 3/4" bar at Lowes & cut my own.

You can get 1 at Pastry Chef for $249.

A good place to find books is www.addall.com, an online search engine of booksellers.

All I have made are the peanut butter meltways with both organic & cheap coconut oil with Callebaut. They turned out fine. Can I assume you are eating these at room temp? You could try using a bit less chocolate.