gap

I'm sure you could work something out with the ratio of ingredients, but you do need some liquid in there without too much fat I think

You could try making a curd and use that to make a ganache with the dark chocolate. I do that with a 66% dark chocolate and lemon curd and it is one of my favourite chocolates.

I've never had a problem with cracking or loss of shine. I put the chocolates in a flat plastic box (so there is not much air between the chocolates and the lid) and then wrap in gladwrap thoroughly. 24 hours in fridge then into freezer. When you need the chocolates, out the freezer and into the fridge for 24 hours. The out the fridge and (still wrapped in gladwrap) 24 hours at room temperature. Then unwrap and they are ready to go.

One solution would be to freeze production. If you freeze your chocolates correctly, you wont be able to tell the difference when they come out. That way, produce as many as you can in the kitchen time you have. Freeze and defrost as you need for events, sales etc. It is usually a 24 hour process to get the chocolates into the freezer and 48 hours to get them out - so you effectively lose 3 days from your shelf life using this process, but it would overcome your problem. Freeze in small containers so you only need to remove what you actually need at a time.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this book? I hadn't seen it before but looking at various reviews/sites etc it seems to be quite a good and thorough book. It might be worth heading off to Amazon for . . .

I can't stand how the almond flavour is added to the pistachio. I've had fantastic pistachio gelato before at a few different places. I went and spent a lot of money of pistachio paste (the vendor insisted it was pure pistachio paste) only to find out when I tasted it that it had almond extract in it. Everyone thought I had made marzipan gelato.

You can always ask the author directly on his blog: http://www.thequenelle.com/ (The blog also has some corrections to the original text)

This book is an excellent resource on Frozen Desserts (it's one of my favourites) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470118660?tag=wwwthequenell-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0470118660&adid=05ZQY7NFHF5HS70F51PH& It also covers ice cream and sorbets so may be a little broader than what you're after, but the science of frozen desserts and technical explanations of ingredients would, I imagine, be helpful to you.

No - when you explain the refrigeration process like that its not good for chocolate. One of our local cafe uses excellent couverture for their pralines, but they have moisture droplets on them each time I look in the refrigeration unit (so I haven't even bought any).

Knowing nothing about refrigeration - couldn't you buy a butt-ugly unit (assuming it works well) and just have a carpenter "glam" it up with a wood finish? Maybe even stain some wood yourself? Would that be a cheap option at a smart looking unit?

Maybe a bit of water got in the ganache? A just-washed spatula or something similar?

Hi Lior - Genin has quite a few caramel flavours. I think the aim was to get the original because then you can adapt that as you want. I have always been told that you can substitute liquid and powdered sorbitol in recipes. Use twice as much liquid sorbitol as powdered sorbitol (by weight) Cheers

I'd second baklavah

Nuts as a topping for ice cream sundaes with caramel sauce Almonds for marzipan for Christmas treats (Stollen?) Nougat will readily use nuts Make your own praline paste (should be easy if you've been making chocolate). Plenty to do with praline paste and chocolate Edited to add: Try this http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/caramelized_nut_tart/ and substitute the nuts. Looks good and should use plenty of nuts.

I second leaving the dates in chunks. We cut full dates in half and they still shrink down to almost nothing aftr baking

Invert sugar and glucose are different things - I'm not so sure about substituting them. In particular, the sweetness of each is very different. From memory, glucose syrup has a sweetness of about 70 and invert sugar has a sweetness of about 120 (normal sucrose is 100)

schneich - thank you very much for your work on this and posting the final version as well - I will definitely give these a go!!

Claire Fontaine from the Lenotre Pastrymaking book. Layers of ladyfinger biscuit cake soaked in orange punch and vanilla bavarian-type cream with bits of candied orange in it. Topped with slices of candied orange and then a clear glaze on top.

You can definately infuse chocolate. I've done it with white chocolate and coffee beans. Chooclate at 40-45C, add coffee beans, mix. Leave to infuse in a heating cabinet or low oven (try to keep at 40-45C). We left for several hours, but you could leave as long as you want. Then strain, temper and mould. Don't see why it wouldn't work with other flavours and different chocolates as well. Edited for typos

I'd say yes as well. I make a macaron filling with just chocolate and passionfruit puree - can't see why alcohol wouldn't work

Nothing scientific to go on, justpersonal experience: Undipped marshmallows (depending on your recipe) can start to dry out after a week or two. Not dangerous but not as nice as when you first made them. Dipped marshmallows keep better - quite a while I'd imagine, but I'm not sure of the exact length Candied ginger in chocolate would keep for months would be my guess - the ginger is candied and chocolate keeps peanut/nut brittle can absorb humidity and lose its crunch - depends on humidity in your area chocolate-coated toffee would keep for ages I'm guessing. I've kept chocolate coated caramels for 6-8 weeks and they've been fine Pretzels I have no idea - they'd probably keep as long as pretzels normally keep Candied nuts?? If you mean caramelised nuts, they will absorb moisture over time and lose their crunch. Once again, depends on humidity and storage Nougat I'm not sure about. I've kept it for several weeks and it's been fine As I said above, caramels dipped in chocolate have lasted 6-8 weeks for me

My tips would be: double tray under the macarons (keep the bottom tray in the oven while it is pre-warming) and dry out your TPT (almond meal/icing sugar mixture) a few days before. I leave mine out for a day or two to dry - I haven't tried drying in an oven before. I cook mine in a gas oven at 165 C, turn them half way and when I turn them turn the temp down to 155 C. Edited to add: the Italian meringue method is generally more reliable for macarons

I was told that bicard soda aids the emulsion

I assume that means browning the butter

schneich - I assume with caramels that soft they need to be wrapped. How do you store them after that? In the fridge or just at room temperature. I have to give these a go soon!!!!