patris

Those pizzas look absolutely delicious. I use Zoe Francois' no knead dough for pizza on my baking stone all the time - I shape it on a piece of flour-dusted Reynolds Release, slide it onto the stone using a peel, then pull the foil out from under about 3 minutes into baking time. It always turns out terrific.

When you add untempered melted chocolate to your chocovision machine, do you have to wait some time for it to temper or can you use the chocolate in the chocovision right away? I've been going through repeat tempering cycles in my chocovision whenever it gets low. Just adding melted untempered chocolate without going through a whole new tempering cycle would save a lot of time. ← This is intriguing. I've got about 600 pieces to dip, and I don't have a melter - I use the microwave/seed method. Is it possible to replenish my pyrex bowl with melted untempered chocolate as I work, rather than using up the bowl of tempered chocolate and starting over (and over, and over)? If so, what sort of temperature range should the untempered chocolate be?

That is how they shall be called every time I make them!

Daaaaang, that looks fantastic. I've got to try that!

I've always thought the same thing about milk - who looked at a cow's underside and thought, "How about I squeeze those things, and drink the stuff that comes out?"

Just bumping this topic up to ask a question - Between Easter and a favor for a colleague a couple of weeks ago, I made a colossal amount (for me, anyway - somewhere around 500 pieces) of molded pieces filled with flowing caramel and various ganaches. I'm still nibbling my way through the pieces that didn't get used up, and I'm noticing that many of the ganache-filled pieces look like the ganache has somehow shrunk, and the bottoms have collapsed, for lack of a better word, just slightly. No visible cracks, it just looks like they've been sort of vacuum sealed from the inside. Have I done something wrong, or have others had this problem?

You might consider building your brand to represent something other/larger than the product. When my business partner and I were in the process of putting our brand together, we decided to use the partnership as the starting point for the brand - Puff Girls Treat Factory. We added the tag phrase "handcrafted marshmallow confections" to clarify what we make. So if you really love your location on the Great Lakes, maybe put that forward, like Great Lake Effects/marshmallows and chocolates. Or maybe there's something about you that's different or fun, that could translate into a brand? Hard to say what that might be, given that we've never met, but is this a second career for you? Do you have a hook of some sort that would get people intrigued? (Sorry - I do brand management in my day job & sometimes I get carried away...)

The Goya passionfruit works wonderfully in both marshmallows and pate de fruit. I tried the strawberry in marshmallows, but it seemed awfully watery to me - and the flavor just wasn't there. I'd just as soon run any kind of frozen berry through my Champion juicer to get puree - it's so much better than the Goya.

Count me in for next year - I so wish I hadn't had to pull out at the last minute this year. DC is my old stomping grounds (lived there for 8 years after college), so it'd be an absolute hoot all around!

I assure you I am 'fatigable' - I'm not moving out of this chair this evening beyond getting the rug rat to bed. My dogs are barking! ← I certainly hope you're getting some rest - you certainly deserve it! I'm so sorry to have missed it. Can't wait to hear and see more.

just finished some manhattan chocolates - Southern Comfort and a bit of cherry juice mixed with the nappage neutre (thanks again for sharing, Kerry!) - had to warm the nappage just slightly (to about 86 F) to get everything to blend nicely. They sat for only about a half hour before I couldn't wait to back them off - no problem at all. I ordinarily hate manhattans (they taste like cough syrup and fire to me), but these are delicious. And the nappage works a treat.

It was really pretty cool. We also mixed a teeny bit into some nappage neutre/cointreau mixture - it cut the sweetness, but also deadened the flavor overall.

I made these with garam masala instead of curry powder - I couldn't find a mix without garlic and/or onions, and I couldn't stomach the idea of either of those combined with chocolate. I'm one of those not-exactly-adventurous eaters, for sure. They were great with the garam masala, though. Crazy fragrant and delicious.

I just ordered some of the silver - I'll report back once I've had a chance to play with it. Looks fun, though.

Persimmon pie is different (and delicious!) - not sure if you can find a recipe that doesn't use nuts, but it's worth a shot.

This place is like a support group. I thought I was the only one who did the seam-splitting thing! I also do it with smoked almonds. Thank you for making me feel like less of an oddball...

Beef kidneys, litchi and sweet pickle relish.

In your example, you would calculate it like this: Final proof = (0.30 * 30 proof) + (0.70 * 40 proof) = 37 proof. ← Thank you. I left my math in my other pants this morning.

I'd think you'd have to do an average - say if you're using half 30 proof and half 40 proof, you'd average it out to 35 proof. If you're using different percentages, like 30% of 30 proof and 70% of 40 proof, then you're just trying to make my head explode.

Congrats on the mixer purchase! My wild guess is that the fat in the milk might interfere with aeration, so you might not end up with the right texture. Dunno about shelf life, though...

Are you saying there's something inferior about them? Because I think they're gorgeous. You've also got me coveting that rectangular mold. Hanging around with you is dangerous.

I'm not familiar with the recipe, but are they piped? If so, could there be something in your piping technique that's leaving the cookies vulnerable to an air pocket in roughly the same place?

The fruit jellies I've found commercially available have a somewhat chewier texture - maybe they're made with gelatin or agar agar? I have made pates de fruit and dipped them in chocolate, and they're lovely. As you noted they were not rolled in sugar first, but I did pre-bottom before cutting. The only issue I had was the edges getting too thin a coating of chocolate so that you could see a bit of the pate peeking through.

I'm trying to plug this in to the recipe tester - but I'm not sure where eggnog fits into it. I suspect it will not have a really long shelf life, but given the ingredients - I'll bet it tastes quite wonderful. ← Eep - didn't think about shelf life. How long is not really long? ← A week or two should be fine. ← Cool - they'll be gone by the end of Thursday, anyway!

I'm trying to plug this in to the recipe tester - but I'm not sure where eggnog fits into it. I suspect it will not have a really long shelf life, but given the ingredients - I'll bet it tastes quite wonderful. ← Eep - didn't think about shelf life. How long is not really long?