patris

The latest iteration of my office confections is one of the most popular with my colleagues - chocolate clusters with heavily salted David Lebovitz's candied peanuts. These peanuts are daaaaangerous on their own, and in combination with chocolate they are one of the few things that really challenge my Keto resolve. So simple and so, so moreish.

How about breaking out some luster powder, mixing it with a bit of alcohol and going the kintsugi route?

Excellent - thanks!

Does this mean the original melt, like when you’re starting a run? I thought it had to get up past 35.5, so yay for saving a few minutes here and there!

These look fantastic! I have developed a habit over the last year of always having a bin of some confection or other sitting on my desk for my colleagues to enjoy - my job is fairly solitary so it encourages people to stop by my office to chat and often results in some good collaborative work - and I think I now know what the next treat will be. I imagine they will be delicious dipped in chocolate.

So somehow my TJs keeps getting restocked with Ruby Cacao, and I keep buying it. I have now laid in a supply that would probably qualify me for a Discovery Channel special, if not a whole series, on hoarding. If anyone really wants to try it and can't get it in your area, PM me and I'll send you some, at cost ($2.99 for 5 oz) plus postage.

I always dip them! Tempering the meltaway with EZTemper silk makes the texture so wonderfully melty that the chocolate is just a temporary barrier, especially with a relatively thin coating. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands, as they say...

An obligation-free Sunday and a hoard of Ruby Cacao wafers from Trader Joe’s got me thinking about peanut butter meltaways - a favorite of just about everyone in my life, so I won’t have any trouble getting these addictive little suckers out of my house. The Ruby makes for a little PB&J vibe that definitely does not suck. And they’re great for dipping (tempered via EZTemper, of course) - nice and fluid but not too fluid.

If it makes you feel any better, my scarcity mentality kicked in HARD and not only did I buy 6 packages of Ruby wafers Thursday night, I went back this morning and bought another dozen. No idea what I’ll do with them, but I’ll think of something!

Not unless your raisins are crunchy!

In the $10 neighborhood - the 5 oz pouches are $3 each.

It’s featured on their website, so my guess is it’s everywhere. Limited time only though.

That was my thinking as well!

My weekly TJs pilgrimage usually nets little more than a few routine items - mostly certain veg, cheeses, eggs and nuts - but this evening a couple things caught my eye and made their way into my cart. I was surprised to see ruby chocolate - somehow I thought it would take longer to be available, and TJs would not have been the first place I looked. I like the faint fruitiness, but can’t see it becoming a big part of any chocolate projects in my future. Not to say I didn’t buy several packages, though... The grapes are quite tasty - I love fd fruit, so they were bound to appeal to me regardless. Wouldn’t have thought of grapes as something to freeze dry, though, especially sliced. They’re mostly in little clusters; individual slices are few and far between.

Passionfruit? Something bright and kind of acidic to complement all those sweeter flavors.

Oil spot glazes if I'm not mistaken - gorgeous!

It's an off-label use, but I will allow it for such a gorgeous meal!

An extremely kind and generous friend gifted me a large quantity of Belgian chocolate, which was a wonderful addition to Santa’s Tonawanda Workshop this year. I wanted to pay this generosity forward, so I contacted a food pantry/soup kitchen/general community resource on the West side of Buffalo to ask if they would accept a donation of chocolate treats made in a private home. Happily they said yes, so I spent today working on some goodies for their holiday meals and festivities. There’s about 6 pounds of peppermint bark, 5 dozen or so pretzel rods wrapped in caramel and dipped in milk or dark chocolate, and 3.5 pounds each of chocolate clusters - milk chocolate with salted peanuts and cornflakes, and caramelized white chocolate with toasted coconut and heath toffee bits: I will drop these off tomorrow and hope they brighten the season for the agency’s clients, volunteers and staff.

I use regular Foodsaver bags (no VacMaster here!) ... and now I am wondering whether that”s a good idea 🤭 They do withstand the pressure (cooking) with no discernible ill effects though.

Me neither. I wanted to save some time on a big project and bought 4 of those molds. Regardless of technique, I am disappointed in the result every damn time.

8 ounces of water, chocolate on trivet, high pressure, quick release. I always double-bag the chocolate as insurance against a bad seal. I often do several packages over the course of a day, leave them sealed up, and store them with my other chocolate. Takes several hours in a melter to get it to a stage at which it is ready to temper, and usually requires an immersion blender to un-lump it, but I temper lots more than I need so I generally have a good quantity ready to use.

I do. All credit for the technique goes to @Chocolot, who posted it at length here somewhere. White chocolate, vacuum sealed (I do it in 500 g packages), pressure cooked 2 packages at a time for 90 minutes in my Instant Pot. You will think you have ruined it but it will thin out some as it cools. Add cocoa butter to thin out further - I usually add around 20 percent of the weight of the chocolate - and temper as usual. Works great every time.

25 pounds of chocolate, 12 pounds of peppermint bark, 30 dozen marshmallows, 21 dozen peanut butter meltaways, and countless varieties of assorted barks later, Tonawanda Chocolate Fest 2018 is in the books. Once again @Kerry Beal kept the wheels on the bus in ways I never could. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, and I enjoyed every second. Here are some pictures of the middle of the activity: My poor dear Boris hid in the basement, as is his wont when other people are around. He came right back upstairs when he heard there was tuna for dinner though:

Nope! 12 inch drywall taping knife. Makes pretty quick work of them. It was another thoroughly delightful day. The last guest just left. I have a shockingly minimal amount of cleanup to do, and then I must head to the grocery store to replenish some supplies the elves used for their projects that I need for my next project. I did take some photos of the day, which I will post later.

It’s today! Managed to sleep until nearly 5 am (Kerry got a fair bit more sleep, which seems like a pretty good karmic rebalancing given all she does for me and others), and have been busily reordering and organizing. All is nearly ready for the joyful hordes to arrive in about an hour and a half. Milk, dark and caramelized white chocolates melting: dipping bowls at the ready: Tally sheets, mixing bowls and little bits and bobs from my candy closet for people to use up: 15 pounds of peppermint bark, ALL THE MARSHMALLOWS in plain, peppermint and red hot cinnamon, and smooth and crunchy meltaways: now off to finish the cheese ball and accompanying crudités and most importantly feed Kerry a decent brunch!