Tri2Cook

Me too. But if I was forced to choose only one for the rest of my life it would probably be a good cheddar. I think it's the most versatile all-around cheese for my eating habits. I almost agree... I'll take mine without the anchovies.

I've been doing the cream biscuits since the first time I saw one of your posts about them several years ago. I am not a biscuit master, I don't make them often enough to have "the touch", but the cream biscuits are pretty much foolproof. You almost have to want to overwork them to get anything too bad as a result. I wouldn't put my biscuits up against anybody that has good biscuit skills even using the cream method but they're infinitely better than they were before and less work as a bonus.

Agree 100%, I was just being silly. I feel a little obnoxious when asking people to be crash test dummies for my experiments because I strongly emphasize that if they don't think they'll be able to tell me something sucks when they think it sucks, they're of no use to me.

I prefer the regular version myself (with the disclaimer that I've only tried the chocolate version once) but I agree, nice looking pie.

Trade her in for a more supportive model... ...kidding, of course.

We were advised by our supplier at work to bin whatever we had and that they wouldn't be shipping more until there was an all-clear. They said there hadn't been an official recall or do-not-eat issued in our area but they were strongly recommending it as a precautionary thing. All we had in stock went in the dumpster this morning.

I was hoping it wasn't just me. Maybe it's the chocolate I'm usually working with but I have to get it dumped pretty much immediately and then still do some pretty serious tapping to end up with nice, thin consistent shells. If I fill a mold and let it sit even for the time it takes to fill another, they're going to be really thick. Although, to be honest, I've never really been sure how thick they're supposed to be. Compared to the standard commercial shells I've experienced with non-artisan chocolates, mine are much thinner but I never considered the possibility of them being too thin. I just assumed as long as they're not breaking they're not too thin.

Out of the machine at 53% (ok, actually 52.6%). Looks like a milk but there's no dairy of any type in it, just nibs, CB, sugar, salt and the PB powder. I had to up the cocoa butter even more to solve viscosity issues after introducing the PB powder. It was going to be pretty difficult to mold as was, too thick even at well above normal working temps. Considered working in some lecithin but decided to stick with CB this round. Kinda hard to tell how the flavor will end up with it still hot right out of the machine. I'm gonna give it a few days rest and then get it tempered and molded and we shall see...

I have no idea what's customary, I'm making about 75% of what I do up as I go. It's semi-educated guessing based on what information I've been able to dig up but quite often just guessing. But to answer your question, yes, I went with a higher proportion of cocoa butter to hopefully help counteract anything the PB powder may do to the final texture.

So this question got me reconsidering my original plan. I tossed 400 grams cocoa nibs and 200 grams melted cocoa butter in the machine yesterday. I let it run for a few hours then tossed in 400 grams sugar to end up with a basic 60% dark. Later today I'm going to start adding the PB powder and some salt until I'm happy with the result. Hopefully I'll remember to weight each addition so I have a record for next time...

Didn't have any difficulties finding a couple of his brownie recipes... now I just need to not have any difficulties actually getting around to making them.

I have a recipe I use that has cheese in the crust (cheddar), the filling is a mixture of apples and cooked pork sausage sweetened with a reduction of apple cider and brown sugar. It includes thyme, rosemary and allspice in the recipe but I always replace the rosemary with sage. Not because I don't like rosemary, I just think sage works better in the recipe. Maybe because I use my homemade breakfast sausage which is forward with sage and heat. Regardless, it seems to work well with the apples in my opinion.

I was debating making fruitcake this year but only half-heartedly and with an attentive eye looking for a way out. Ask and you shall receive... the Shriners were set up doing their fruitcake sales for this year when I went to the grocery store today. No booze and not going to rival anything Rob bought but dark, moist, packed with fruit and nuts and plenty tasty enough for my annual fix. Better than any grocery store fruitcake I've tried. Plus the proceeds go towards transportation assistance for children with medical needs so I get a little feel good to go with the taste good. I can throw a shot of something in my coffee or eggnog while I eat the fruitcake and call it close enough if I really miss the booze. And at $20 for a box of 3 x 1 lb. pieces, it's more in line with what I'm willing to spend on fruitcake.

Which is the biggest problem. Once I see it, everybody can see it... even if they can't.

You win. You could have shown the brownies once and walked away and I would have been fine. But nooo. you have closer shots just in case it wasn't clear enough in the other shots just how moist and dense they are. With assurances to Rob that I'm only looking for the brownies, I'm off to google...

Thanks. I think what brought on the hesitation and pushed me to ask here before starting is the worry of ending up with something overly soft (thinking about the meltaway formulas). The much lower fat content should help (I think) but I wondered if eliminating even more non-chocolate/cocoa butter content by replacing milk powder instead of in addition to the milk powder might help even more with keeping things snappy. One way to find out, I suppose...

Leaning towards a milk bar for this round. I'm not at all concerned about a high (even for milk) final percentage in this case. I want the PB to shine through. Was thinking about starting with maybe a 40 - 45% milk formula and then adding the PB powder. Not really sure where to start with the PB powder so I was just going to start with what I think would probably not be enough and work my way up. Edit: I'm also considering giving the fruit bar formula a try using the PB powder instead just to see if a PB bar sans chocolate works.

I recently grabbed some of the PB&Me dark roast peanut butter powder. 100% peanuts with 1.5 grams of fat per 12 grams, so much lower (roughly 1/4) the fat of regular peanut butter. I'd like to use it in a batch of milk chocolate to get a chocolate peanut butter bar. I'm hoping the low fat content will help counteract the softening effect of introducing another fat to the cocoa butter to some degree. My question is, do you think I should replace part of the milk powder with it or add it in addition to the other ingredients? I'm not worried about lowering the final percentage of the chocolate because I'll be starting with a fairly dark milk formula.

Probably way too late to be of any help but I just saw this. Running sugar through it results in a silky smooth powdered sugar sans the cornstarch in most commercial stuff so milk powder should do just as well. Enough heat is generated by the stones to keep the butter melted and flowing. I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.

Exactly. I'd like to think nobody thought it was going to pull a rabbit out of it's hat or something like that... it's the fun of playing on the poison apple theme. Edited because my early morning post sounded nastier than intended...

That looks like the recipe Ann used. I didn't know the numbers, she always made it, but it looks the same as far as I can remember. She learned it from her mom so the recipes have that in common too.

I hadn't actually given it any serious thought and don't recall setting it as a goal but looking at what I've done so far, I haven't made a batch of milk chocolate below 40% with most being in the 45% - 50% range. Of course, I'm certainly not setting any trends at my level.

Yeah, that was basically what I meant with my long-winded post. I don't remember all of the details of this but if they said something wasn't in the food that was in the food when asked about it by somebody with an allergy, there is definitely some guilt on their part. I once took a stab at being accommodating for a catering job. The guest of honor at the dinner had specific allergies. Not life-threatening but capable of causing severe reactions. I spent a great deal of time researching, planning and preparing a menu geared towards her needs. She was happy. But the people throwing the dinner for her were not. They complained about the adjustments made to the way some of the dishes were prepared to accommodate the allergies... which is exactly what they asked for. So I would put up my sign and instruct all staff that the correct answer to "I'm allergic to (whatever), is it in this dish?" is "Maybe... you feeling lucky?".

If I win the lottery and for some insane reason decide to use some of the money to open my own restaurant (and I truly hope if that happens, a good friend reaches back into last week and slaps me into next week so I come to my senses before I do something that crazy ), there will be a big sign on the door that says "we do not accommodate food allergies or intolerances, we will not alter anything we serve in order to attempt to accommodate said allergies or intolerances and we do not guarantee your safety if you choose to ignore this warning... by placing an order, you agree that you understand and accept these conditions and anything that occurs as a result of eating here related to food allergies and intolerances is therefore your own problem".

Chocolate banana bread... maybe even chocolate peanut butter banana bread. I don't have recipes for and have never made either, just what popped into my head right away and I'm sure google would find recipes for both faster than I could cobble one together. Banana bread and peanut butter are a couple of personal favorite things so that was easy. The chocolate just because that was what you started out wanting to use up.