Tri2Cook

So it wasn't so you could two-hand some sake shots?

I'm betting they're tasty even if not what you were shooting for. I'm not familiar with the Dare Breaktime coconut cookies but these are the coconut cookies I make when I'm going for a tasty not macaroon-ish coconut cookie. They call for baker's ammonia (I've read baking soda can be substituted, haven't tried it myself to compare the results) and I usually use 3/4 cup each shortening and butter instead of the 1 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter called for.

I'd have to check the Fat Duck book to be sure, I can't remember if it was in there or not. I originally saw him do it on his In Search of Perfection tv show.

I might be tempted to change that to "always let your 4 year old grandchild (or child) cap chocolates". They eventually get to an age where they don't want to. Imperfect chocolates still taste good, messes can be cleaned... and the chocolates were probably perfect in his eyes.

Heston Blumenthal does that with chocolate he sprays into the molds from a cream whipper with a couple charges shaken into the chocolate. Makes the aerated chocolate that can be found in Greweling's book but with much bigger bubbles. He leaves it under vacuum until the chocolate is set.

I once did a, possibly inappropriately named, piece that was a layer consisting of half of a brandied cherry and invertase-treated fondant. That was topped with a thin layer of ganache. I painted the surface of the ganache with chocolate and filled in the remaining space with a mixture of caramelized rice krispies and unflavored pop rocks before closing. Everything stayed crunchy and poppy in that last layer with just the very thin barrier for protection but I only needed a few days shelf life and haven't repeated them (even though they were a hit) so I don't know how long it would hold up. Just in case anybody is curious, I called them cherry poppers. It was for a catering job where I knew my audience and the name was appreciated almost as much as the chocolate itself. I think the point behind my rambling post is, I agree with pastrygirl, just figure out some kind of way to somewhat isolate the crunchy stuff from the wet stuff and it should be fine.

"On a cold and grey Chicago morn' a poor little baby child is born..." Sorry for the musical interlude, just seemed to fit because I'm about to confess that I actually like the regular run-of-the-mill Arby's roast beef sandwich*. I used to love when they ran the 5 for $5 promotion. *At least, I did like them. There's not an Arby's anywhere close to where I live so I haven't been in a long time. But if they haven't changed, I like them.

Actually, I think I was more reminiscing than making any points. I was just tossing another shortcut alternative into the mix in case it sounded interesting to you. Of course, I realized after posting that I have no idea what the recipe is for the casserole she made. I think it came on the can the roasted green chiles came in but I'm not sure of that. But I'm definitely not knowledgeable enough on the chile relleno to make any valid points.

There's a version of chiles rellenos casserole that my stepmom made when I was a kid that was cheesy and eggy. I was probably in my late teens before I knew there was anything else that was chiles rellenos. On the rare occasions we ate in a Mexican (or any other, for that matter) restaurant, I'd see it on menus and just assume it was the same thing we got at home. Never ordered it. I don't really know how it was made but it was different that the one you linked. For one thing, it didn't contain any form of tomato. I don't even really remember if I actually liked it or not. We were a fairly large family with not lots of money so I ate what was put in front of me whether I loved it or not.

This made me chuckle. Not because I don't agree, quite the opposite in fact. It just made me think how things have changed with the things that make life a little easier for us. My mom used to bake about 10 dozen each of about 10 - 12 different types of cookies every year to give as gifts at Christmas. She did it all by hand until I bought a Kitchenaid mixer for her thinking to be the good son and make the task easier (and, less altruistically, in the hopes that it would encourage her to want to keep doing it as she got older). One year I took some extra time off around Christmas and was visiting her while cookie making was still going on. I noticed that she was doing everything by hand and asked her if something had gone wrong with the mixer. She gave me a kinda sheepish look and said it was just easier to do it by hand than lug the heavy mixer out of storage and fiddle around with it.

Ok, just wondered if I was the only one not as thrilled with them as I thought I would be. Looks like that's still the case. Or maybe it's not still the case. I just wasn't as excited by the finished cookie as I expected based on all the excitement about them I'd seen. Just thought they were ok, not great. That, you do not.

What'd you think of them?

No need to apologize, I was just ribbing you. I'm not really too lazy to look it up.

I considered looking it up and then decided to be petty and not do so. I figure it's a discussion forum about food, if you're gonna post something with a name that sounds like I should offer a polite gesundheit, at least give us non-locals some kind of clue as to what it is.

I just bought 4 lbs of unpasteurized honey and 4 lbs of creamed unpasteurized honey from a semi-local producer. Someone from one of the local schools takes orders this time every year as a fundraiser, picks it up from the producer and delivers it. So I get good honey for a fair price and help out the school. I have a game plan for part of it involving chocolates so hopefully it won't be around long enough to worry about storage. Although, based on the above comments, I'm now curious about what differences there may be between them over time. Probably not curious enough to experiment though...

There are times, times I'm not entirely proud of, when my passion runneth under... this would be one of those times. Looks amazing but there is no way I have the kind of patience that requires. I strongly suspect molds would be bouncing off walls long before I finished.

Somebody packed a box of chocolates with the knowledge that everybody fights over the caramel when there's only one!

We seem to have encountered the same difficulty because that's almost exactly what I said when I saw them on Facebook.

Maybe I'm not really cut out for this after all... I'm not sure I can completely comprehend having to scale down to "only a few hundred pieces".

Wow... I almost want to make and intentionally mess up a batch of pumpkin fudge just to try that.

One thing I've learned is everything involved with chocolate work will have 20 different people doing it 20 different ways and they all seem to work for the person doing it. Somewhere in all that, you just do what works for you.

Nice looking chocolates! Her name pretty much requires a signature beer bonbon.

I thought I did that a long time ago... maybe it was the lack of an official ceremony.

I suppose the best way to find out would be to give it a shot. Personally, I'm not a big fan of having water or potential condensation anywhere too close to my chocolate as a general rule. Maybe just a melter instead of a tempering machine? You still have to do the tempering that way but you said you're not having any trouble with that anyway.

Still a good deal if cross-border shipping, duties and taxes aren't involved. Edit: so not the one I'd hoped. Nothing listed that is of interest to me but I sent them an email asking about the "others available, contact us at..." part. So we'll see how that goes.