Lior

I wanted to renew this topic. Tammy how did your bars work out in the end? DO you remember? Do you still make them? Does it matter if I do nougat first then caramel on top or visa versa? Any suggestions about preventing the passion fruit caramel from sliding while waiting to dip? Perhaps heat the sugar a bit more than 121 c at the end? Or to more than 145C before adding cream? Thanks

Yes place/space is an issue. I can't have more than 2-3 people at my chocolate lab. SO usually it is at someone else's house- if they have space! I also enjoy small groups much much more. My first workshop was much longer than planned and they also took home whatever they made and I am sure I lost money!!! I love the strawberry story-lol!! If I had space 5-8 people sounds perfect. I must say that having a whole family, with grandparents, siblings, husbands/wives and kids and even boy or girlfriends was very unifying for the family with lots of laughing,helping and etc.

Why don't you want to use the sugar syrup method? Too sweet? I think that would still be better than the waxy taste. Have you tried it with the pre -made truffle balls?

justsaw this Mette! Sounds good. I think a layer of marzipan and gianduja is an excellent idea. I thought to whip also, like Kerry said, and pipi into little chocolate cups. Perhaps I can add soe coffee grinds while whipping? I still have to get around to doing all this! Thanks

It seems that where I live every chocolatier, whether amateur or professional gives all sorts of workshops and that is where the money is. There are kid workshops which would be at a birthday party (argh!) adult ones for groups of upto 25... and they usually run for anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 5 hours (decided in advance of course) I think most people make a min of about 500$ to 700$ a workshop. Now, I do not really like the idea, but there is a demand. Is it like this for you? What do you do if it is? What do you teach or have them make? I did a few. One was abirthday party for a man turning 50. His whole extended family participated (21 people, all ages- kids too!!) I tempered milk and dark and explained all about it while tempering. Then they made lollies. They also rolled pre-prepared ganache into balls and dipped into chocolate and decorated, and we also made two trays of molded bonbons. I had prepared 2 trays beforehand, but had them make new shells just for learning reasons. And of course we made the ganache for the shells, and closed them. At the end everyone packaged their goods. It all took a good 3 hours. It was a lot of work before and after... Intense!

Here there are regulations of course. They are quite strict and for a small business,impossible to fulfill. I guess the best route would be to open a small cafe house. For a chocoalte business oneis required those regulations of a small food factory- fire regulations, a few sinls, a storage room. a bathroom, it goes on and on. Very few have this but there are some. Mostly a blind eye is turned when it comes to chocolate. Most of my business is by word of mouth-everybody knowing eveybody etc. But ideally I should have a board of health department certificate...

Thank you K.M. and Shelby!

looks marvelous!! HAppy birthday to your daughter!!

You just need to temper without seeding. However, as happenedwith me, my chocolate absorbed moisture in the melter, from humdity in the air and that was the end of that batch. Part of learning the hard way!

Tose are beautiful! Does the mixer process temper the gianduja? Kerry- thank you for a lot more than just this!!!!

I am totally not in a creative mode, but trying very hard to get back into some chocolate - making routine. I I bought some milk and dark Gianduja about 2 months ago - Valrhona. I want to use it without adding cream or butter or something that will lower shelf life- as right now my my business is fast asleep... ]Any creative ideas will be very welcome.

Hi. Yes they keep their snap. You can either store in those airtight food boxes- try to make the container as full as poss. Label and date and wrap in a few layers of saran wrap. Or you can use those food vaccum bags- Reynolds and extract most but not all the air out. There is a thread here somewhere with pictures. Both work well. How lovely that you have some bigger orders - congrats!! Enjoy!

Hi Carol! What I do when Ineed a big number of chocolates and have to start ahead of time is to make and freeze. Do you know the process? If not, I 'll be happy to go through it. It is best to keep freshness and quality. bye!

Thank you!!

yes that is how I do it. On certain molds, when closing the regular way, I often seem to get that hairline crack you described. It seems to depend on the mold! It is extremely annoying.

Here's a picture of when I tried the method a while back. I used a largepiping bag as I had no other sheet in my house at the time!! It worked great. I hope I am not posting this picture a second time- I can't remember if Ipostedit and I am too lazy to look!! Happy holidays to all!!

The difference is not in percentages but tastes. guanaja and jivara are origin chocolates with deep and complex taste profiles. The recipes that use them chose them because of their flavor profile and perhaps because of the % of cocoa butter, in order to make a balanced recipe. I am quite sure you can substitute.

what an incredible idea!! Thanks!! Art class!

Sebastien, do you know of a 401 course anywhere? I always feel like I need to perfect technique, use new techniques, do advanced items like the fancy egg that From DeBondt... Thanks!

Ok, now I see! Good you explained "poof" cause I don't kow that one either!! So foof and poof-okay.... So the eggnog drink is thick like custard or more like a thick chocolate milk drink? We used to make eggnog ("goggle-moggle") by beating raw eggs and adding hot milk with cinnamon. That was it. Is this similar? Well thanks!!

What on earth is a "foof"!! Also, when it says 228 g eggnog, is this a powder -like custard powder? Or is it a liquid with cream or milk? I am asking becasue we cannot get "eggnog" here. but we canget powder pudding or custard etc so I could try the recipe using that instead of eggnog. I make a recipe that is very close to Kerry's above but that uses cream. And thanks for the link!

Yes it is quite strong for non drinkers! Funny that you mentioned the dulce de L becauseas it is hard for me to find condensed milk here, when I did find I bought a bunch. Sitting on my shelf for who knows how long they had turned brownish and I remembered the old thread on this topic and used it brown- and thought- hmmm I wonder if DDL would be good in this!! Half the caramel syrup is a very obvious solution that I didn't think of!! What % choc did you use? I thought of using a higher % for a slightly stronger choc taste as it is quite sweet. Everyone here who tasted it said " This is leega!" meaning of slang: This is in a league of its own! Now, of course, most of them aren't gourmet drinkers or even so into drinks!! But I thought it was funny!!

Especially for you: First the dark caramel syrup, which is enough for many future productions, so this part is done only once in a while: 2 cups white sugar 2 cups water 95g (1/4 cup) glucose or corn syrup method Bring the sugar and ONE cupof water and the corn syrup into a medium pot. Mix and bring to a boil. Place lid on pot and boil for 2 minutes in order to steam off any sugar stuck to the sides of the pot. Remove lid. Cook till dark amber or to be precise to 195C This takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes, depending on the flame strength. I use a medium on the lower side flame and it took me 24 minutes!! When it reaches this, turn off flame. Have pot lid ready to use first as a shield and then to cover pot. Wear oven gloves. All at once pour the second cup of water into the pot of caramel. I haven't tried boiling water yet, but it makes sense. Immediately cover pot and wait till the storm inside dies down. Then stir to ensure there are no lumps. I never had lumps and hope I never do!!! Store in a glass jar in fridge. Chocolate Cream Liqueur 1 can of condensed sweetened milk- 14 oz or about 570g 1 cup of cream 1 and 1/2 cups amber rum- about 350g. I didn't have any so I used brandy and it was great. 2 tablespoons of dark amber caramel syrup- 2oz 57-60 g of dark chocolate - I used 64% but next time Iwilltry a higher percentage (2 oz) 1 tsp coffee 1 tsp Goldschlager liqueur 81% (has cinnamon in) I couldn't get it so I used alcohol and a pinch of cinn 1 tsp vanilla Bring cream to a simmer and then add chocolate and stir till homogeneous Take off heat and add condensed milk, coffee, vanilla and caramel syrup. Stir well til all is incorporated. Add rum/brandy and Goldschlager. Stir for 2 mins Pour into bottle and store in fridge. Shake before serving. Makes about 1.150 liters. Enjoy!!

Thanks!!