stuartlikesstrudel

If you can keep accurate weight of your mixtures, you can always prepare the meringue and almond/sugar mixtures separately and then divide them up - I sometimes make a single batch, split the meringue in half, colour each half and go from there... I guess you could probably do the same with quarter-batches but as I said you'd need to be pretty careful to make sure your ratios stayed correct.

I was going to write that I've often had muffins that leave a bit on the paper (both my own baked ones and other peoples') but I wonder if PanCan's comment about adequate fat is relevant here - mostly when I make muffins they're the 'slightly-more-healthy' type and so perhaps haven't got enough fat.

Great, thanks everyone I'll post back with results in a few weeks.

Going from what people are saying it sounds like moving on might be a good idea - but one thing that might be helpful if you still like the overall place/work they are doing is to perhaps talk to the boss... explain that you're not enjoying it and feeling like it's not a good fit, and that you're thinking of finding somewhere else... if the boss doesn't react well to this, you haven't really lost anything since you're leaving anyway, but they might extend the olive branch and try to help you feel more comfortable there. And if that happens, you might be able to stick it out a bit longer and start enjoying it, or at the very least learn a bit more about that environment and improve some skils. Might be worth considering

Hi everyone, I'd like to make some eclairs to take to an event with lots of people bringing food - because there'll be a variety of (tasty) stuff I'd like to make my eclairs really small so they're not too filling and people can try them (also I think they'll look cute). Is there any reason I couldn't pipe out very skinny choux lines and hopefully end up with dainty little puffs? Ideally the final baked size would be about 8 - 10cm long and less than an inch wide... but i'm wondering if they may not expand properly or have a solid shell or something... anyone know? Cheers, Stuart

In Australia we can buy both icing sugar mixture (contains cornstarch) or pure icing sugar at the supermarkets... there's no option in yours?

I go through phases where I read and make a lot of recipes, and other times when I'm much more freeform... to me, the recipe times are when I collect new ideas, flavour combinations, and improve my knowledge, so that when I'm doing week-to-week cooking or using leftover ingredients, I can come up with something tasty (and perhaps quicker and more relaxing than following a recipe). I find that after years of cooking pretty regularly, I don't have many misses anymore - some things obviously turn out better than others but if something's tasting a bit drab, I feel like i have the building blocks to at least partially rescue it... maybe a bit more seasoning, some spice, herbs etc. Perhaps it's time for me to have another recipe-book phase... even just talking about it makes me want to try more of the (many many!) recipes I have bookmarked online and in my books.

Echoing everyone else, those sheep are just terrific! Love the dodo as well but I think those sheep are going to get a lot of attention Love the idea of owls as well.

I haven't tried this, but apparently a new method for pastry cream works very well for large batches and produces a superior texture with less work. Here's a link (it's from a very respected chef so I'd be inclined to trust it). Not sure if you could adapt this technique for your pudding?

Well those two look fantastic! Sounds like a MASSIVE undertaking - 300 figures?! I think any kind of cute little critters would be popular - even ones that aren't so mythical, like the frog I guess. Birds, lizards, furry things. Beetles! They'd look great all glossy and colourful.

Well, it looks fantastic and even just from pictures I think i can say I'd join you in eating it by the spoonful... looks like a perfect consistency!

Had a bit of a play on the weekend - Chai Tigers truffles... I didn't have a great chai tea to use so I kind of fudged one together and thought cardamom and ginger should be prominent. The end result is ok but I would work on it for next time. My temper worked out better this time, I don't know if I did anything different but there wasn't any streakiness... success! I couldn't figure out how to dip the truffles cleanly so ended up handrolling most of them. Put a bit of leftover chocolate into some little molds someone gave me - they're too small to put fillings in but I thought it would be fun to just give it a go. Apart from a few bubbles they worked out fine (but solid dark chocolate is quite hard and not that pleasant to eat, I've decided).

That panettone is a marvel, Justin! I can only imagine the aroma it must have spread through your kitchen... And Kerry, a lot of delicious sounding things coming from your oven as well... that fig port almond tart looks unassuming but I'd welcome a slice with my cuppa right now!

Haha great, they look really unique. Do most people start by biting off the top? I think that's how I'd go about it Is it from a recipe? I really like the sound of it and would like to give it a go, I think...

Love the look of this photo... the sunlight going through the jellies makes them glow! Sounds like you must have been busy...

I don't think I've ever used rice paper past the obvious rice paper roll idea... I think i might try 'pancakes' for dinner. Looks like you may have used a waffle iron to cook them? I love that!

For what it's worth, I have made mascarpone once and the cream we can (easily) get in Australia has gelatin or some kind of additive added (for thickening, I think) and it still worked... perhaps not as well as it would be with a pure cream but still very useable.

Well that's an incredibly mouth-watering photo!! Perfect gooeyness!

I'd assumed that overcrystallizing wouldn't happen for a few hours or something, that it was mainly just a problem for professionals working all day in a kitchen. I assumed it was just because it's cold and I wasn't using a huge amount of chocolate (about 1kg total) that it was cooling a bit quick. I didn't put the chocolates in the fridge; it was pretty cold at room temp, and they were setting well before I finished the tray (so only the last row of 6 or 8 would have needed the fridge, I think).

Can't remember the temperatures exactly - I used the ones listed on the packaging (Callebaut 70%). I did a test, it definitely set up quickly and it *appeared* to be fine (not streaky) but maybe I didn't look closely enough... When I was first tempering and got to rewarming to working temp, I slightly overshot it, I think 32.5 or maybe 33, whatever it was was 1 or 1.5 degrees above what is listed... I let it cool back into the zone (and stirred some more) but might this have slightly shaken the temper? (and are we being naughty talking about technique in the showcase thread again?!)

No, i've read a few times on here that cold fillings will end up cracking or oozing, so while that would have made it a bit more workable, I resisted. The house is quite cold (middle of winter here) so was probably only 13 or 14C... Wasn't too bad in the end because I did foot them - just if I didn't get it right first time and lost track of where the foot was it got a bit messy Streaks usually indicate not enough of the right crystals when you left the chocolate to set - easiest way to get more? Stir that chocolate more as it cools to working temp, or once it reaches a degree above working temperature, just reseed with one or two callets whilst stirring to encourage the correct crystals to form. Bloom is usually caused by the chocolate being too warm or cool as it sets. What is an "appropriate" amount of stirring? I don't really feel like I could do a lot more, unless I was stirring non-stop for the 10 or 15 minutes it takes for the chocolate to cool... I have been stirring for about 20 seconds, leaving for a minute or so, and repeating that (it does take a LONG time for the chocolate to cool, so I guess I don't do that the whole time, but it's much more than a cursory stir-and-leave at the end). Someone mentioned once that when you reheat the chocolate (hairdryer or microwave for a few seconds) you need to stir and leave it to settle again for a bit, right? Maybe it was too cold in my house, because I found I only get a few minutes before the chocolate was too thick... I probably rewarmed 10 times or so while dipping 80 pieces. Does that sound right?

I'm just some guy so I have no idea about shelf stability, but i wouldn't be surprised if it's smaller... in the book that it's from, the author, Paul A. Young talks about using fresh ingredients and not adding things for shelf life. That may just be a "simplify it for the home cook" thing or it could actually be his attitude.

Late reply, and not a particularly interesting picture, but since you asked I thought I shouldn't be rude The filling was goats cheese, lemon zest and juice, a little cream and white chocolate. Can't remember the ratios, but I ended up having to add quite a bit more chocolate to get it firm enough to dip (and it was still softer than is convenient). People really liked the flavour, I thought it was *pretty* good, the goats cheese creeps up after the initial sweetness, which is nice.

Is there a particular Felchlin that people like? I'm in the market for some milk chocolate, has anyone tried theirs? Or the white...?

Even though those girls are probably half my age, still makes me feel better about how messy (or comparitively not) I'm getting when I work with chocolate I made a goat's cheese and lemon chocolate from a book I borrowed from the library from Paul Young, who I gather is a high-end chocolatier in England. The filling was really tasty but the lemon-ness and tang from the cheese seemed to fade quite quickly (within a week). The part that I've frozen seem to be doing ok though. The temper was overall ok I *thought* but is still slightly streaky. Better than previous attempts and has a nice snap and overall smoothness but still something not quite right...