Chocolot

At the conference, Kerry brought her pottery atomizer and brought extras for us to buy. I got it home and came up with a way to use my air brush to push the air. The first photo is a picture of my air brush--I use a Harbor Freight quick change and the atomizer. I removed the screw on cap and put the end in the atomizer. Short burst of air and this is what I got. Finished chocolates Kerry is amazing to come up with all these ideas!! A huge thank you again for all your efforts on our behalf.

Many of us do. Just be certain it is SS. Home Depot has some good ones.

I took the goodies out of the tube and packed them. Sorry-no photo. They contained 8? small jars of colored cocoa butter, a brush, several transfer sheets, literature, plastic thingy like a popsicle stick. Anything else I forgot? I think it would be a good idea for us to send a thank you email to those who provided stuff for us. Kerry, can you tell us who to contact? I know that paul@chefrubber.com will get to Paul.

I can only agree with everything said above. Kerry is the most hard-working, creative, thoughtful person I have ever met. She put this whole thing together, took a week off from work, worked all weekend (creating nothing herself) just so we all could have a great experience. The facility was fantastic (could have had the AC turned down a little:-) One of the things I learned this weekend is that you don't all have to do things the same way. Each of us, including Brian at Tomric and Derrick from Callebaut, did things differently and had opposing opinions of things, but both make wonderful confections. We all develop our own style and that doesn't make it right or wrong, it just makes it ours. It was so great to meet like-minded people. We all had an instant bond. Bob helped with the organizing and was a great chauffeur, even with his harem at the border. He also makes a mean caramel. The food was amazing. Kerry had everything planned out. We had breakfast and lunch laid out for us and then the two fantastic dinners and wing lunch. I got to put faces with names--I was so wrong about Curls. I thought it would be a bald man, not a curly haired young woman! On Saturday most of the day was taken by Derrick. He showed us several ganaches and talked about chocolate tempering or pre-crystallization. He also showed what not to do in the Thermomix. It was a treat to have him there to help and answer questions. The rest of the day and Sunday was play time in the kitchen. Kerry showed us some of the magic the Thermomix can do and she made a ganache with the ice wine syrup Lior had sent. She also caramelized sugar and made a caramel that David Hardy turned into a wonderful Creme Brulee bon bon. Matt made an apricot-ginger PDF that was really good. We cut the ganaches Derrick had made and everyone got to practice dipping and decorations. Some were more successful than others. That was one of the real treats--trying it out with others input. Curls had molded a flop-eared bunny and Bob suggested freezing and making it a velvet bunny. It turned out sooo cute. Kerry brought her Fuji gun--actually, I think Kerry brought everything she owns!! It is amazing. I am trying to keep up with Kerry on toys, but I have come to the realization that it isn't going to happen. Bob made a couple of batches of caramel in a $40 electric Presto cook pot. Never would I have thought of that, but it works great. Gene brought his Little Dipper to learn how to operate. He was turning out some nice bon bons on Sunday, as was everyone else. I should have known I would need a larger suitcase than the one I came with! Kerry and Bob worked with suppliers to bring us samples of chocolate, colors, flavors and more. A huge Thank You to Kerry and Bob and everyone who helped make this a fun weekend.

Having a great time. Kerry is AMAZING!!! You can't imagine the amount of work she has done for all of us.

I am also at the Hilton checking in Thursday night. This is going to be fun!!

Don't tempt me like that, Kerry!! Will the rep be joining us?

If the sugar did not dissolve, just add some water--maybe 1/4-1/2 cup. You just need enough for the sugar to dissolve. It will cook off and not be a problem. All a thermometer does is tell you how much water is left in the solution. A longer cook time might caramelize more sugar and milk, and invert a bit of the sugar, but in a fudge, that is a good thing. The type of sugar should make no difference. Beet sugar foams a little more than cane, but not enough difference to notice. Don't start a boil until the sugar is all dissolved. If you do, the water is driven off and you have even less to dissolve the sugar. I am at 5000 feet, and as long as I adjust the temperature for altitude, I have no problem. (I have problems, but not with sugar:-)

Two new flavors today--Kaffir Lime with Coconut Cream and Raspberry Rose. Think I might bring some to the Conference:-)

Would you think equal amounts? I think it's about an oz per batch of invert sugar. That is not much invert sugar. Are you sure it isn't the measurement for invertase? If I remember correctly, Fondax is egg white based. If so, it will cause a softening. I think you need to go back and try a different cook temp. Find a recipe that has similar ingredients and check the percentages.

Just wondering how many samples to bring to the Show and Tell on Friday night? Do we bring for each person, or do we cut and share? How many should we plan on?

Enrober and panning sounds perfect to me.

Try raising the temp only a few degrees and see if that helps. Jumping 6 degrees is a lot at one time.

Beautiful work! Tell us how you did them:-)

Make a dilute vinegar solution and put in spray bottle. After pot is wiped out, spray with solution and wipe again. Allow to air dry. Should take care of most odors. While I try really hard to not use soap in my CI, when making something tomato based, it is hard to get out the residual color and odor. I will use a small squirt of detergent and rinse out immediately and dry with paper towel or over heat. Some of my iron is 25 years old and has a wonderful patina.

First try at chocolate tulips. Just in time for Easter.

Chocolate over cardboard anytime:-)

I'm getting excited to meet everyone. I talked with Lois at Tomric and she said Modpac is just 2 blocks away so hopefully we can do both.

I know a business that bought one for making small batches of toffee and caramels. They were not happy with the results and now use it to melt chocolate. They have the large firemixers that they are very happy with.

Didn't back with white. Just shelled in white and dark. Started out just the same. Dark obviously adds a lot of blue to the colors.

Today I have been playing with different colors in preparation for Easter. I sprayed 6 trays with the same two colors--Princess Pink and yellow. I shelled half in white and half in dark. Here are the results. It makes sense that they would be different, but I am surprised at how different they are. Sorry the pix is turned--don't know how that happened.

I think you should bring everything you can that will fit in your car:-)

Move me to the for sure list. Just got my plane tickets and reserved a room. Excited to meet all of you.

As a friend of mine said to me "Welcome to toffee Hell":-) You made your mistake when you removed it from the heat. Toffee is very sensitive to heat changes. If you haven't put the chocolate on it yet, just put it back in the pot and add about 1/2 cup water and recook. It will turn out fine, just maybe a tiny bit chewy because of the added sugar inversion. Let us know how it worked.

Pudding cake to me is a "Floating Island" type of dessert. A meringue type of cake floating on a sauce, be it lemon, caramel or chocolate. The chocolate one is also called a Hot fudge cake around here:-)