chocoera
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Posts posted by chocoera
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That's right gang, I cracked the Davinci Code for making pop-tarts at home! And you'll see that now you can have much more filling inside!
Pop-Tart Dough
13 oz Unsalted Butter at room temp
1/3 C. & 1 T. (110 g) Milk at room temp
1 Yolk at room temp
1 t. (6 g)Sugar
1 t. (6 g) Salt
3 1/2 C. (645 g) AP Flour
In food processor, combine butter, milk, yolk, sugar and salt and pulse until roughly blended. Add the flour and pulse until it just starts to come together. Form into a disc and wrap in saran wrap, chill at least 3 hours.
Brown-Sugar Cinnamon Filling
1 Egg White at room temp
3/4 C. Powdered Sugar
1/4 C. Almond slivers or slices
1/4 C. Brown sugar
1 T. Cinnamon
In food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until well combined.
Assembly
Roll the dough into a rough square, dusting with flour, until 1/8" thick. Cut dough into 4"x6" rectangles. Pair the rectangles for tops and bottoms. Brush the edges of your bottom with a whisked egg. Place a large dollop of filling on inside the egg wash, then spread it evenly. The amount of filling is up to you, but you can see in the pic below how much I did. Place the top sheet of dough on top and press firmly but gently onto the bottom sheet. Chill your Pop-Tarts for 30 minutes.
Oven to 350F. Bake for abut 15 minutes or until just starting to brown. Let sit until room temp. Frost with a milk and powdered sugar frosting with just a bit of cinnamon added.
seriously naughty
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I got an e-mail today talking about David's new book - it was a pretty quiet day on the internet so I read the e-mail all the way to the bottom - and saw a link for this French Tart Dough.
Well I must say it intrigued me - I've been looking for a crust to use with my caramelized red onion, balsamic vinegar and bleu cheese tarts. My standard tart dough bakes up too puffy and leaves very little space in the tiny tart shells for the filling. This looked like it might make a nice thin crust and from the pictures looked like it would blind bake without the need for anything lining the shell.
So I changed the recipe a little - I used half lard, half butter and cut back on the sugar to about 2 tsp. It was cool enough to work with very quickly after mixing. I took small walnut sized pieces and used my little wooden tart tamper dipped in some flour to press them into the tart molds. I pricked the bottoms with a small fork, and baked them for about 12 minutes at 350º F.
For a first try, these were wonderful - nice thin pastry - no shrinkage. Perhaps a bit thick on the bottom, but I think that's just a matter of a smaller piece of dough. I made a small batch of lemon/lime curd with the one lemon and one lime I had in the fridge and served the tarts for dessert with a spoonful of curd.
So next time around for savory tarts I'll cut the sugar back to 1 tsp and use a bit less dough per tart.
This dough is so quick and easy - I highly recommend you give it a try. I can see it will be useful in a variety of applications - the full butter version would be great as the base of a simple fruit tart.
this carmalized onion tart you talk of....is that the stuff you made at the conference? do you have the recipes for those two baby tarts for our "legend" dinner? (one was onion, one had apricot something on it.) anyway...for tarts, at least sweet ones, i love pierre's almond tart dough in his chocolate dessert book. super easy, and great flavor. but i'll give this one a try with my next tart! process looks easy enough... (famous last words?!)
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I would love to join you guys for the next one. May could be tricky for me as well though.
yea! count me in!
*way to go steve!* -
Kerry, what was the chocolate you used for the port/cigar ones, too? I meant to grab a couple pieces to bring home, but forgot since we had to scoot out early.
Thanks, Mary! I think it might have actually been one of the Matts who chose the pepper. I liked it, and one of the guys I gave it to today really liked it.
I used the Belcolade Papau New Guinea single origin. It already tastes quite tobacco like.
Yes, it does. Very cool.
edited to add gfron, so happy to see you post. We were wishing you had come so we could meet you. I always check out your stuff on the sweets thread.
can i also add that i too really really wanted to meet gfron....you better not disappoint us at the next conference...we expect you to be there!!!
i always love following your blog and the pics and tips/recipes shared on the threads here...also, the wedding cakes are totally bitchin (can i say that on here!?) 
and ditto on the black pepper...it is awesome...and it is the brain child of the matts...very cool people BTW
lastly, john depaula....your pictures are beyond beautiful! it was fun to share them with a fellow photographer, brad
thanks for posting those and thanks again for being my travel buddy!!! -
I would like to pose three questions:
1. If you attended this years event, would you attend a similar event next year?
2. If you did NOT attend this years event, would you be interested in attending next year?
3. How important is location to you? . . . Gaithersburg, Maryland (near Washington DC).
Thanks Steve - yes we definitely would. A day's drive to the DC area would be perfect for us, and this time of year (AFTER Easter rush) works well.
If you do, let me know and I could arrange a field trip, for example:
> We could go on a winery tour just an hour away across the river in Virgina (Kerry will be happy to know we pass through Beallsville, lol). The winemaker there is Canadian - a graduate of Niagara College's teaching winery.
> For anyone travelling from the North by car, I could arrange a private tour of a very large chocolate supplier in East Greenville, PA. It is about 3 hours away from DC, and would add about 2 hours in driving to the trip from Buffalo (it's more enroute from NYC). They are not open to the public or set up for tours, so it would have to be a small group (12 or less). You would be able to see the whole process from bean roasting, winnowing, butter pressing, cocoa grinding, conching, tempering, depositing and molding (10lb bars).
*as for the wine....*whoop whoop! you always know i'm up for wine!!!
*as for the chocolate supplier tour...darn it, i'd love to see that. don't suppose a lonely nebraskan could arrange to go on that too?
*also, note to steve: would do the conference again...loved it...doubt anyone would come to the midwest, so i guess i'd be traveling, so location makes no difference to me...the only request would be somewhere that we could maybe take a field trip and see a couple chocolate retail shops too? i love to see people's shops, its inspirational and educational for me...besides...who doesn't like eating other people's chocolates?!!!!
*ps art: glad to see you're on line...hug wilma for me! and brad (husband) is in love the those crazy cashews of yours!
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Anna reminded me this morning that I forgot to post about the wonderful prizes that Chocolat-chocolat provided for us.
Chocoera won the Barry Callebaut kit - that contained quite a nice variety of goodies (Kyle tried to steal it from her - I coveted it as well). Erika - could you post on what it contained?
Wilma won the dipping forks I believe.
Pagosselin won the Wild Sweets books by Cindy and Domenic Duby.
I think it was MelissaH that won the two molds - I got so distracted by stressing that these molds shouldn't be sprayed with colour - that I kind of lost track of who won. Correct me please if I am wrong.
These molds are new at Chocolat-chocolat - they are a 'truffle' mold. Essentially all the cavities in the mold are a little bit different so they look like hand made truffles when they are done. The mold however has a matte surface finish rather than a shiny one - so when you spray with colour (particularly with a pastel green) they look kind of moldy rather than beautifully finished.
hi! the cocoa barry chocolate kit had a set of chocolate handling gloves made out of a nice cloth, a super long and sturdy sturdy sturdy "stir stick" (which i already used last night when stirring a triple batch of fudge!) a long straight spatula, a "spackle" spatula (i don't know the proper term, but it looks like those you would buy at home depot...but really really nice!) a dipping fork, and a huge supply of disposable piping bags...all in all, a very well-rounded and appreciated gift!
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Indeed, I think you can tell who's in that pic by the colour of his apron.
Did any of the 3 ganaches end up with a good firm texture that was easy to cut?And---since I wasn't there to see the end product---what did they wind up like? Did they actually cut into squares that you could handle, or were they all something that might have been better off just piped into shells?
MelissaH
We found that, with the Wybauw method, the slab could only be cut into squares after being chilled, and had to be rechilled while we were dipping it. I thought I had heard reports that the Greweling slabs came out more firm, but I didn't get around to checking.
Also, I've thought of another newbie question that I meant to ask but forgot: Greweling talks briefly about making truffles using "hollow shells" (p. 92), but the shells pictured look quite different from the shells we molded. Are they in fact a different product? If so, how are they made?
hi darling
i believe you are talking about shells that have already been made. you buy them, they are round and hollow, with a hole in the top. you fill with your ganache of choice, let crystalize, and then (not sure about this) you can cap them off and dip the entire shell/chocolate in tempered chocolate of your choice, or maybe you don't have to cap them off? and just dip because your ganache already has a "skin?" i don't use them, so i'm not sure...but i believe chocolat chocolat sells the shells....
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love you guys!!!! i will try to post photos soon...and they will look nothing as good as those already posted, or as beautiful as john's..but they will be up nonetheless! i loved meeting everyone and made some great friends! (well, they are friends to me...not sure how the feeling is on the other end...) *ha ha ha* but yes, wonderful company, amazing food, and such an exciting time at the conference!
PS-thanks to those who found my spatula
ok, so i am not going to post 60 photos...that would take up like the whole thread! but here is an album you can view, just click on the link!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2109...04&l=f468c1c417
also, a few questions regarding that packet of info kerry handed out: i did a wybauw ganache..thought the texture was very smooth and flavored carried well but it turned out super soft. we pre-coated the bottom and let set in fridge to harden, it helped when using the guitar cutter, so no worries...but would like to know if we think we just didn't have enough chocolate? (270 g, 250 g cream, 25 g invert, 50 g butter) or if it was the method (mix 30 C cream with 30 C chocolate, then add room temp butter) any thoughts? should chocolate go up to 300 or 320 g?
next: the chewy caramel recipe from chocolats et confiserie...has anyone tried this before? thoughts on flavoring and texture? could you make a big batch, spread on parchment paper or rulers, and cool, and then break off chunks and use when needed? i like to have caramel on hand for turtles, apples etc, but don't always use a full recipe, is there a problem with continually reheating and cooling a batch? does that change the texture? i like a pretty soft caramel, but i don't want it sliding off the apples...that's annoying...especially since i will then coat with chocolate after the caramel
love the buttercrunch toffee. nice job matt n' matt.
next: for our next conference (because i know we are having one...ask steve...he promised to set one up...there are witnesses)
i was hoping to work on pates de fruits. i have tried three times and failed. any tips on this? can i sub tartaric acid for lemon juice or cider vinegar? what do you pour a pate de fruits in and how long can they last? (enrobed like kerry's cigar chocolate, or un-enrobed like a traditional pate de fruits) has anyone tried the recipe found in our packet? ok...that's it for now! love you all!!!
wait. one more. i know passion fruit is like crazy compared to other fruits...if i wanted to sub a different fruit in the liquid passion fruit caramel or the passion/mango caramel, will that cause a problem in the final product texture?
ok. that's it. xoxoxo
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love you guys!!!! i will try to post photos soon...and they will look nothing as good as those already posted, or as beautiful as john's..but they will be up nonetheless! i loved meeting everyone and made some great friends! (well, they are friends to me...not sure how the feeling is on the other end...)
*ha ha ha* but yes, wonderful company, amazing food, and such an exciting time at the conference!PS-thanks to those who found my spatula
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Have you had any trouble with the powdered colors dissolving in cocoa butter? When I tried to use them, I could never get them completely dissolved. The brand that I used was called Candy 'N Cake. Eventually I gave up and now use Chef Rubber pre-colored cocoa butters.
I do find that the powdered colors don't seem to dissolve completely and was a little concerned about that.
Chocoera, I use the lemon jelly in place of the jam in butter ganache. 80 g lemon jelly, 40 g butter, 120 g tempered white chocolate, 1 TB lemon juice.
thanks! i'll give it a try
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Lemon butter ganache. Lime, actually, but they call limes lemons here. I made a lemon (lime) jelly with some pectin and sugar then used Greweling's butter ganache formula, adding more lemon (lime) juice at the end instead of liqueur. A little too much on the yellow side for my aesthetic, but good flavor, nice and tart.
those looks amazing!!!! what do you do with the jelly? do you layer it, or mix it in with the butter ganache formula? i've never tried making a jelly...is it difficult? my husband LOVES lemon, so this would be a surprise treat
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I can see myself now getting into artificial expressionism colors swirling moods... Oh dear!! I will have to check a few places. Did you finger swirl? Ikeep going back to look at your marbles! They are so 3D- they go in deep!! Just like a kid looking in his marbles to admire them-"Hey look at this one!"
Thanks!!
hi lior
the white thing is a cake board, covered in fondant, so that it completes the cake, and doesn't just look like cardboard. then you can decorate it or label it or whatever...but its white fondant, with gold luster dust painted on with vodka, and then i used edible marker to write "XO 60th" since it was our chapter's 60th bday!
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this is a cake i made for my sorority, chi omega. i'm alum now, but we had a make a wish silent auction this last saturday, so i donated this cake. as for the owls, they're our mascot, so that's why i chose them!
the cake is chocolate with kerry's chocolate-caramel ganache as filling, then iced in italian buttercream, covered in marsh fondant. the owls are made out of fondant too, and then we have a milk chocolate wrap
hope you like it!! 
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put 1 1/3 cup sugar with 1 T corn syrup and 1/3 water in a bowl over a double boiler. use hand mixer and mix (with the double boiler at a simmer) till firm peaks are formed
you don't need anything else with this? it seems strange that you can just whip sugar, corn syrup and water over a bain marie and make it form stiff peaks...am i missing something?
*ha ha ha* you're right, in my haste to post pictures, i forgot to write down you need 2 egg whites with the sugar mixture!
*sorry!* so it should be 1 1/3 cup sugar, mixed with 2 egg whites, 1 T corn syrup, and 1/3 cup water. Mix over double boiler on simmer till firm peaks. add 1 cup mini marshmallows and 1 tsp vanilla. and voila!! thanks for pointing that out (you're so clever!!!!)
, i completely didn't catch the mistake when i wrote it! so please, try it, its super yummy!!! -
i'll try that chocolate crust next...sounds fab-o!
...and of course, post pics!
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well, i made the nutella tart...and loved it! before, i had made the choco-raspberry tart, (also fabulous) and froze the rest of the dough, and this dough was just as perfect as fresh dough!
i also, at home, make my version of nutella s'mores (take baguette, cut in 1/2 lengthwise, broil till crispy, spread on nutella thickly, cut big marshmallows in 1/2, lay on nutella, broil again till crispy and browned, so its like it was cooked on a fire!) anyway, i did not add as many hazelnuts as called for, and also topped the tart with marshmallow icing, so it seriously tasted like a s'more!
*icing recipe if you want to try: put 1 1/3 cup sugar with 1 T corn syrup and 1/3 water in a bowl over a double boiler. use hand mixer and mix (with the double boiler at a simmer) till firm peaks are formed. Then stir in 1 cup of mini marshmallows and 1 tsp vanilla. pipe on tart, and torch it baby! top with chopped hazelnuts *
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thanks you guys!!!
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hello friends! thanks so much for all your help! this is the finished cake...
it was white cake torted with strawberry buttercream, and then iced in buttercream and covered with marshmallow fondant. there is a pastillage "5" and ava's (the bday girl) nickname is "nay nay" so that's what i wrote on the cake with edible marker. the "sketchy" look is on purpsose, to mimick dr. seuss' art...and looking back, there is plenty i'd do different with applying fondant, and not having as thick a covering of buttercream before the fondant,...but i'm just thankful it looked like a hat, it's stablized with rods, i "sculpted the cake" and used a "folcrum" for cutting!
and the customer, tiffany, loved it...said she couldn't believe it tasted as good as it looked! so thank you friends...i couldn't have done it without you! PS- one photo is mine, the other two were emailed from tiffany (that was sweet of her!)
one more picture?
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hello friends! thanks so much for all your help! this is the finished cake...
it was white cake torted with strawberry buttercream, and then iced in buttercream and covered with marshmallow fondant. there is a pastillage "5" and ava's (the bday girl) nickname is "nay nay" so that's what i wrote on the cake with edible marker. the "sketchy" look is on purpsose, to mimick dr. seuss' art...and looking back, there is plenty i'd do different with applying fondant, and not having as thick a covering of buttercream before the fondant,...but i'm just thankful it looked like a hat, it's stablized with rods, i "sculpted the cake" and used a "folcrum" for cutting!
and the customer, tiffany, loved it...said she couldn't believe it tasted as good as it looked! so thank you friends...i couldn't have done it without you! PS- one photo is mine, the other two were emailed from tiffany (that was sweet of her!) -
Thanks Lior,
Looks fun!
you are so awesome lior! makes me really really really really want an airbrush/air gun/compressor thing
and his eggs are GORGEOUS! i'm going to watch all his videos (wish i knew what he was saying though!) as for the prize....hmm....just looks like some non-edible toy or something?as for my eggs...just did 2 more batches last night following everyone's advice...and this morning? flawless. perfect. its like i don't even remember my past frustrations!!!
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I recently received some silicone demisphere molds. I have a party coming up, and I would like to use these for my dessert. My idea was to first create a "shell" chocolate in the molds (either by brushing the chocolate on, or the "fill up and pour out" method (though I worry that doing that would require more chocolate).
I would then (after the chocolate is set) like to fill them with a panna cotta and let that set, and then finally unmold them on plates to have nice panna cotta domes with a chocolate crust on them.
Is this a reasonable idea, or will the panna cotta release moisture that will mess up the chocolate shell in a bad way?
If it is reasonable to do, are there any special precautions I need to take (cover the molds or the chocolate with something, etc)?
Thanks
do you think you could just use the molds for the panna cotta, and just pour a chocolate glaze over the panna cotta? i know some glazes (basically a ganache with a bit more corn syrup) can set pretty firm, and get that "crack" you look for with a nice tempered chocolate shell....
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I like to make an orange bavarian filling and put it between chocolate cake layers then cover the whole thing in chocolate glaze. You can do this as a large sheet cake, or 10" rounds or even individual bombes or stacks. I serve it with a citrus salad.
do you ever worry about your filling going bad? i shy away from bavarians and mousse and such because of the idea that it might deflate, or go bad, or something like that. do you know how long something like that can be out without it being in the fridge? or how long it could stay in the fridge and still taste good? (ex: you make on monday...but don't eat till.....wed? fri? could it go a whole week?)
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you guys are tooooooooo awesome! thank you for the sweet comments can't wait to see ya'll in a couple weeks!!
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thank you for all your help! these are some pictures of Easter eggs! you guys rock!!
Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
how did you make those gorgeous leaves?!! did you paint a million leaves with tempered chocolate? if you did, then how did you get those ones to bend?! wow...amazed