Darienne

I am ordering a mold of little flat discs from Tomric to make Gianduja sandwiches. Yummm...

do do do do...do do do do...(musical accompaniment) We ARE having waffles for supper, for our once a week dessert supper. Now I'll add Meyer lemon syrup to the possible toppings. Thanks.

You are quite correct about that. Plastic lollipop molds are usually white and heavier than the hobby chocolate molds...and I don't know exactly what they are made of. I have some very nice lollipops molds now, purchased originally by accident, made of aluminum strips and clips. They come from Sweet Creations in Bountiful, UT. They have a limited number of shapes...all the usual ones: hearts, rounds, bunnies, etc. My current foray, which is meeting with no success in Moab, is to find a source for the aluminum strips to make my own shapes. My DH and I are gourd artisans and I would like to make some gourd shapes. Then I could sell the resulting pops, made either from hard candy or chocolate, at the gourdfests to raise money for the local organization. My next-door-neighbor/landlady/friend in Moab suggested making saguaro and other cactus shapes which I thought was a great idea. I'm going to call Sweet Creations and beg for their source.... Good luck! But I am NOT going into business so maybe they'll help. I made dozens of hard candy lollipops for our local Ontario library to sell to raise funds before we left and they say that the pops are faring well.

I've used some of the syrups a second time for candying another peel. I think the orange went for lemons. I did not keep the kumquat syrup at all. Too full of specific and pungent taste. I have also made little hard candies, like those Reisen tidbits. One time I started to make actual lollipops using the apricot syrup, but it would not harden sufficiently even at the top temperature. I think it had too much of something in it to harden. (Never got an answer to that question.) I'll try the lollipops again with the Meyer lemon syrup.

Dear Ginger Lady, Can you store candied kumquats (orange peel, lemon peel, etc) in plastic containers? Any why are plastic bags forbidden? Thanks. BTW, the candied Meyer peels are outstanding.

If they're what I think they are, then they will deform even with just really hot water. ← There is a way to use them, but it's some trouble. Put some water in a cookie sheet and put the mold into the water. The water should not over run the mold. Put the cookie sheet into the freezer until the mold is frozen into it. Then use it with the hot syrup. It works! (I tried it once.)

The bread pudding sounds wonderful...and I'll try it. The second recipe sounds wonderful too, but beyond my present scope. I have yet to make marzipan. It's on my list of things to make while in Moab...but then it was on my list of things to make in the fall also. Thanks, Andie

Thanks. I think I'll just halve them and remove the pits that way. Lazy.... and then see. I usually dip just about everything candied in very dark chocolate, but these won't work. Well, not very well.

Thanks for the recipe link, Merstar. I would probably substitute real milk and real bread and unsliced at that. Does Epicurious feature low/no fat recipes? And I ALWAYS add more cinnamon. Life without cinnamon would be dull. And I would like to try real cinnamon, instead of the cassia which we normally get. I have a friend currently in Goa and I have asked her to see if she could find some cinnamon and bring it back.

Sounds delicious...thanks. I might use raspberries instead. Strawberries can be so not wonderful out of season.

Once a week we have dessert for supper. It's far better than having a slice of something after a full meal which means only a little piece for the ladies among us. This way, with the entire meal simply a dessert, we can all eat as much as we want and have a wonderful time! Of course the desserts have to be within certain limits. It's not all that satisfying to just pig out on a very rich chocolate cake...well, I can't...you need to have a grain component which is not too rich or too sweet and lots of fruit and dairy. ...or that's as far as we have gotten so far... This is all prompted by a lucky purchase of a waffle iron today. Waffles are next. So waffles with fruit and whipped cream/sourcream/ice cream will be perfect, as are shortcakes with fruit and cream as above, and fruit pancakes with ditto. Then there are blintzes and rice puddings and bread puddings and noodle puddings and things in puff or phyllo pastry... Any wonderful recipes to pass along? ps. You are all invited.

So ...now I have a lovely bunch of candied kumquats, some deflated, some not. Besides eating them straight out...no one told me about the pits ...what else can I do with them? I looked in the recipe section. No recipes. Thanks.

Bee-oo-ti-ful. I am almost drooling on the keyboard. And the glaceed lemon peel on top...exquisite. I just bought my first ever Meyer lemons in Albuquerque and am on my way with the candied peel. The lemon innards are in the fridge waiting for just this kind of inspiration. Wonderful!!!

Hello Claypot. Don't worry about your books. Three years is nothing. We unpacked books after 12 years of sitting in boxes in our drive shed and they were fine. I really thought they would end up in the trash bin.

Thanks, but it's a bit too far, both from Ontario...our home...and from Moab UT where we are now for the next three wonderful sunshine filled months! Have a good party. We will just have to eat chocolate in Moab. (Brought some with me and am ordering some more today.)

What WE could ask for is a personal invitation to join you.

The Dollarama I went to also had the 62% and 70% ← I'd like to try them both. If we hit Sarnia on the way across the border, I'll look for the local $rama. Thanks.

Thanks for that piece of information.

This news is very disconcerting, coming as it does, on top of that other curious fact, that the Dollarama stores in Ontario...no price of anything is more than one dollar...is selling Scharrfen Berger chocolate bars for $1. They normally retail for $5 USD. The 82% dark and the 41% milk. I actually phoned the Berkeley outlet a few days ago and spoke to a young woman there who was astounded that the bars were selling for $1. They don't even make a profit on $1 she said (if I understood correctly). The bars are distributed by a Canadian outfit based in BC. Others on the 'Fine Chocolate' thread answered my questions about the low price with suggestions of past due dates...nope...or buyout of some bankruptcy somewhere. Strange...

Thanks. So much to learn, so wonderful learning it. Glad to know another piece of information about chocolate shine.

A question about chocolate shine. Partner Barbara and I have never made chocolates with that intense shine which the rest of you seem to get. Until this past weekend, we have not owned any polycarbonate molds. Today, I was dipping candied ginger (thanks, forever, Andie ) into dark chocolate, plus using a stainless dipper to fill a few lollipops for friends. The dipped ginger has some shine, snap, all that good stuff...but no real SHINE! Then, when I was chipping out the remaining hardened chocolate from the inside of the dipper, I noticed that the shell of the chocolate which touched the steel was incredibly SHINY! So, dipped things will get only so shiny, you need molds (which Barbara has just purchased from the inimitable Kerry Beal over the weekend) to get the SHINE! Non-porous surfaces I guess. Why? Please. Something about air?

Canadian tends to have higher protein content - which results in more gluten as I understand it - which probably also explains why RLB cake recipes were always tough and dry for me. ← Thanks, as always.

Five more to add. Went Amazon wild a couple of nights ago. They are all confirmed as on the way, so I guess they can count. "Truffles, Candies, and Confections: Techniques and Recipes for Candymaking" Carole Bloom; "Chocolate Obsession: Confections and Treats to Create and Savor" Michael Recchiuti "The Pie and Pastry Bible" Rose Levy Beranbaum "The Cake Bible" Rose Levy Beranbaum "Chocolate Epiphany: Exceptional Cookies, Cakes, and Confections for Everyone" Francois Payard

Thank you all for the excellent information. Kerry, please. American flour contains more / less protein? So this makes what kind of difference in baking what? Next time in Sobeys I'll get Western dairy. Perhaps I have never used beet sugar at all.... (still not getting any notification of this thread although still noted as receiving said)

The real reason I opened this thread this morning was to ask: What IS the difference between American and Canadian flour? My DH thought that maybe most Canadian flour might be made from Durham wheat, a wheat specially devised to grow in our colder growing climate....but he then said he had no idea if any of that was correct. I have no idea. Can anyone answer this question? I admit I haven't gone to Google about it. Trying to pack.... The other issue is sugar: I have written elsewhere about Canadian sugar, how it never states what it is...beet or cane...and how the prevalent thinking is that, if it doesn't say 'cane', then it is beet. This morning I went to the Redpath website. We have always purchased Redpath. It's there, right in the center of it all. Canadian. Everywhere. In profusion. Aha! I said. Their website doesn't say what's in their sugar. But then I went to the FAQs and guess what? Right there is print and I am pasting it in: All of our products are made from pure cane sugar. I have mud on my face. Or rather, cane sugar. My apologies, Redpath!