Darienne

Thanks so much Dougal. You are amazing!!! I quote a line from that series of posts:...."Think about it if these paddle attachments were so good don't you think that kitchen-aid would already have them on their mixers. " Gives one pause....

I have done my best to look through this thread and the archives and hope I am not repeating an already dismissed topic. I heard just a few days ago about a new beater for stand mixers called the "Beater Blade" by New Metro Design LLC. Does anyone know anything about it? It is supposed to have the same action as a car window wiper blade and scrape the side of the bowl continuously. It is made for KA and Cuisinart and I can't remember what other machines. The information came from About.com. Thanks

I can't do links yet and today is not the day I am going to learn , but it is in the eG recipe section under 'ginger'.

Hello all preserving types, Would anyone know of a good recipe for Ginger Marmelade. I think I am seguing into a 'ginger' mode. Thanks

While we are on the delicious topic of ginger...I told a friend about this thread and she said that years ago she had made the most wonderful ginger marmelade and then lost the recipe. She said she has never found another recipe for the ginger marmelade and I said I would enquire. I would happily make this...although my husband wouldn't eat it.

Thanks for the encouragement and the information. I will try it for certain. The air where we are going is very dry and that should help with the drying process. Last Christmas I made lovely batches of truffles, nougats and other goodies, and chocolate dipped ginger. Guess what went first?

Hello andiesenji, Because I will have more time and 'mind' space than usual when we are in Utah, I thought it might be a good time to delve into all those things which often get left behind for the ease of the familiar, including now the candying of ginger. However there are no Asian markets where I am going and the ginger will be only what is available in a Kroger's. Would you say that I should forget the idea for the time being? Thanks.

I just downloaded the recipe and it seems like a worthy challenge for me to try over the next while. Maybe Ruth and I could share tips on making our own ginger while I am in Utah!

Consider it done! Toasted pecan bits go into the next batch. Anything to keep my husband happy.... He does bring me coffee in bed every morning.

You are not pulling our collective legs...you mean chocolate bark with succotash ingredients in it? Makes me think of the first time I tell someone that yes, the piccadillo really does contain olives, raisins, almonds, bananas, pineapple, chocolate, etc,...and meat.

That's a great story !!! Sophisticated kid making amaretto ganache.

Imagine the trip through the shelves of molds. jkv really does have a wonderful selection. I shall have to look up the gloomy bunny on their site. I wonder if he still has the wonderful ears. Two friends and I took our first chocolate class from a chocolatier in the same region as Kerry lives...in fact, she considers Kerry her mentor. I took one look at that cock-eyed ear on that bunny and it was love at first sight. No matter how old I get, I can still get all starry-eyed over a cute bunny. Thanks

If I might return to an old thread...can you put inclusions into the marshmallow batter? My husband keeps telling me that I ought to put nuts into the marshmallows and I keep telling him that I have never heard of anyone doing this. Who is correct? ....carefull....

Mmmmmmm..... Yummmmy. !!!!

The ones living in Stilton. My favorite molds are silicon. I don't have a favorite shape, just depends what I'm doing. Of course, I don't mold chocolates. ← What sorts of molds are you speaking of? Cake molds? My partner in confection and I tried making gumdrops in silicone molds and getting the finished candies out was a complete disaster. Mine went straight into the bin. No doubt I was doing something wrong. I do like the silicone stuff...scrapers, sheets, pans, brushes...

This isn't quite 'chocolate', although marshmallows do get dipped into chocolate, especially the raspberry ones. My husband wants me to include nuts right in the marshmallows, but I can't find a recipe that includes nuts IN the marshmallow and I am beginning to think that there is probably a good reason why I can't find a recipe with nuts right IN the marshmallow. Every Google result is about nuts coating the marshmallows, etc. I am nowhere up to creating a 'new' chocolate recipe, but I am an inveterate meddler and can't resist adding and subtracting things from chocolate recipes. If I don't go too far overboard, it's usually OK.

Thanks to the generosity of the Chocolate Doctor, Kerry Beal, I finally have the mold for my chocolate logo, M. Bunny. Do other folks use molds to make chocolate figures for children or for themselves? One mold I am still looking for is the quintessential Laura Secord lollipop mold, a rectangle with rounded corners.

Put the img quotes around the picture instead. ←

OK. Now we will see if I got this photo thingy correct. Nope, can't get the image to appear on the screen. They were hardly a masterpiece, but they are delicious and they are destined for the wonderful library staff at my small local library. They went far beyond the call of duty getting me every chocolate book I could ask for by Inter Library Loan last year. Could they have had ulterior motives? Forgive me if this is a mess...I am trying to figure it out with the notes I have downloaded from the eG forum....

This post is mostly for my own satisfaction, I guess. Made the pretzels again last night and the project zipped along. This morning I shall decorate and wrap them. There's nothing like the learning curve. And, I would make them again!

What incredible timing this thread is. We are soon off for an extended period away from home and I have decided while away to concentrate on making those things which a) I have never made and b) folks often buy pre-made...like candied fruit, Gianduja, Marzipan, etc... Now here in one fell swoop is the answer to a maiden's prayers. Thanks.

We used a heat gun on the caramel when it started to cool too much and that was fine. I was concerned that the chocolate would get too hard too soon in a tall cup, so we basically dragged the chocolate up the rod. Probably won't make them too often... Thanks for all your help.

Today’s caramel-wrapped (Kerry’s recipe), chocolate-dipped (70% Callebaut) pretzel rods were a great success. Gave them to our dogs’ vet and the clinic vet techs and was extremely popular as a consequence. Kerry’s caramel went well. No problems. Dipping the pretzel rods was another matter. They are long and the caramel hardens quickly. Still all in all it went well. Then dipping them into the chocolate was another challenge. Always these challenges. Long thin rods are not the easiest things to dip…but maybe there is a secret we didn’t know about. The coated pretzel rods looked lumpy and amateurish to me…until we put the contrasting finishing milk chocolate touches on them. Slipped into a single clear cellophane candy envelope, sealed shut and finished with a Cheers & Chocolates label and suddenly they seemed transformed. They were things of beauty, well, at least in our eyes. . . Husband Ed said he liked the chocolate coated raspberry marshmallows better…although he still wants nuts in them…

Thanks Kerry, I have downloaded the entire eGCI section...terrific!...and will use that recipe. The toasted pecans sound good. I don't usually like milk chocolate very much, but it certainly went well with the pretzel taste. My partner in things confectionary, Barbara, is coming today and we will dip some pretzels. We are using an old folding wooden clothes drying rack thingy and hanging the pretzels up from this to dry using plastic coat hangers. Works really well. Thanks again. ps. The hanging up part came after the dipping in chocolate part. And after holding them up for a few seconds to begin the hardening process. I don't like the way the commercial preztel rods are all flat and not rounded at all.

The kids down the road asked me if I could make them some pretzel rods dipped in caramel and then in chocolate. They are my official candy tasters and recipients. I have tasted two different kinds of these pretzels and was not impressed. Now I have read through all the postings on the two caramel oriented forums: Trouble shooting with caramel and Caramel popcorn, but neither deals specifically with dipping 'something' into caramel...and then later into chocolate. And I have also consulted my various confectionary books with no useful results. Any ideas here? Please?