Darienne
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Posts posted by Darienne
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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....
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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.
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I put the caramel in a double boiler like thingy that I have and put it over warm water if it cools too much. I use a silicone spatula to drag the caramel up the pretzel rod, then turn the pretzel rod to make sure it gets covered.
I put my tempered chocolate in a stainless milkshake cup when I want to dip long things like pretzels or marshmallows on a stick.
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.
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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…
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Darienne,
I use the recipe from the eGCI - cool to about 60º C before dipping the rods. I then roll in toasted pecans chopped finely. When cool I drizzle with milk chocolate. The caramel has a tendency to flow until it's cool, so turn and squish until they do.
Coat them thickly!
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.
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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?
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Tape! Brilliant.
My digital thermometer has a little magnet on the back...which took me only a year to find...and so I can hang if on the stove hood and that really helps with keeping everything where I want it.
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Hi Darienne
This old thread, around page 10-12 there is discussion on the spatter technique.
DavidJ shows his spatter tip
Ruth Kendrick explains her modification to the spatter technique.
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=56184&st=330
Here is another one where TNChocolatier explains how to do it with the old fashioned way with a whisk
Thanks EJW50 for the information.
ps. Can someone please tell me what the snapback thingy means? Not chocolate, but of some importance no doubt.
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FROM EJW 50: "Lastly, thanks to this forum for explaining how the spatter technique works and some of the difficulties."
ok. What is the spatter technique please and what are its difficulties?
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Well I guess I need to start blending. I also like the Ivoire from Valrhona. Sometimes I have to even do two coating in the moulds as it is so thin! Darienne, sometimes itis good to have blocks- I like using bigger chunks for tempering by the seeding method as it is easy to fish out at the end.
I think also that each chocolatier needs to be individual- what is unique to him? So chocolate choice is important. Developing a guideline to go by lessens the confusion- like fruity fillings=bland coating etc. And of course, rules can be broken... I guess I need to develop my own guideline, and being rather new one needs confidence. I suppose it comes with time. In recipes in books, sometimes the author instructs which kind of chocolate to use but it is rare and left unexplained.
Hi Lior,
I do use chunks also. Fishing a big chunk out is so much simpler for me than diddling about with little bits. Thanks.
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So I am looking in the Qzina catalogue at the 811 dark Callebaut. There's an
*811 Dark Chocolate Unwrapped Slab 54%, block
*811 Semi Sweet Chcolate 54%, discs
*811 NV Semi Sweet Chocolate 54%, block
*C811NV Semi Sweet 52%, discs
*D811NV Semi Sweet, 52%, block
*D811NV Unwrapped Semi Sweet 52%, block
That seems to be it for 811s which are not callets. At least I now know what callets are, and pistoles, and feves...
Can you tell me what the 'NV' means? C is all-purpose viscosity. What is D? Super thick?
Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
NV refers to natural vanilla. The 811 block and discs are the same chocolate. The C811 is thicker (less viscous) than the 811, the D even thicker. Due to less cocoa butter.
I prefer the 815 to the 811 - less sweet. A nice basic chocolate that doesn't interfere too much with the flavours in your centers.
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Not to add more confusion...
But you ARE adding more confusion.
OK. So, one has more or less cocoa butter...but what does that mean to me, as the newbie?
This will be a long and delicious project I guess...although I wouldn't count on a Canadian supplier sending out samples to try.
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Because I am so new to the chocolate world, I am overwhelmed by the number of chocolates available for use. I am looking at the Qzina catalogue and I can see at a glance semi-sweet chocolate couverture in the following percentages of chocolate: 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 62. And this is only the dark chocolate, of course.
Please don't tell me that it is just a matter of choice. Choice based on what?
I can't afford to experiment with that many 5 kilo blocks, financially and time both at this point.
I took classes with a professional chocolatier who uses Callebaut 815 at 57% , but the Qzina rep said I should use Callebaut 811 at 52%. I asked why, but he hasn't answered me yet. I've asked twice now. I am small potatoes or callets, I guess.
I called the company and there is a 1$ difference in a 5 kilo block.
Some one throw me a rope, please. A chocolate rope, I hope.
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I wonder if the taste when taking a bite- gets seperated between the ganache and the coating? I guess there is more chocolate in ganache so it would be the stronger one. But if you want the fruit to stick out, then wouldn't a fruity chocoalte enhance the ganache? I find Manjari fruity so when I make a fruity ganache I often choose Manjari. But perhaps a bland chocolate would be the thing that makes the fruit "stick out". I guess it is a matter of trial and error and then deciding what tastes best. Thanks for your ideas!
Hooray for Lior and this new topic!
My experiences have been limited. However, when I dipped pretzels...OK. I like pretzels...in 70% the result was boring. It was less boring in 56% but still lacked oomph. Then, I dipped them in milk chocolate...and I don't like milk chocolate...and voila! they were perfect. Yummm
Then with the marshmallows: orange and then raspberry...too sweet for my taste and also very intense. Wondered if anyone would eat them. Dipped them in 70% dark and perfect. My confectionary partner's birthday gift and she loved them.
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Darienne - I've been using 70% chocolate in making some of the chocolates from this book, adapting the recipes to dark chocolate as needed, and it works out great. Don't worry!
Thanks Habeas,
When you say 'adapting', what do you mean? Are you adding something else, or more of some ingredient or less of some ingredient?
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I think this is definitely my 'marshmallow' phase...
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Oh!!!!!! I just discovered this thread. I am pretty new to eG and am finding my way around the various forums in some confusion. But marshmallows? I am in my marshmallow period and now I must download what? 32 pages of this thread...and on dial-up. A woman's gotta have marshmallows when she's gotta have 'em.
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Wow! I love this new topic. Chocolate, chocolate, everywhere...
One thing I find that helps is to have a large supply of knives, spatulas, silcone and offset, scrapers, spoons, etc, all together standing up in one large round cannister type of containers.
Thanks Kerry for all your great suggestions. The heat gun use is a goodie.
And you are right. I was being financially conservative and not using parchment paper but rather my silicone sheets...and then they have to be washed.
Have not tried the gloves yet. Use them to dye stuff and don't like wearing them.
Creating An Original Chocolate Recipe
in Pastry & Baking
Posted · Edited by Darienne (log)
Mmmmmmm.....
Yummmmy. !!!!