RWood

Thanks! The hearts with pink are Passion Fruit, the dark red are Mexican Coffee, the rectangle with hearts and lines are Ginger, the rounds with pink are dark chocolate with vanilla bean, and the heart leaf is Raspberry. I also did dipped caramels with pink salt, but didn't post a picture.

So, the caterer I work for wanted to offer Valentine chocolates and since they wouldn't be under my name, I went with the easiest way to get them done. Transfer sheets and simple decorations. But, they still came out cute .

Those look really nice. I had problems with this mold the first time I used them, but have had good luck since. The only thing I have trouble with is that the air bubbles are really hard to get out. I have more trouble with that than cocoa butter sticking.

So, I got around to trying the recipe in Pierre Hermes' Macarons. It's the only version of an Italian meringue recipe that has ever worked consistently. Two and half sheet pans all came out. And that was baking in a commercial convection oven, opening the doors, rotating the pans, etc. No flops at all. I've made this three times, and so far so good. I made raspberry and chocolate. I did change the chocolate because his recipe calls for melted unsweetened chocolate in the shell and since I didn't have any, I subbed cocoa powder with no problem.

I haven't done a cake in ages, but got an order for a 90th birthday party this weekend. Almond cake with a layer of whipped ganache, a layer of amaretto whipped cream and raspberries and chocolate buttercream.

Try L'Epicerie. I've used them for several things, and they do sell small and large quantities. Their shipping can be a little high, but depends on the amount of stuff that is ordered.

Years ago, my chef instructor always told us to put the cold buttercream in a mixer bowl, place over a bain marie and melt it half way. Then put it on the mixer with the paddle on low speed. Just let it go until it's smooth, then you can up the speed and fluff it. Always worked for me, and if need be, I would hit the bowl with a torch if it still had a few lumps. A ratio I found for SMBC that works well is 1 cup sugar, 1 cup whites and 1# butter.

We always called it "fried cornbread". It was a faster way than waiting for a whole pan to bake. Haven't had it in years. Oh, but to have some Brunswick Stew though . Don't get that in California.

Four of the 25 pies I made for Thanksgiving, I didn't get close-ups of the pumpkin and apple. I used Eddy Van Damme's recipe for no corn syrup pecan pie. They came out looking very nice, but haven't talked to anyone yet on how they tasted. I was shooting for not as sweet, which is what the recipe said.

I make a pumpkin caramel ganache filling for chocolates, using milk chocolate. It's very popular. I haven't been able to get an eggnog chocolate to work for me yet. I'm not a fan of eggnog to drink, but I've never been happy with any of my attempts.

Sounds good. My question would be was the peanut butter really, really smooth, slightly crunchy or quite crunchy? (We don't have Safeway here where I live.) I had the hardest time finding a smooth peanut butter for the PB balls. All the 'natural' smooth butters have little crunchy bits in them. Not that that is reprehensible, it's just that I was looking for SMOOOOTH and had to fall back on one of "THOSE" peanut butters that we don't eat to get a smooth enough texture. Just curious. It was a little grainy, but it was crunchy style anyway. I personally am a Jif snob . It's the only one I buy. They have made a new natural one, but it's the same as the regular one, very smooth and no stirring needed. Tastes the same.

I just kinda winged it. I used a 2:1 dark ganache, added vanilla bean and glucose. I did 3000g dark chocolate to 1500 g cream and 6.75 cups peanut butter. Plus a little butter. I worried about the ganache because I was using Safeway's new Open Nature line of peanut butter (since it was for them) and it being natural, it was more liquid. The truffles were soft, but I with two coats of chocolate, they were fine. The chef loved them, so that's all that mattered.

One of three sheet pans of peanut butter truffles, 525 total, for Savor the Central Coast this weekend at Hearst Castle. I'm really tired of smelling peanut butter

Strawberry Cream Cake ordered for a birthday.

That is done with a St. Honore tip. It has a "V" cut into the side of it (or an upside down "V"), so it makes that tall design.

Thanks! It's actually not my recipe, but David Lebovitz's . I've been really happy with this dough. I've tried several, and this one works very well. I've made lots of galette's lately and never had any trouble with it Here is a link to the recipe on Fine Cooking's site.

Work stuff. I made 4 apple galettes with frangipane for an event, and a basic chocolate cake for the golf course cafe.

A couple of weeks ago I had to make blueberry pies for an event. My boyfriend lives for blueberries, and even though he worked the event, there wasn't any extra and he was very sad. So, I made this blueberry galette for him to make up for it. I used David Lebovitz's galette dough recipe, and it's very good. Easy to work with and very crispy.

No problem, glad it made life easier

I made them not too long ago. The chef I work for will throw random stuff at me, and I have to figure out what to do if we don't have a recipe. I used one I found online and all I can say is you have to be quick at folding. They cool really fast. And, if the cookies get any color, they are baked too long and will not fold. I thought they would look better with a little color, but they didn't work that way for me. I think the recipe I used had oil. It was pretty thin, and we just used a #100 scoop and baked them on a silpat. They spread enough on their own. This recipe could be the one.

Have you tried Nashville Wraps? I've gotten a lot of packaging from them. This link takes you to one of their cello bag pages. They do custom stamping, not sure if the do cello bags though.

I am definitely going to look into the clip holder thingys . I can always use extra. They seem to get stretched out and not hold on to the pot. I am considering getting this one by Matfer with the cage and holder as well. I used this type in my first bakery job, and even though I had to get used to Celsius, it worked really well. I'll just have to convert all my confection recipes over.

I am on the search for a new thermometer as well. I've had terrible luck with them lately. I have tried two digital's, and returned one and will be returning the other shortly. Sur La Table is great on returns. I bought a regular dial one from them that is going back. It gets to about 225 and gets stuck. I've tried the Maverick digital, and it didn't register accurately. The Taylor digital is 1) top heavy and won't stay put when having to stir thick caramel, and 2) the stem is so short is gets too hot and the screen goes black. Now, the temperature readout is not even showing up. Both digital's are too top heavy, and the clip is useless for keeping it in place. A regular mercury thermometer was all I used for a while, then it wasn't reading accurately. I'm just doomed I think I'm looking at this one now CDN Digital Probe Thermometer or maybe this one Polder Thermometer Something has got to give. I think I need to find a way to design one that will work and has a decent clip on it so that it doesn't flop all over the place when something thick is being stirred.

For truffles, I wear a rubber glove and smear a little tempered chocolate in my palm and roll it for the first thin coat. Then when it sets, I use a dipping fork for the final coat. Takes practice. I've found for the bars, I first spread a layer of chocolate on one side (the foot), and when it sets, cut them to desired size. I use a cooling rack, and place it over the bowl of chocolate. I have a large tempering machine, so it fits over the bowl. I then ladle the chocolate over the bars, shake the rack to remove excess and smooth it out. Then use a dipping fork to move them to parchment to set. So far this method has worked the best for me. Most of the time the bars are too flexible to dip.

I'm pretty much just making bars now, much faster with all the other stuff I have to do for the caterer I work for. My version of an almond joy I guess, only in bar form. I make the frappe for the filling from Greweling's book. I tried using marshmallow creme once to see if it would save a step, but it was way too sweet and no one liked it compared to what I had made before. Even with unsweetened coconut, this one is pretty rich.