curls

Butter & sugaring the molds and using technique 2 might get you a good crust & custardy insides. I think the idea is worth a trial. They are fabulous when you get all the textures right. I have never made one but did buy a perfect one once and it was amazing -- that is when I finally understood what all the fuss is about. :-)

Kerry, they look pretty good. What are your thoughts on the two trials?

New recipe from a friend of mine. She calls it a blueberry flan -- it is a cross between a pie and a tart. I wonder if at some point this recipe used fewer blueberries and called for being baked in a flan pan. It most definitely is not what I think of as a flan but it is very tasty.

Thank you for the pictorial. I was wondering why you wanted that mini griddle when you have so many pans and griddles. Now I know -- it is just because you wanted to. Enjoy!

To clarify one point -- I am not removing the shells from the mold to test that they will release. I use clear polycarbonate molds & look at the bottom of the molds for indicators that the chocolates have contracted from the molds.

@Jim D. I am puzzled by your summer chocolate making issues. I too am making chocolates in Virginia in a home kitchen with a home fridge (with glass shelves) and have thankfully not experienced the issues you are having with unmolding. I shall share my process in the hopes that it may help you with your troubleshooting. It is not clear to me if you run your AC all summer or just while chocolate making -- I run the AC all summer at 73 F. If it looks like the chocolate is not setting up quickly enough, I lower the AC anywhere from 68 to 70 F. I put the molded chocolate shells in the fridge for ~10 minutes after they have started to crystallize. I check to see if the shells have released from the mold & only remove them from the fridge if 95%, or more, of the shells have released. I do not put filled & uncapped molds in the fridge -- I let them set up (usually overnight). They set up in the kitchen or my chocolate room in the basement. After I cap / close the molds, they spend ~10 minutes in the fridge and are unmolded. The difficult to unmold chocolates go back into the fridge for another 10 minutes (repeat fridge cycle as necessary). I don't think that this is the cause of your problems but I should mention that I do not airbrush my molds with colored cocoa butter -- I think this is your preferred decoration method. Most of my chocolates are unadorned. The few that I decorate are either a swipe of colored cocoa butter, colored cocoa butter splatters, or transfer sheets. Wishing you the best of luck in solving your summer chocolate issues. Hopefully you don't need to purchase a commercial cooling / refrigeration system.

Sorry they needed to call you back into the ER. Good luck with the caramel experiments!

@Kerry Beal glad you are done at the hospital for the day! Looks like the dinner Anna made reheated very well. What are your planned caramel experiments / what solutions are you aiming for? Nice looking mold from Chef Rubber -- is it the same size as Jin's mold?

I have not done a side by side test but I remember discussion about the texture of the marshallow being better when egg whites are used. Might do a test some day -- maybe the next chocolate & confections workshop!

@liuzhou so sorry to hear that you aren't doing well but I appreciate a look into the VIP wing of a Chinese hospital. Maybe you can get a photo of a standard hospital room on your way out? Wishing you a speedy recovery!

I believe they are making reference to two characters from the Peanuts comic strip (Marcie & Peppermint Patty). See this article for more details, http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/11/12/peppermint_patty_and_marcie_s_relationship_in_peanuts.html.

Took me awhile to join the club but now I have made ricotta cheese in my Instant Pot! So, what are all of you doing with the whey?

It is easy to tell if they are sealed. The "tab" on the rubber gasket will be pointing down & after the jars cool and you remove the metal clamps, the glass lid will be sealed to the rubber gasket. Enjoy your new Weck jars. ;-)

I have used the Weck jars for water bath canning. They work fine and they make such pretty jars.

Looks like a huge event! Any idea how many eggs there are?