curls

Salty for white chocolate... peanut butter filling - up the salt in your filling pretzels smokehouse almonds salted caramel fish sauce, combined with other flavors soy sauce, combined with other flavors ganache with smoked salt black licorice (Mette has made some items like this that she brought to an eGullet workshop that were very tasty)

I suggest making what you like and seeing how that goes. Like the tale of Goldilocks and the three bears, everyone has their own "just right". You just need to find each other. :-) Try for a variety of textures and flavors but keep things to your taste. Now, special orders, that can be a whole other ball game!

Welcome Gentastic! You may also want to try some other white chocolates. I use Valrhona Ivoire and it is less sweet. I tried a few of the eGuittard white chocolates and there is a least one from their line that I like that is a less sweet white chocolate. It also helps to pair white chocolate with tart fruits, salty items, or spicy items. Also, like Kerry said, layer the flavors.

Valentine's chocolates in progress! Some photos from the making of my hazelnut gianduja and feuilletine bon bon. Transfer sheets from ChocoTransferSheets.com, one of our supporters for many of our eGullet Chocolate & Confectionery workshops.

There are some more details about Ewald Notter's new venture in this article http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2015/09/patti-paynes-cool-people-international-chocolatier.html. @pastrygirl no need to compete with him directly. I am sure that you both have different tastes, artistry, and specialties. Your customers will continue to follow you and you will find new customers among those who have similar tastes to yours. If Ewald will also be offering workshops or classes in your area, I recommend that you take them, he is a wonderful teacher!

@Je33 I would definitely try making a rhubarb pate de fruit (maybe a half batch) and see if it is too sweet. When I have used the pdf recipes from Notter & Biorin with tart fruits, the pdf has retain some of the tartness. Hope you wind up with something you like.

Another suggestion for increasing the flavor is to do a two layer piece and use a combination of fruit jelly & fruit ganache. So perhaps a rhubarb compote / rhubarb preserves in the top of the mould followed by a rhubarb ganache. Not the same texture as an all ganache piece but something with more rhubarb flavor.

Ditto.

I also recommend the Nordic Ware bundt pans. I have a few of them and they all work very well. If you are only going to have one, I recommend their Anniversary Bundt (https://www.nordicware.com/store/product_detail/anniversary-bundt-pan#.VqRLglKJFo4) because it will work with a wide variety of cake batter volumes (10 cups to 15 cups). The cookbooks are all over the place in their final bundt sizes.

Good luck at FCIA! Will you be posting your new EZtemper videos after the show?

Yup, demo'ed in 2005 by @John DePaula transfer sheets and texture sheets -->

And don't forget all the EZTemper machines that Alleguede will have. ;-)

I go with option 2 -- the full sheet. Don't always do it... but many times when I am hand dipping candied orange peel or ginger, I put the dipped piece on top of a texture sheet. I have also thought of making pretty chocolate shards for cupcakes or cakes using a texture sheet. I do wash and polish my texture sheets.

Sounds good. Too bad about the guitar... maybe you could ship it to your hotel? If you haven't already, perhaps you could ask your customers what most impresses them about the EZtemper and find a way to demo those items along with your standard demo.

Could you bring a mini confectionery guitar and show them how quickly meltaways set up? Perhaps demo finicky white chocolate ganache fillings that are super simple with EZtemper silk? If you have room -- maybe you could have your EZtemper videos running on a laptop or tv screen at your table.

Some baking for Christmas! Dorie's World Peace Cookies, almond cookies, ginger cake, and peanut butter cookies (enjoyed using my new Nordic Ware cookie presses).

Thank you @ChocoMom! Those are for sales. Family and friends get to enjoy the irregulars and prototypes. :-) The boxes are from Sweet Packaging; very happy with their boxes.

Some of my holiday chocolates and new boxes for the holidays. muscovado salted caramel mint filling coffee ganache marzipan & cherry-raspberry pate de fruit slab marzipan & cherry-raspberry pate de fruit squares ready to be dipped in dark chocolate new boxes! So nice not to have to fold boxes!!! Also made (but not pictured) eggnog ganache, brandied cherry cordial, dipped orange peel, dipped ginger, and peanut butter cups.

Ah, ok. Just checking to see if that was part of your usual procedure! :-)

@pastryani Why did you close the molds with untempered chocolate?

Build it and they will come. :-)

Congratulations on the polycarbonate mold! Were you filling it with solid chocolate or shelling & filling it? While your room is on the cooler side, I don't think that you need to pre-warm the molds. The latent heat of crystallization can really effect solid chocolates... Should not be so much of an issue for shelled & filled chocolates at your room temperature. Follow Kerry's advice next time and let us know what happens.

I have used royal icing for all the gingerbread construction that I have done (two houses and a train). All were transported by car to another location over an hour away... no structural problems. You do have to wait until the royal icing dries (and that may take a few hours) but once it is dry, no problems. As cyalexa mentions, I have also see people use molten sugar to "glue" the pieces together. Might make a prettier join but caramel would also have a humidity issue. Good luck with your gingerbread house!

Are there plans for Friday the 13th too? Want to book the hotel for the right number of days. Interested in the Morato demo but not sure how many days I can swing. Edited to fix punctuation.

Some treats for Thanksgiving... chocolate truffles, mints, and muscovado sugar salted caramels. Will also make some salted pumpkin caramels and I am thinking about trying to make a cranberry or cranberry & raspberry pate de fruit.