curls

Welcome Thanks for the Crepes! Looking forward to your posts.

Are you sure that your cocoa butter is in temper? If it was truly out of temper, the heating, cooling, and shaking might not have brought it back into temper. Maybe try re-tempering your colored cocoa butter using some tempered & uncolored cocoa butter as your seed. Good luck!

Try using the back tip of a spoon to pry the lids open. Has worked for me when I couldn't find a church key and doesn't mangle the jar lid.

Kerry got to use her freeze drier! Seriously, I was wondering the same thing.

Non-scientific answer on invertase... it liquifies the sugars. So, using invertase on a chocolate dipped peppermint patty will give you a texture similar to an After Eight Mint. Not using invertase, you will have a peppermint patty. Invertase is used for most cherry cordials. The filling starts out as a solid then converts to a liquid center. For the scientific explanation, check out the recommended Grewling cookbook.

Yum! Mango lassi chocolates.

sour cream coffee cake

Shelby beat me to it, I also wanted to know if you could make freeze dried ice cream. Looking forward to your reports on your experiments!Hope your freeze drier is working soon.

Thanks Anna N, a reason NOT to eat raw cookie dough. As always, eat at your own risk.

Raw cookie dough, with raw flour, can be quite tasty. I would try the recipe as is before going the roux route. The recipe recommends storing these truffles in the fridge, not at room temp. You could always freeze them to increase your shelf life window.

I also recommend Kees chocolates and JB Prince. You may also want to check out Dominique Ansel's Bakery (I haven't had a chance to visit but it is on my list of places to visit the next time I am in NYC). Dessert Bar ChikaLicious is also very good (they are a small restaurant that serves a three course dessert menu).

I am planning on being there. Interested in sugar work and also interested in a masters class.

What do you like and what do you dislike about your current vanilla pudding recipe? What are your goals for this new vanilla pudding recipe?

So sad to see that you are out of Apry. Hope you can restock soon.

What type of cherries do you have? Cherry ice cream would be nice. Or cook up the cherries, thicken with some cornstarch (or your favorite thickner) and top ice cream, yogurt, custard, etc. with your cherry sauce.

That unit looks like a re-purposed yogurt maker; it could work. Many people here use an Excalibur dehydrator to melt their cocoa butters. I use the microwave method (just don't use a lot of colored cocoa butter). Congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding!

A new link to the Jacques Genin caramels... still in French. http://www.duracuire.fr/les-caramels-mous-manguepassion-jacques-genin/

Got it. Will be interesting to see what Jean-Marie's new toys are 3 years from now! Had a look at your blog posts from 5 year ago, lots of great information!

This gadget can make these shapes (and I think it can make a few more, depending on which "plate" you put in) - should be used with hard candy without a filling but for the demo we used the strawberry filled hard candy

That tool is a Marzipan Roller Boardhttp://www.pastrychef.com/MARZIPAN-ROLLERBOARD_p_1073.html I think gfron1 is referring to another sugar tool that Jean-Marie had custom made... I'll post a photo of that item today or tomorrow if someone else doesn't get to it before me.

Many, many thanks to Ruth and Rob for planning this wonderful workshop! Thanks to all of our sponsors for lunches, samples, and all that you provided. And a big thank you to Jean-Marie Auboine and Melissa Coppel for their instruction and the generous use of their amazing facility. photos of some of the chocolates, confections, and participants

Gfron1's squirrel mold

Thank you Salt Works for all the wonderful samples!!!

I'll post pictures after I get home from the workshop. Not to worry, there are lots of pictures of chocolate and candy.

Andrea, from what I have seen when I have had a chance to get behind the scenes tours at chocolate shops, most of them freeze their product (and have good formulas). They produce a lot of their seasonal items far in advance and freeze. How they determine when to bring them back to room temperature and how much inventory at a time, I am not sure (but this is something that will vary shop to shop and perhaps day by day... just keep records and see if you can spot market trends). Also, I see them using best consumed by dates and including in their literature / flavor guides a note about not using preservatives and suggesting that the chocolates be consumed within a week or two of purchase. I imagine that if you freeze your product (see Greweling's book for instructions on how to do this so that you avoid condensation and cracking) then you can produce when you have time and you will always have "fresh" product ready to be sold.