curls

Glad you solved the mystery and thank you for posting the solution.

How about trying a little bit of your dark caramel with a bit of chocolate and see how it tastes. When you try them together you should be able to approximate how this will taste and decide if the bitter component is too bitter for you (or just right).

Like pastrygirl, when my kitchen is >71 degrees F, my chocolate shells set properly without the aid of refrigeration. I also stand my molds on edge while the chocolate is setting up. I do use the fridge for 10 minutes or less if the kitchen is warm or if I am molding bars or large figures (bunny rabbits, eggs, etc.). When I use the fridge, I always wait until the chocolate starts to set (goes from looking wet to matte) before it goes in the fridge. And then there was the NOTL workshop where the room was sooooo cold we were all wearing our jackets... a new set of problems for working with cocoa butter and chocolates.

Willow I think that your experiment would work if your chocolate was warmer and more fluid. I have dipped pieces and put them on a texture sheet... worked quite well.Give it another try!

A lunch setup similar to Niagara would be great. That worked very well and if we purchased our own cold cuts and sides the quality should be better than most chain delis. Kerry, there are lots of great shows in Vegas... Cirque du Soleil, Penn & Teller, famous singers, famous comedians. And not to be overlooked for pinball fans, the Pinball Museum (I think it is owned by Tom Arnold).

The liquid on fondant cherries can be clear, you just need to wait for all the fondant to liquify. Have you tried adding invertase to your fondant before dipping your fondant cherries in chocolate? The invertase will speed up the fondant conversion process. Grewling has two fondant cherry recipes (one for molded cherries and one for dipped).

Your breakfast and dinner look quite tasty! What is in the tin on the far right of this picture? Did you buy glace fruits? If so, are you going to make fruitcakes or something else?

It is open to all EGullet members, see Ruth's posts on the previous page #20 & #25 for details.

No specific questions but it would be nice to know what sort of equipment they will have for us to use (melters, temperers, guitars, enrobers, panners, scales, airbrushes, etc.). Have fun and take some pictures!

I would try adding some heavy cream or more cream of coconut... 2 tablespoons cream of coconut to 10 ounces of chocolate doesn't look like the right ratio of cream to chocolate. And I agree with Fernwood... based on the publication date of the recipe, it is calling for Coco Lopez when it specifies cream of coconut.

If you have spare euros at the end of your trip, I would recommend using them to buy some more chocolate at the airport shops. That can be your extra chocolate stash to keep you from getting into your gift chocolate.

If you wouldn't mind revealing secrets, I am very interested in your peach buttercream. I can't tell you how long I spent trying to develop a peach filling for chocolates that really tasted like peaches. They were always completely bland and overwhelmed by the chocolate surrounding them. How did you do it? Actually, I was not 100% satisfied with the peach buttercream piece. As a stand alone filling it did have peach flavor but it was a mistake to shell it in dark chocolate. I felt that the dark chocolate shell overwhelmed the peach filling. If I try this flavor again, I have a few ideas: shell in milk chocolate, shell in white chocolate, do a dipped piece with a layer of peach buttercream and a layer of peach pate de fruit. Also, if shelling in milk chocolate or white chocolate still overpowers the filling, I would try a two layer molded piece with peach jelly and peach buttercream. The filling was based off of Grewlings buttercream recipe in his At Home book. Ingredients were butter, fondant, my homemade peach jam, and some apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot). I had to add far more jam than Grewling specified to taste the peach. The apricot liqueur also helped bring out the peach flavor. When I was done with the peach buttercreams I remembered reading your entries about trying to make a peach chocolate. Mine still needs some tweaking but the samples were enjoyed by all. Peach is a far more subtle flavor than many fruits!

Ruth, which nights is the group rate available for? Does not look like it is available for Sunday 18 May 2014.

Is there a code for registering for a room in the hotel at the block rate?

Your croissants look gorgeous Cherylf2112. What do you find lacking in your current recipe? If it is a flavor issue, perhaps you should keep working with that recipe but try different brands of butter.

Minas6907, really like the color of your grapefruit pdf.The candied fruit looks good too.

I havent done this yet, but plan to soon, I wanted to put together some molded cherry cordials. When the instructions call for warming the fondant to 80 degrees and thinning it, is it problematic at all to close the shell? If you allow time for the cherry cordial filling to crust over it will make capping off the mold a lot easier. Don't let them sit too long without capping if you are using invertase.

Just getting cool enough to think about making chocolates (at least in a well air conditioned room). Clockwise from top left: muscovado sugar salted caramel, mint, peach buttercream, and mint (again).

Trying out Greweling's mint fondant filling in a variety of moulds to figure out which ones offer the best balance of dark chocolate to mint.

So glad you two went to Manitoulin again and shared your experiences with us; your trips look like so much fun!

You figured out how to make halvah?!!! Would you be willing to share your recipe? We've got a thread on this somewhere - http://forums.egullet.org/topic/129825-halvah-a-favorite-confection/?p=1707060Thank you! I remember that discussion but did not know that a solution had been found. In fact Pat was trying to make halvah at the 2013 NOTL workshop... He made an amazing sesame fudge.

You figured out how to make halvah?!!! Would you be willing to share your recipe?

Not nearly peachy enough! I think with luscious tree-ripe peaches it would be much more impressive. Well the peaches are starting to come in very nicely around here... I'll try out the recipe soon and see what happens.

Pretty peach color on the peach and bourbon sorbet! Did you like it?

Here you go http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-bourbon-peach-sorbet-no-ice-cream-maker-necessary-recipes-from-the-kitchn-192547 This will be my first attempt and I am cheating by using frozen peaches. The bourbon, however, will be "fresh", Thank you for the recipe. Think I'll be trying this soon with "aged" bourbon and fresh peaches.