minas6907

That recipe is for a caramel sauce. You could cook the mixture to a higher temp for a firm chewy caramel, but the shelf life wont last long, you need to add a glucose, which is not present in that recipe, without it the caramels will crystallize and lose the chewy texture. Also, you should not have to freeze anything when making caramels. Its only natural that the caramel you make firms up in the freezer, unless you wrap them and plan on storing in the freezer. It sounds like your problem is that your basically making a thick caramel sauce, freezing, and trying to wrap when solid. When the caramels come back to room temp, they will be way too soft. My personal opinion is that instead of trying to fix a recipe meant for a sauce, search for one that will yield the chewy caramel your after, then tweak that one if necessary. Additionally, you mentioned making the caramels 'not too sweet.' Remember that it is mainly a sugar mixture, you cant necessarily cut back on the sweetness and still expect the product to hold up the same.

Hello all, heres the latest from my little kitchen. Spearmint and Peppermint Berlingots Peppermint Sticks Peppermint Pops Caramel Lips Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam Bonbon Assorted Taffy Progression of Panned Almonds Panned Almonds Gummy Rings (Pear and Pineapple) Marshmallow More Panned Almonds Coconut Bonbon Peppermint Patty Espresso Hearts Various Pics from a recent Wedding

Just my two cents here. I keep my cocoa butters in glass mason jars. When it comes time to use, I microwave, break up the solidified mass with a spoon, microwave carefull in short bursts until it is about halfway melted, then I use a mixer. https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KHM926WH-9-Speed-Digital-Accessories/dp/B00C9OQ47S/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1517975412&sr=8-12&keywords=kitchenaid+hand+mixer I got my wife this mixer as a present, she loves the thing, but it comes with this small disk attachment. Its perfect for mixing the cocoa butters in the mason jars to that creamy consistency. I never thought in my life I would use a hand mixer, but I do for this. I got three more of those mixer disks for when I do multiple colors, quite useful.

Hi all! Well heres what I've done in the last few years: Peach gummy rings Assorted bonbons Hazelnut dragee Lavender bonbon Assorted bonbon Panned malt balls Bubble gum taffy Coconut taffy Sponge candy Peppermint meltaways Peppermint patties Peach pate de fruit Macadamia dragee Gummy bears! Misc Bonbon Enrobed walnut toffees Aleppo pepper caramels Sea salt caramels Hazelnut gianduja in a terrine form Marshmallow Wedding gummy rings Coconut and blueberry pate de fruit Almond dragee Wedding table Lollipop tree Thanks for the encouragement everyone, sorry for so many post at once!

Heres one picture from a wedding at the beginning of this year, grape lollipops.

I was watching that video again. I remember seeing this on instagram a long time ago and was very intrigued. Umm, call me crazy however, but would that be gold luster mixed with ground coffee? It just seemed to be that consistency, different sized granules, and obviously wouldn't stick to the bonbon. At first I was thinking of cocoa powder, but it would be all over the place, and probably cover the shine of the luster. Honestly, I'm not in a position right now to test this out, but if it sounds plausible to someone else, and your willing to try, I'd love to hear about the result. Perhaps a kosher salt would give the same result.

Thank you so much, thats very kind of you! I've just been busy with work and life in general (It's amazing how busy one becomes after marriage). Maybe it sounds a bit lame, but another reason is that I seldom have time to be on a desktop browsing the forum. I tried it on a mobile and didnt really like it. Then I got Tapatalk, which worked for some time, then stopped altogether, but maybe I'll try an internet browser on my mobile again. Thanks for asking!

Just wanted to say hello. Its been a few years since I"ve been able to get the time to come on the forums, this was always my favorite thread. When I get a pocket of free time, I'll sort through my photos and post what I've done. It's nice to see this topic lives!

If anyone has any insight into the above post, I'd also be interested. It's a pretty clever technique, I'm surprised at how even a coat of luster is put onto the bonbon, I'd love to know how that was achieved.

I'm not entirely surprised. Like you mentioned, fresh truffle cost quite a bit, but I've seen canned/jarred truffle in a few different places in the $15 range. I never tried them, I think it would be too dissapointing after using fresh truffle.

I just have two items from the last month or so. The first is a chipotle butter ganache, and the second, a peanut gianduja.

That's rad

Thank you so much! :-)

Recently I got a new job in a kitchen in another facility, so I've been a bit more busy lately, which is good, just not as much time for the candy stuff :-). Heres what I have from the last few months. The first picture are cacao nibs that I panned. They sort of joined up into clusters (I wanted them to stay small, but I couldnt make it happen haha) I polished them and they look like crap, but eating them is quite nice, I love the crunch. Next are peanuts I caramelized in sugar, panned in 54%, then dusted with peanut butter powder, by far the most fun to eat! The next two pictures are espresso beans, just different shots, and the polish came out alot nicer on these ones. Next is sesame brittle, then peanut butter and chocolate taffies, assorted butter cookies for my granny, watermelon berlingots, banana berlingots, bacon caramels, banana sticks, and finally my pride and joy, candied baby pineapples.

I love the gloss on those malt balls! When you say caramel coated almonds, they are just engrossed in caramelized sugar, or is it a different product?

Many people have sworn to me by the pizza dough at Traders. I personally haven't used it, but basically have heard only good thing (even from my wife who has a pastry degree). To be very honest, it doesnt take much space to make a dough, but it does to roll it out and top the pizza, which you'll still have to do. But the price is right and certianly a convenience to pick up a bag of dough along with groceries.

Cool effect on those bars!

Alleguede, sorry for taking so long to reply, I've been busy and also wanted to be detailed. About the cooling system, I really dont have one. I've been thinking about different options (that are small and reasonably priced), but havent really been able to come up with much. I've seen a portable a/c unit used, as well as a setup using a blow dryer attached at one end to a cooler with dry ice and a flexible hose coming out the other. I really havent found something effective yet. Another factor I'm not able to control is the room temp, which on an average day could be 75ish or warmer, and during winter it can be 50-60. I've been panning on cooler days, and so far the summer has been pretty mild here in southern California. My first attempt at panning was with milk chocolate, and that was sort of a pain. The weather was a little warmer, so it had trouble setting up in the pan, and I've seen that also with the white chocolate, its just much softer. With dark chocolate, it seems to definitly set up faster, so I would have some chocolate in a disposable piping bag, pipe in a small amount to cover, and just wait for it to set up, which for untempered chocolate, it happens quite quickly in the pan. Something else I was messing around with to build chocolate up was engrossing by hand in a bowl, and then smoothing out in the pan, which has worked ok, but its not perfect, it helped when it was a little bit warmer in the kitchen. About the polishing, I'm not as worried about purchasing a polish and shellac as I was before. It's something that I just want to know how to do, but will likely not offer it to any customers (unless I really get good at it) but everything I've made really has just been tests and trials to see how things work. I had some recent success with gum arabic solution that the rep from tic gums emailed me. Recently I panned some expresso beans using Callebaut 54% . I had already made up the 40% gum solution, so I sealed the espresso beans first, then started engrossing. It went ok, alot of doubles and triples formed (I think I have a tendency to add too much chocolate) then those formed triples...all in all, there were plenty of nice small ones, but a fair about of large clusters. Then I tried polishing again, only using the same gum solution. I added around 7 or 8 charges, with the last few significantly small then the first, each time blowing with cool air from a blow dryer. So heres the results, they came out quite nice, have a smooth feel on the tongue, and look much better then any attempt to polish before. I was tempted to add the confectioners glaze, but had a feeling I would have screwed them up. Anywho, any thoughts are welcome, thanks!

Ok, thanks for that! I ended up not purchasing the Callebaut powder. I already had purchased a bag of cocoa powder from Luker Cacao, and when I looked at it I realized it actually was high fat. I dont use cocoa powder for too much, so I dont want to start hoarding it haha. And cool tip actually, about the recipe for hot cocoa, I never thought to store the vanilla bean in a cocoa mix, I'd totally be down for that, sounds a lot more interesting them just storing it in sugar.

Id say for myself its my matfer black steel pans. I used to work at a french place that used them. It took a little time to get used to (formerly I was used to cooking on aluminium pans) but once you do, they work like a charm and are bullet proof, I know its not as long as some of the items mentioned above, but ive had those for about 10 years. When me and my wife got married, I was a bit picky as to what could come along and what couldn't from her kitchen, she wasnt very disappointed (and she expected it). Most of her cookware went to her roomies, and id say the only about the black steel pans, it took her some getting used to, but she likes them now.

Hey thanks for all the info Kerry, and thats an interesting pdf, i look forward looking through it when I get some time. Hopefully I can get to panning some more items soon, the weather is warming quite a bit, so I may have to put things on hold for the summer months.

Thank you Shelby!

Ok, well thats reassuring that I should really be expecting perfection. Im looking forward to getting some of the malt ball centers, although im hoping I can play with them before summer really kicks in. Also Kerry, you mentioned panning with dextrose, do you have general guidlines I can go by just to give it a try? I was thinking of getting a container of it. Thanks for all your help (and everyone else), im glad I ended up getting the pan, its opened up alot of avenues.

I do feel that way, I also feel that the lighting was a bit on the bright side so that also contributes. Maybe they need to just be smoothed out more. What are your thoughts? Is this how they normally come out for you? I think in my mind I imagine them coming out all glossy and smooth like any commercial product (im thinking Kirkland raisins, almonds, junior mints, etc) I know its a long shot, and even if you have the right ingredients, they have to be applied in the correct manner. I think im setting the bar too high, but I cant say Im totally satisfied. Honestly, if I polish, I think im just going to stick with the gum arabic solution and not the glaze. Aside from cocoa powder and confectioners sugar, Ive also been experimenting with other finishes, such as matcha powder, peanut butter powder, ground cacao nibs, etc.

Heres the latest from my kitchen: I got some sample boxes, I like the black ones with the raised pattern on them. So I ordered two sizes, one for 6 pc, and another for 12 pc. The company sent me double of my order, and told me to keep them, so I did. I initially thought it was odd when I had so many packages on my door step. Anyways, pictured in the box are enrobed chipotle caramels with smoked salt. Next are enrobed coffee caramels, then banana taffies, some more molds I had gotton off of ebay from a seller getting rid of a ton of them, most in very good condition. So I just make some bonbons, the centers are a raspberry chipotle butter ganache. Then we have almonds panned in milk chocolate, and finally blueberries panned with white chocolate.