DianaM

Check your PMs Dave, is this the book that you referred to above? http://www.amazon.com/Le-meilleur-chocolat-French-Edition/dp/2862276502/ref=la_B004N2OQQK_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344738044&sr=1-2

These look amazing! What a great idea!

I don't think there's anything particular to cream of tartar that makes it better for meringues. I too have been using lemon juice, with great results.

I use it most frequently to fill crepes or rugelach; for the rugelach, I use one of Nigella's recipes, which I love because it's easy to make and work with. My grandmother makes brioche dough, and then she makes small buns filled with jam. She tears off egg-sized pieces of the dough, rolls it out to a circle, glob of jam in the center, then she gathers it up and pinches it to seal. She bakes the buns in a round pan, they look terrific and are delicious. I sometimes make swiss roll, or you can take the swiss roll, slice it up, then use them for a cake like this: http://marcellinaincucina.blogspot.ca/2010/07/daring-bakers-challenge-july-swiss-roll.html

According to Bo Friberg, you can make it either with or without, depending on its intended use. You can omit the gelatin if you use it to fill pastry shells or profiteroles, but if you want it to hold its shape on its own, then you must add the gelatin. I may be wrong, but I believe that if you just mix the pastry cream with whipped cream, that would be more accurately called a quick chiboust, and not diplomat.

Pastrygirl and Curls, were you using cream with 35% fat?

So beautiful! And I bet they taste phenomenal, too.

I, too, used Callebaut blocks for baking for quite a while. Never had a problem.

Just saw today Anna Olson make a chocolate brioche with hazelnut filling. You could try making the brioche only, see where that takes you. Recipe is here: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/ontv/shows/bake-with-anna-olson/recipe.html?dishid=12692&titleid=272497 Please share your results, I'm curious too.

What a cool idea! And freezing in containers is so convenient. How long does the paste keep, when frozen?

Lol, I do that too! Usually with me, it's just nicks, but I always catch more than just one under the mold.

I do love the splatter, I think the chocolates look lovely! Did you use a pastry brush or a silicone brush to splatter the ccb into the mold?

Kerry, all those summery flavours sound really yummy! I had never heard of Fiori di Sicilia before, thank you for making me curious. :-)

Thank you for your responses, gap and Kerry! I tried to use an immersion blender once, but I must have done it wrong because I introduced lots of tiny air bubbles in the ganache. So that was the first and last experiment with the blender. You're probably right about the high fat content, Kerry. The "grains" melt in the mouth, so they must be actually fat formed into larger globules. I have a question about repairing the ganache. Because it seemed emulsified, I had piped it into shells. So what now? Can I cut up the bonbons shells 'n all, add the milk and re-emulsify? Would the process then be: -chop up the bonbons -melt in double boiler -add milk (warm or room temp milk? I'm assuming i still have to take care not to let the ganache get warmer than 34C?) -re-emulsify -pipe into new shells Is this the correct procedure? As for the future, I will try adding some extra booze, or milk to the dark ganaches to begin with, and also use the stick blender. I'll just have to practice, so that I don't lift the blades above the surface and introduce air bubbles.

Going to try to attach a pic of the ugly, ugly, grainy ganache.

Hi eG-ers! I hope it's ok to resurrect this thread! I am experiencing problems with my dark choc ganaches, and need some help. I formulate all my ganaches based on Greweling's guidelines, and am always super careful about percentages. My milk ganaches, or the mixed milk+dark ganaches are always beautiful, never had an issue with them. But the dark ones are a whole different matter. I use Cacao Barry 64% (40.5% cocoa butter). The ganaches look shiny, and nicely emulsified when mixed, but by the next day they become grainy. When I bite into the bonbon, the centre does melt smoothly, and there is no granular mouthfeel. But the centre looks grainy, and when cut, small bits crumble away. I checked Greweling, he says ganache is grainy if: 1) heated above 34C; 2) agitated excessively; 3) allowed to crystallize when separated. But I've had the same issue even when the ganache was at the right temp. I only agitate enough to emulsify fully. My ganache looks fully emulsified, I wouldn't pipe it into shells if I saw it was separated. My process is identical when I make the milk ganaches and the dark ones. Why then my results are different?

Jen, your chocolates look lovely! I love the decoration on the hearts (Peanut Butter?).

That is one beautiful loaf, minas6907! I could tear into it right now!

Second the Hertzberg and Francois recommendation. Can't say if it's the best, but it's so easy and convenient. I mostly used up the refrigerated dough for sweet brioches, but now that I saw LindaK's minis, I want to give savory inclusions a try.

Lironp, I feel your pain! My first macaron experiment was a bust. When I piped the batter into the pan, it spread way out in irregular circles, so no two were the same size and shape (even though I had drawn neat little circles on the parchment to guide my piping). I also had conjoined macarons, of course those were the ones I tossed first. :-( When I make some other recipe that leaves me with egg whites, I plan to go for attempt number 2.

Hi flourgirl, and welcome to eG! Couverture chocolate is available usually at pastry and confectionery ingredient distributors. For example, in the GTA (ON, Canada) you could try companies like McCall's Bakers' Warehouse, Lentia, Signature Fine Foods, Qzina.

I can't speak for Valrhona, but last fall, when I visited the Amedei plant, I tasted their Crema Toscana Alla Nocciola (tuscan cream with hazelnuts). They use hazelnuts of the Tonda Gentile variety, which they consider the very best of Italian hazelnuts. The Crema is fantastic, but then again, I adore hazelnuts. I don't usually buy Nutella, but a choc hazelnut spread by President's Choice brand. It says "Product of Belgium" on the jar, and I think it's really good.

Wow, Lior, that striped effect on the chocolates looks amazing!

They all look great, Steve! I'm most intrigued by the Creme Brulee - what is inside?

Don't know about lemon and coconut, but I have read of a lemongrass and coconut panna cotta. Or I like passionfruit as a garnish on panna cotta.