DianaM

For this new batch, have you switched back to your previously successful mixing method, or are you still using the new method you mention above?

Could anyone please share their (yellow) genoise recipe? I need a reliable formula, I just tried out a Martha Stewart recipe that was a complete flop.

I use a recipe from Chef Eddy, his streusel-topped choux look very round and well-shaped. Take a look here: http://www.chefeddy.com/2012/01/pate-a-choux-with-streusel/ I have used the choux recipe without the streusel topping, and baked them at 350 as he instructs. Although the temp seemed low to me, I've found that the choux maintained their round shape much better. So the nicest-looking choux I made were done using his method. I hear many a French pastry chef uses the streusel topping, and I have seen beautiful religieuses done that way.

I too, make a butter ganache with both milk and dark (and Irish cream liqueur). And also, I am a one-person show. BUT I have a melter, and I admit that helps. First thing I always do is make sure the butter is soft. I keep it on the counter overnight, and it will get quite soft at room temperature. I scale out what I need for the recipe, then I start working it further with a spatula. I keep mixing it until it gets to the approximate consistency of sour cream (this is the closest I can think of...). Then I get on with the chocolates. I melt and temper the dark, and keep it in the melter, in temper, until I use it. Then I melt and temper milk chocolate, and also warm up the required amount of liqueur. At this point, all the ingredients are ready and at the right temperature. I add the chocolates first. I stir while pouring the choc onto the butter - I always do this, to avoid the chocolate cooling where it sits undisturbed on top of the butter. The liqueur is last, and before adding it, I make sure it, too, is still at the right temp. Many say it's a big no-no to use a whisk when making ganache, but I found that for butter ganaches, a whisk works quickest and best for me. I never whip, but stir carefully, to avoid aerating the ganache. This is just my method for doing it. I have tried (for other recipes) mixing dark and milk, and tempering after the two chocolates have been mixed, just like Kerry said. It has worked great for me, so that may be an option as well.

This is what I do, too. Especially if you make more than one ganache with the same chocolate, you temper more of it, then scale what you need for each formula.

Thank you, Matthew, for posting this link! I've been looking for a couple of these powders for a while.

Jim, your butter must have been too cold when you added the chocolate, I believe that is why you had lumps in the mixture. For a project in school, I did an experiment with 1:1 ratio butter ganaches, and mixed as follows: -tempered (melted) chocolate with melted butter -tempered (melted) chocolate with room temperature (very soft, but unmelted) butter -untempered (melted) choc with melted butter -untempered (melted) choc with room temperature (but unmelted) butter The only ganache with proper set and mouthfeel was the one made with the melted, tempered chocolate and the very soft room temp butter. The other 3 either bloomed, or had large fat grains in them when set. So that convinced me that Greweling was actually right in instructing that ingredients of specific temperatures and characteristics be used. For cream ganaches, I try to keep the ganache around 32-34 Celsius as I mix with the hot cream. Every ganache I made where I was not careful about temperature has stayed soft and was difficult to work with, or had grainy texture. I am really fastidious about temperature and crystallization in ganaches, just because my (limited) experience has taught me to be so. Just my 2 pence.

I have to try this, maybe for a wine/port bonbon for V-day.

Both look beautiful, and sound delicious! They also belong in the showroom finish thread, they are super shiny. When you make wine fillings, Kerry, do you use ganache or something else? I know liqueurs also work in fondant fillings, but was wondering about the wines.

Baselerd, I really liked the dessert from Uchi you posted about in the pastry forum. So I came over to ask some questions about the cookbook. I don't regularly eat Japanese style food, and my only interest in this cookbook would be the dessert section. Could you please elaborate what this section contains? How many dessert recipes are there? And are these doable without modernist cuisine equipment? I checked amazon and expected to see the Look Inside feature to check the contents page, but this book does not have it, and the sample is all too short. I will appreciate any comments and impressions on the book.

What a great idea! Haven't had Linzertorte in years, but your macarons brought back some nice memories. Thanks!

They sure look lovely, very nice feet on those macs! Ruth, did you use an Italian meringue or French?

If your room was hotter this time, or your bowl was less heat-conductive, or if you tempered a larger mass of chocolate, stirring only to mix in the Mycryo may not have cooled the mass down enough to working temperature. When I temper 300g it takes 5-6 strokes to cool it down, when I temper 4 kilos, takes much more stirring than that. After adding the 1% I mix almost constantly, not only to bring the temperature of the chocolate down, but also because agitation promotes the formation of the beta crystals you are looking for. I have tempered all 3 kinds of chocolate this way (and I also use Cacao Barry couvertures), and have had very good results. But I use as a guideline for working temperature the info on the packaging, so my ideal temps are the higher ones in the ranges provided: 32 dk, 31 mk, 30 wt.

Jim, look for milk chocolate in the 40% cacao mass range. They tend to taste much better than regular ones. Personally, I highly recommend Cacao Barry's single origin from Ghana, it has a great milky and caramel flavour and is a dream to work with. Not cheap, though. And if ever you are looking for a not-too-sweet white chocolate, try Opalys from Valrhona. I recently tasted it at a Valrhona demo, and it's truly the best white choc I've had (and by the way, I am normally averse to milk and white).

Holiday chocolates also: Bailey's ganache (dome), Coffee Pecan Crunch, Vanilla Bean Caramel (textured transfer), and Orange Grand Marnier (copper luster dust).

What a gorgeous assortment! I would be very excited indeed to receive a present like that!

Hi Jim D., All your questions have been very thoroughly addressed above by people much more skilled than me, but I just had one nagging question in reference to your bonbons-stuck-in-the-moulds issue. Do you wash your moulds between moulding sessions? I am asking because I had some issues with bonbons sticking when my moulds were brand new, but in time, they got "primed" meaning that now they have a very thin cocoa butter residue that makes unmoulding much easier. When I get stuff stuck in the moulds, and I have to wash them, I again get some sticking. This is a bit of a controversy, as some people wash their moulds all the time, and still have no sticking issues, but for myself, I found that just cleaning moulds with a heat gun works best. Derrick Pho (Curls links to his video above) said to never wash moulds. Once I started following his advice, I no longer had that issue.

Your macarons look very nice! You want to deflate the meringue in order to obtain that lava-like batter consistency, where it is still viscous, but any peaks sink back into the batter in 20-ish seconds. If the batter is not properly deflated, the macarons will not have feet, or will have peaks after you pipe them on the baking sheet. Besides the links posted upthread, I would recommend three more good sources for macaron info: http://www.joyofbaking.com/frenchmacarons/MacaronsRecipe.html http://bravetart.com/blog/MacaronMyths http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.ca/search/label/Macarons The first is a video, it illustrated very nicely the right batter texture. Happy macaron-ing!

The way the batter is treated DOES matter a lot, many would agree that a key element of making macarons successfully is the macaronage, i.e. the mixing. I use a Laduree recipe, which is a French meringue. I use a whisk to mix until all the meringue is incorporated into the dry ingredients, and the paste is homogenous. Once it is completely mixed, I switch to a spatula and start mixing more vigorously, to deflate it. I found that if I used a spatula from the start, it crushed the meringue too much. I could not manage to mix it properly before it got to the "lava" stage, and I had streaks of meringue in the batter. Switching to the whisk solved my problems. Try this method too, see if it will work for you.

They must taste pretty amazing though, with the ganache inside. And the seeds provide great texture, I imagine. I wonder if maybe you got a tougher batch of figs, depending on the package, some are more malleable than others. Thanks for the links, Kerry! Just noticed that La Tienda ships to Canada too, yey!! :-)

Now that you mention the dark choc smear, I think I can pick it out in some of the chocolates. And the flavours sound great too! :-)

Those are very sexy indeed, Pastrygirl! :-) What is their filling? And did you use a pastry brush to splatter?

Thank you all for the answers! I was thinking of making Pierre Herme's chocolate sables, a hazelnut crinkle cookie, and some biscotti using a Martha recipe. The sables have tons of butter (yum!) though, so I will have to think this through. To be on the safe side, a "store in a cool, dry place, and freeze if not enjoyed within 2-3 days" note, to ensure the cookies are eaten before they get stale or rancid on someone's counter should do the trick. The packaging will likely be cello bags (not heat-sealed, unfortunately, just tied with ribbon) or tin boxes, so I think the 2-3 days is all I can get. Thanks again!

I am hoping an experienced baker-gifter may have an answer for me. I would be very interested to know the shelf life of various cookies like shortbread/sable, chocolate chip, crinkle cookies, biscotti and the like. Friends and family have asked me to make these for teachers' and other gifts (for co-workers, the vet, etc). I know full well that some of the recipients won't eat them as soon as they get them, so I want to label them with small "enjoy by..." notes. I know amaretti cookies last for ages, and many other cookies seem to sit for months on grocery store shelves. The recipes I have are with butter, and regular household ingredients (so no invert sugar to prolong freshness, and no shortening to replace the butter etc). So what shelf life can I expect these cookies to have?

Hi Annie, Having recently tried a passionfruit pastry cream-filled choux from dhardy123, I can honestly say it was exquisite. He used a Boiron recipe (he links to it above), and those choux were really delicious! I want to try making it, too, since now I know how amazing it can taste. Let us know of your results, please, if you decide to make it.