YetiChocolates

Hey Everyone, I'm trying to decide on which "holiday inspired" chocolate I am going to feature this winter for my Holiday menu, and wanted to see what you all thought on the situation. I would also like to hear what everyone cherish's as their favorite holiday indulgence is. So, if you had to choose between an Egg Nog chocolate, or a Pumpkin Caramel chocolate, which would you choose? I appreciate any feedback!

Welcome Viktoria! I also recently joined the society, so I know how you feel! Anyway, I would agree with Kerry's suggestion of using Greweling's "Dark and Stormies" ganache, but I would say do more of a layered truffle with a raspberry pate de fruit layer, the "Dark and Stormies" ganache with the honey/whiskey addition, dip it in either white or dark (I always dip in dark, I feel it mellows out the flavors and cuts the sweetness) and then garnish it with the toasted oat praline. Good luck! I hope you are able to recreate the dish!

I'm a Skippy Natural lover myself. And they just came out with a Skippy Natural made with Honey that is really smooth, creamy and delicious. I recently discovered a peanut butter filling for cookies that I'm thinking of using for my take of a "Fluffer Nutter", which uses peanut butter, powdered sugar, and almond milk. It's very reminiscent of a Reese's peanut butter cup.

Just curious if there was any new update on the dates of the conference? I'll be hearing next week hopefully about potential work in March, and may have the opportunity to change a flight for a trip I can't go on before October 3...

Huh, well I'm sure Bo knows better than I do. Pastillage is definitely fragile when it sets up, but maybe I'm getting the two mixed up. When I was in school I remember them telling us that one of the mediums is not edible, but the way I remember it is that it was gum paste, not pastillage. But culinary school was 5 years ago, and I can't say that I have an iron clad memory, so maybe pastillage was the inedible one. And since altoids are basically gum paste via ingredients, and most recipes you found confirm that, then I guess it would be the better option.

When I made them in culinary school we made them from pastillage, not gum paste. Here's a recipe I found for pastillage (as I don't currently have access to my culinary school formulas) http://cakecentral.com/recipes/14633/easy-pastillage I would add whatever flavoring/oil either with the gelatin, or right after you add all the dry ingredients. I don't know if you've ever worked with pastillage before, but one thing to be aware of is that it sets up really quickly, so you need to work with it rather fast. For making altoids this probably won't be much of an issue, but we had to made pastillage boxes in school, and it was quite a pain. I'm sure you could make them from either, and gum paste has a bit more work-ability than pastillage, so I guess it's up to you really.

Thanks for letting me know. That's a bummer that it wouldn't work for the liquid centers. It's sometimes very frustrating how much companies charge for pastry equipment, though I guess it just makes the "little man" get creative to overcome having to pay such high prices until the time comes when they are able to afford such luxury items.

Aha! Thanks! He has WAY more patience than I do!

I was reading in the education section of Albert Ulster's website and got turned onto the "So Good" magazine and did a google search and found this thread. While looking through the magazine's website there were some recipes and one was for a nougat from Michel Willaume. There was a link to his website and I clicked on it http://www.mwpastry.com/en/index_en.php and on the home page it shows a chocolate sculpture...and I thought I would pick all of your brains as to how the heck he got that amazing wood grain in a sculpture piece? I've seen how to do wood grains on transfer sheets, but not sculptures. I was in awe! Any ideas???

Awesome! Thanks for the info, I'll have to try that

What's the ratio or apple puree to caramelized sugar if you don't mind me asking?

In Andrew Shotts book "Making Artisan Chocolates" he has a "candy apple" molded bon bon recipe, but I don't quite remember what he used. I own the book, I just don't have it with me at the moment, but you might inquire into what he did...I'm sure there are those out there that might remember or have a copy handy that they could look into it to help you out! I've been thinking of doing a similar bon bon, though I might just head the caramel route like Mkayahara suggested. I just recently moved to Wenatchee, WA area, and Wenatchee is considered the "apple capital of the world" so if I'm going to set up shop here (which I hope to in the next couple years) I better have some sort of apple chocolate or caramel to cater to the apple lovers coming to the area. Good luck with your ganache, I hope you get it figured out!

Good to know, thanks Kerry! I just recently pick up Fine Chocolate Great Experiences 3: Extending Shelf Life from Wybauw and The Art of the Chocolatier from Notter. I've really been enjoying The Art of the Chocolatier, a lot of very useful information, but I feel I should have purchased Wybauw's first editions of Fine Chocolates Great Experiences instead of getting the 3rd edition. Although the information regarding tips for extending shelf life are pretty useful, I don't really want to use a lot of the ingredients he suggests for extending shelf life. I want to stay with the most natural preservatives (mainly glucose and butter) as I can, but that's just my prerogative.

Okay RobertM you can put me down as a maybe...I have possible obligations next March that I'm not sure will conflict, but having read the thread on what you have planned, it sounds like it would definitely be worth my while! And I would love to meet all of those who are planning on attending!

Hey Kerry does that book go into much chocolate detail do you know, or is it just mainly focused on other types of candy confections? I guess what I'm asking is that for a chocolatier would it be a worth-while book to have in their collection?

So I was just poking around online looking at confectionery funnels (yes they are uber expensive) when I found this on Kerekes site: http://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=20977&manufacid=0&keyword=funnel I wonder if it would work similar to the confectionery funnel, but a fraction of the price. Any thoughts???

Oh I agree that having your own silicone molds you made would be nice, I wish I had the capabilities of making my own polycarbonate mold, there are so many designs that I wish they had for sale but don't. And I agree finding a cheap way to make your own molds is also very nice, it's amazing how expensive this business is. BTW, your "replacement funnel" idea was very clever, I'm definitely going to try that the next time I'm working with gooey confections I need to pour. I haven't looked into the cost of those funnels but I can only imagine how out of control expensive they are!

I read that as well, I thought it was such a waste of chocolate! I also bought a cheap candy bonbon mold to make the plaster of paris molds with, funny! Not sure where the mold went though, I'll have to go searching. Well I appreciate the blog read and though I may be fairly proficient with molds (years of practice and still get it wrong sometimes) it seems you are a natural with pulled sugar confections. I dabbled a little in culinary school, but you've definitely got a knack for it!

I just got that book in the mail! I also have been wanting to do liquor filled chocolates, but have been hesitant because of the fear of breaking them or them not turning out, or just too many other things on my plate, but I might have to just make the time and play around with them. I agree that "Art of the Chocolatier" does do a very nice job at explaining the process.

Thanks for the ideas Jaymes and andiesenji, I'll have to look into both of those!

I'm with the ice crystal crowd, I love scraping those off the ice cream with a spoon...Yum! I've actually been fiddling with re-creating that taste of the root beer float we all know and love into a chocolate. I've got the "ice cream" layer down, but been having trouble getting enough "root beer" in the root beer layer. Thinking of using flat root beer in replace of the cream and seeing how that turns out.

Wybauw had a rhubarb ganache recipe in his "Fine Chocolates Great Experiences 3: Extending Shelf Life" book. I just recently picked up the book...it's alright, but I think getting the first book in that series would have been a wiser purchase. If you would like me to post the recipe, let me know!

Food mill eh? Don't have one, but never really needed one til now. But fresh fruit in the summer is so abundant in this area that it would be silly not to make your own purees, especially with how much it costs to have them shipped frozen!

When you make your fruit purees from fresh fruit is there any special processing you do? Do you cook them to soften them up and then puree them or do you just puree without cooking? Do you add any additional sugar to them? I have some apricots that I'd like to puree but I wasn't sure if I should remove the skin, cook them down to soften them up, or just put the whole thing fresh (remove the pit of course) into the blender and puree. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the information Kerry, and I agree about the molds, that does sound like way too much work!