rajoress

For Valentine's Day - Pierre Hermes chocolate caramel truffles. This time, I ended up with some crystallized sugar in the caramel but was ensured by my family that they liked the crunchy texture - go figure! Thanks for looking, Ruth

Posted 30 January 2014 - 04:15 PM Ruth – I love the sharp edges on your Christmas cookies (post #391). Do you share the recipe? Kim - the credit for this wonderful shortbread cookie goes to King Arthur Flour. It is their "holiday cutout cookie" recipe that can be found on their site. I just used it to make valentines day cookies and it is a winner every time. Love all your baking pics! :-) Ruth

I love everything that's posted - beautiful pics and sweets! I was stuck in the house during the recent cold snap and snow storm and decided it was a good day to bake challah! These are two of the 3 loaves and my first time braiding bread (I'm more of a pastry person!). The next time I think I would make my loaves shorter and fatter and maybe try more than 3 part braids. Thanks for looking! Ruth sorry the pic is so big, I can never figure that out! (recipe from Joan Nathan by way of Smitten Kitchen)

Everything looks amazing! Here's my latest - a friend needed to bring decorated cookies to a party and couldn't find them at any bakery. Just the excuse I needed to bake! Thanks for looking and happy holidays! Ruth

Hello all, I have a big bowl of leftover ganache (well technically it was a cream glaze) and I was thinking of repurposing it for a chocolate fondue for Hanukkah. Does anyone have any tips on anything I could do - other than heating it? It's been in the fridge for a couple of weeks and is hard at that temp; I was thinking of heating it in a double boiler and maybe thinning with some additional cream, butter, or corn syrup. Any ideas on which would be most effective to make a fondue? Thanks for any suggestions! Ruth

Love all the pics above! My latest creation was a flourless chocolate torte for my gluten-free friend's birthday! Amazing recipe from The Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook. Chocolate cake covered in a chocolate cream glaze and decorated with chocolate stars brushed with silver and edible star glitter.

Well these aren't of the caliber of the other items posted (they're all gorgeous, btw) but here are some peppermint patties. I love the fondant recipe from Greweling's "At Home" - comes out perfect every time! Thanks for looking! Ruth

I make the 2 layer peppermint bark every year and spread it thin on a parchment lined sheet pan and when it's just set, score and then cut into diamonds. I always cut off the edges anyway - for quality control :-) Any diamond shapes that don't fit into my prescribed 1/2lb or lb boxes get cut in haf into triangles and I finish the boxes with these. But like the others, I portion mine out by weight. I also have a ton of cheap plastic molds. I use pastry bags to fill then refrigerate for a few minutes to set then have no problem releasing. If they're too flexible I place on a quarter sheet pan or something to keep the chocolate level. Good luck!

Just an fyi - I make Toba Garrett's chocolate buttercream which is an American buttercream using butter, powdered sugar, and cocoa (and liquids and flavorings) but it also had ganache added - up to a cup for a regular batch. This addition makes the buttercream a beautiful texture. You can find her recipe at epicurious.com, I believe.

Okay - thanks for your replies! Off to find some oil based coloring locally....

I'm sorry I can't address the "physics" part of your question ;-) but I was thinking maybe you could try dehydrated strawberries? You could crush them to a fine powder and add to your cream? They would hardly add any weight at all. Good luck with your bonus questions! Ruth

Hello all, I have a tub of Cacao Barry Ivoire dipping chocolate that I want to color but I currently don't have the right shade candy coloring. Do you think I can use regular gel food colors that contain a small amount of water? I know if I was using white chocolate that needed to be tempered, I couldn't use the regular food coloring but thought maybe with the chocolate coating it would work. Thanks for any advice! Ruth

The banana bundt cake in Dorie Greenspan's Baking book is awesome. It bakes up huge and needs absolutely no adornment. I added a few mini chocolate chips in and it was to die for! (this probably qualifies as a tea or quick bread but it's so moist and hasa beautiful crumb)

Thanks all for your great and inspirational replies! I ran out of time (and energy after having to clean and cook also) so I made it easy on myself. I did whipped white chocolate ganache with a little raspberry puree added in (used for the first fruit course!) and whipped milk chocolate ganache with roasted ground coffee beans folded in. I was afraid the coffee beans would give a bitter crunch but because they were inside milk chocolate and between two chocolate cookies, the taste was amazing - no bitterness. Thanks again! Ruth

Hello all, I recently bought this great rectangular fluted cookie cutter which my mom said - "that would be great for sandwich cookies". So now I've been roped into making these for Jewish New Year (although they're not related to the holiday in any way!). So I've made the chocolate cookies (from Fran Bigelow's chocolate cookbook) but am stumped as to what to fill them with. All I could come up with was white chocolate ganache but I'm afraid that'll be too boring. We already have mint, nuts, apple and honey desserts so trying to think of something different. Anyone have any ideas for sandwich cookie fillings? Thanks! Ruth

I purchase all my 11lb Callebaut blocks from a vendor in Massachusetts but I believe they sell nationwide. They don't have a large selection but their prices can't be beat. I'm not sure how many drops on my white and milk but I've been using theirs exclusively for at leat 10 years and the viscosity of both is perfect for my tempering machine and for molding and hand enrobing. If anything, the white is a little too thin. I usually only have to add cocoa butter to the semi-sweet and I just toss about a half to one inch chunk to about a pound and a half of chocolate. Hope this helps! Ruth www.gourmail.com (this is the description - not much! I'm not home so can't look to see how many drops listed on my blocks but you could probably call them to ask) Callebaut White Chocolate (Belgium) WNV Callebaut Milk Chocolate (Belgium) 13%

Everyone's desserts look amazing! The baking bug hit me this weekend - blueberry hand pies (recipe from King Arthur) and banana chocolate chip cake - wonderful recipe from Baking with Dorie Goldspan - delicious (I added the chocolate chips). Thanks for looking! (Sorry if the pictures come out too large!)

I've purchased many items from papermart.com for wrapping chocolates and cookies. They have numerous tie options, some nice short wide twist ties that come in gold and silver (and red/green for holidays) that go on very easily and you can buy all of their products in bulk (or not) and I think their prices are very reasonable. Hope this helps! Ruth

Here are a few things I've mixed into my barks: Milk, dark, or white chocolate with - pretzel pieces chopped oreos or other cookies crisp rice cereal toffee pieces dried fruits marshmallows a few more (with nuts!) - pistachios and dried cranberries with white chocolate peanuts and marshmallow with milk chocolate peanuts and raisins with dark chocolate dried bluberries and roasted almonds with dark chocolate dried cherries and pecans with milk or dark chocolate best of luck to you! Ruth

Thank you all for the compliments on the cheesecake. I can't take any credit - it is the original Philadephia cream cheese recipe that somehow doesn't always show up on the boxes in its original form. The original has a little flour and sour cream and the requisite 2 1/2 pounds of cream cheese...among other things. Here is a chocolate babka I made - it was delicious and the recipe was from (of all places) the Chef's Catalogue - they periodically email recipes and it was very authentic, like it came from a Jewish deli. Thanks for looking! Ruth

I've used this website many times for food grade bags and boxes and it looks like they have the size you're looking for. Look under boxes, food boxes, under bakery boxes with windows and that exact size is the last in the list. Not sure if you want them with windows, but they might have them without. You can buy them each or by the case. Hope this helps! Ruth www.papermart.com

Everyone's desserts look wonderful. Emmalish, I made the Double Chocolate Cookies and they were a huge hit all weekend - thank you! My mother asked for a cheesecake for her birthday which we celebrated yesterday so my 15 year old niece told me to decorate it for Memorial Day with the strawberries and blueberries. Thanks for looking, Ruth

My mother has repeatedly hinted that she'd like strawberry shortcake for Mother's day dessert. I little while ago I made some drop biscuits that she loved and now she wants those with strawberries and whipped cream. I think I'll have to do that plus bring some chocolate cupcakes for the rest of the crowd!

Ina Garten has a lovely parmesan "cracker" in one of her cookbooks that is very similar to Dorie Greenspan's savory sable (I think hers has parmesan). Dorie's recipe is in her Baking book. I've tried Ina's, needed to add a little more water to it to get the dough to come together but they were great. I'm sure you could add some type of tomato liquid or the flavored butter to get the tomato sable. They have a wonderful crumbly sandy texture.

Coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate - for Passover. Thanks for looking! Ruth