Jim D.

Whether eggs should be included in a chocolate has been discussed widely. Peter Greweling and Ewald Notter exclude all ganaches with egg from their books. Jean-Pierre Wybauw does not but--in his recipes I have read--uses a very large amount of liquor with the eggs. The best-seller at the famous Kee's Chocolates in New York has a creme brulee filling, but the owner supposedly tells customers to refrigerate it and consume it within a day. As much as I would love to use custards in chocolates, I myself would not feel comfortable using eggs in a ganache unless I were preparing it for people who would eat it in front of me. It is possible to get close to the texture of a custard-type filling with a butter ganache, which has a very long shelf life.

Valrhona also makes a sampler pack of some of their dark chocolates, something I found very useful in deciding what chocolate to purchase; I'm sure the Cluizel pack was helpful as well. Some time ago I tried to talk Chocosphere into creating sample packs of various brands--for example, a few pieces of the various white chocolates they carry. I thought (and still think) it would be a major help to confectioners/chocolatiers/ice cream makers, who would be willing to pay for the labor involved. Since online suppliers often repackage chocolate to create their own sizes to sell, the bags are already open. But the idea did not spark any interest. I see that World Wide Chocolates does not carry Felchlin. Too bad, since that company has, IMHO, some of the best chocolate I have tasted.

Another question on guitars: I know that cutting ganache containing coconut or nuts is not wise, but what about caramelized cocoa nibs? I assume that is also risky. Any thoughts? I would like to have the nibs as part of the ganache but could use them as decoration on the finished top instead. That sounds better than fixing a broken guitar wire.

I am looking for advice on cutting diamond shapes on a guitar. I have seen a video from Bakon showing this procedure, but it is a very quick view. In that video it looked as if the shapes from the first cut were ordinary strips the length of the ganache. Then they were placed at an angle, the strips staggered in their positions (each strip placed at a different spot on the guitar base). Is there some way to calculate the angle and the positioning of the strips for the second cut, or is it just a hit-or-miss procedure? Thanks for any help.

I am preparing to make Greweling's praline meltaway: chocolate + coconut oil + praline paste. Since everything in the recipe is fat-based, is there any reason I can't add some crushed feuilletine or chopped hazelnuts (without them becoming mushy)?

That should really make a zombie with a lasting effect!

Good point. I made the purée myself: frozen raspberries, thawed and drained, then into the food processor, then strained to take out the seeds. Not reduced since I prefer the raspberries uncooked. It's definitely thicker than the usual purchased purées (many of which--even Boiron--seem watery to me). I'll test it next time I make some.

190g of raspberry purée is combined with 50g sugar and 30g glucose and brought to a boil. Combine 9g pectin and 15g sugar, then add to the purée, then 1g lemon juice. Then the directions differ a little from the usual PDF (no temp is mentioned): Boil for 3 minutes or "until the mixture coats the back of a spatula." Cool and then pipe into molds. I have found that 3 minutes is far too long and produces a firm substance that cannot be piped. Do you see any clues in the recipe that would account for the very high Aw reading? It is, of course, possible that I made an error in taking the reading, but I was so startled by the 0.93 reading that I have shied away from the recipe (though the combination of the raspberry layer with an orange-infused dark chocolate layer is delicious).

I'm glad you brought that up. Recently I was making a Notter recipe that calls for a layer of raspberry piped into a mold, then another layer of orange-flavored dark chocolate. The raspberry isn't quite the firm texture of a PDF (Notter calls it a coulis--which is not exactly accurate), but the method is the same and quite a bit of sugar is involved. I have an Aw meter and tested the two fillings. I was startled to see a 0.93 reading for the coulis--.07 higher and it would have been all water! I am not sure what to conclude from this. Perhaps the high amount of sugar in a PDF preserves it in spite of the high water content? I checked books from Wybauw, who is fanatical about shelf life. Surely, I thought, he won't include any PDFs in his chocolates. But in fact he does, though interestingly he does not ordinarily include the Aw reading for these. Maybe water activity is irrelevant for PDFs?

Just to correct the record: Kerry Beal's EZtemper machine does not directly temper chocolate (or make ice cream). The user places solid cocoa butter in it, and the machine creates a semi-melted product (called "cocoa butter silk") and holds it at a set temperature practically forever. The silk can be used to temper chocolate quickly and with less mess than when using small already-tempered pieces of chocolate and has other uses, such as tempering/crystallizing gianduja, meltaways, and ganaches. It speeds up the production of chocolates quite noticeably and especially makes the crystallization of slabbed ganaches faster and more reliable.

Good point. I had not thought of that. I might experiment this summer by using Pomona's in a PDF and keeping it for a while to see what happens.

In regard to using PDF as a filling for chocolates: Instead of trying to get the PDF into a mold, you could (after the PDF has set and cooled) cut it into pieces and dip them in chocolate. To deal with the sweetness, you could use a quite dark chocolate. And to make it more interesting you could add a complementary layer, e.g., passion fruit PDF paired with lemon or vanilla ganache; mango PDF paired with lime ganache; cherry PDF paired with almond gianduja. A propos the sweetness issue: I don't use PDFs often because of the excessive sweetness mentioned previously. A couple of times I tried Pomona's pectin, which calls for considerably less sugar (and less cooking, which helps with retaining the fruit flavor). I'm not sure why chocolatiers/confectioners don't use it more often and would be interested in others' views on that subject.

I'm assuming the nibs (or nuts) would not stay crisp in a cream ganache. I did discover recently that toasted pistachios are OK in a ganache--but pistachios are never all that crisp to start with.

Pastrygirl, That looks like a fantastic dessert, beautiful to look at. How do you candy cocoa nibs? Sounds intriguing. Jim

I use recipes from Greweling, Notter, and Shotts that use more or less the same technique. I grind the coffee coarsely, steep it in the warm cream for about 15 minutes, then strain it out (the coarse grind makes it easier), pressing on the grounds (if a little finely ground coffee gets through, that's even better). Finally I add enough additional cream to reach the original weight of cream. I think a coffee layer is great paired with a vanilla one or a caramel one (including dulce de leche, as in Greweling).

Although I was not a participant in the workshop, I would like to comment on this question: I have used the PCB transfer sheets (made in France and available in the US from Qzina and Bakedeco, probably other places as well) and have recently purchased some from Chocotransfersheets. I have not used the Chef Rubber product and do not know whether they make their own or use another brand. The PCB items are beautifully photographed and work very well, with little melting in the process of cutting and placing them, but I have found that some of them do not live up to the image online (one of them had very different colors and in others the color has seemed less vibrant than pictured--obviously they employ a gifted photographer). In addition, many of the designs are large, so that when applied to an individual chocolate the overall design is mostly lost. I realized this after I had purchased quite a few. They would be great for use on something larger, such as a cake. It seems to me that Chocotransfersheets has quite a lot of smaller designs that work very well with chocolates, and I have been very pleased with the vibrant colors. They also sell smaller packages, which is great for the small producer. There is an issue, however, with their tendency to melt more quickly when I am working with them--even when I wear gloves. In viewing sheets online, I also think that Chef Rubber has many small designs that would work well with chocolates. My universal complaint (though it's something that is unavoidable) is that it is quite difficult to choose colors that work with dark or milk chocolate. A beautiful red will turn to brown every time. Yellow and white work quite well, green is not too bad. I know that one can spray them with white cocoa butter, but I did not find that successful the one time I tried it. I would certainly be a customer for transfer sheets that feature opaque colors.

In a previous discussion of making a stripe, one person mentioned that she had found a food-safe adhesive and used it successfully for this effect: I mentioned in my reply that I was unable to find this food-safe adhesive (I was hoping she would reply with where to locate it), but there were no more postings in that thread.

Curls, Any chance Morato revealed how he got that perfect thin stripe on the dome (second photo down in the post on Morato)? You know, the perfect stripe so many of us have tried to achieve?

L'Epicerie in NYC has several different types of pistachio paste. Go to the site and do a search for "pistachio paste." I use the Agrimontana brand from Sicily (they have two varieties: one completely smooth and the other with some texture).

I vacuum-seal and freeze leftover caramel all the time. As gfron1 said, it doesn't usually freeze completely solid. Once I take it out and heat it, it always appears and tastes fine to me. With a vacuum seal, it doesn't pick up any moisture. You can also mix it with a new batch with no problems. As also said previously, it probably isn't necessary to freeze caramel, but if you have the space, why not?

The question of whether colored cocoa butter needs tempering (in any traditional sense) has been debated on eGullet at some length. Many experts say the act of finger-painting or spraying tempers the c.b. I am not totally convinced this is true: If all the Type V crystals are melted out (easy to do in the microwave, I have learned), will simply lowering the temp and agitating the c.b. temper it? I have had enough failures with decorating molds and then having trouble getting the chocolates out that I have recently begun testing the c.b. each time. And if it is out of temper, I just add a little cocoa butter silk (from the EZtemper) to whatever container I am using, stir vigorously, then test. It has always tested as being in temper with this method. As I say, this may be overdoing it (and who can argue with some of the beautiful results from those who do not temper?) but it cannot hurt. When using c.b. from a bottle that is still solid, I use the method mentioned by Kerry--but in that case Type V crystals are being introduced from the unmelted c.b.

My question about using glucose was whether I should proportion the amount of sugar in the recipe to (approx.) 75% of the sugar called for + 25% glucose. I know sugar and glucose don't have the same degree of sweetening, but, roughly speaking, if I split the sugar into sugar + glucose, this is not adding any sugar to the recipe. Greweling doesn't mention using a "doctor" in this specific recipe, but he refers to his basic dry caramel method, in which he calls for some sort of doctor but doesn't give an amount. I'm making the basic assumption in the walnut recipe that he is taking into account the additional sweetness of the fondant and the almond paste.

A further question: If I switch to the wet caramel method for the walnut recipe, what amount of glucose would be recommended? A typical caramel recipe might call for 4:1 sugar to glucose. Greweling specifies 110g of sugar (no glucose mentioned). Should I assume the amount of sugar should be adjusted downward to account for 1/4 glucose? As I mentioned previously, the addition of fondant and almond paste (both of which contain sugar) complicates matters.

pastryani, "In my experience dry caramel can be pretty tricky and you have to be super fast - you could try repeating the recipe but with a wet caramel for a little added insurance." As I gave the issue more thought after posting, this was my conclusion as well. As for the process, I think the sugar was all melted and was a rather light color (which I was aiming for). To support your diagnosis, I was making a very small amount of the Greweling recipe, so the sugar went from white to brown quite quickly.

My question seems to go under this general topic, though it's been a long time since the topic had any comments. Today I tried Peter Greweling's walnut bon bons. He calls for a "dry caramel." I did that, using a bit of glucose as a "doctor," then added the heated cream and right away added the almond paste and fondant, then the toasted walnuts. He does not call for any cooking beyond the initial caramelizing of the sugar. Once the mixture cooled a little, I tasted it, and it was delicious. But later, when the mixture had solidified, it had become almost too firm to eat. I might have been able to pipe it into molds at an earlier point, but it would have made for a rough eating experience once it was completely cool. My question is what to do to keep it pliable. Since there is no cooking of the caramel (as in the case of a "wet caramel"), I don't see how I can cook it less. I thought of using a wet caramel instead, but the adding of almond paste and fondant make getting the measurements a little tricky--obviously the fondant contributes some sweetness that is not in the usual caramel. It almost seems as if the recipe doesn't call for enough cream (amounts are 240g cream, 110g sugar, 190g fondant, 230g almond paste). Any suggestions would be welcome.