Chocoguyin Pemby

I add instant coffee to the cream and butter as it warms - works great - and you can add a touch of kahlua as well.

I love your packaging and bonbons! Great job!

THX - yes that is the one!! I was not looking there!!

Hi everyone - I know I saw a post about different packaging makers - I have searched and looked and can't find it - it was just a list of different suppliers - can anyone point me in the right direction to find it? Is there a key word I should use for the search? TIA

Made some Cowboy Candy Turtle bites - at the request of my wife and I am quite liking the size of them. I put 3-1/2 roasted pecan haves in groups and just pour the caramel from the pot over each grouping. I usually dip that in chocolate but cut them into quarters and then dipped them and topped with some pecan crumble so I know they are not regular turtles. I over roasted the pecans - 350F for 13 minutes - I discovered this when I forgot them one day and thought damn it I just burnt them but when I tasted them they were amazing! Cowboy Candy is candied pickled jalepeno slices I made with ACV and honey or maple or sugar - a great condiment on many items - burgers sandwiches etc. I chopped up 50g of it and added it to the caramel made with my own vanilla extract (better than anything I can buy) and voila - a unique turtle experience! Sweet with a touch of heat and salt. this is my first batch of the bites and they are kind of ugly - I mean artisinal. Not sure how to make them prettier or if it is worth the time and effort - they don't last long as I sold 45 of the 60 and gave the rest away as samples - which generated the sales! I sell the rounds for $3 normally and sold the bites for .75 so I made the same money - and strangely didn't use anymore chocolate dipping them. I always weigh the bowl before and after so I know exactly how much I have used and I have the bowl weight written on all my bowls - comes in super handy when the scale turns of when I get sidetracked. I have some more turtle flavours planned just need to do some experimenting. I love salted vanilla caramel but adding the cowboy candy gives it a little zing which I am loving.

Mendiants - I have seen some that look amazing.

Hi all - I am looking for some tips to make geode style mendants - I know I have seen this done somewhere but now can't find the info on how to do it - anyone able to point me in the right direction? TIA

Thanks to all who posted their pictures and for all the comments and creative ideas - i really want to attend this and will do hopefully next year - I am already planning on it and have told my perfect partner that I need a week off in May to do this. And kudos to all who helped organize the event so we could follow from afar!

It basically seized for some reason i don't know - I haven't tried again since but might circle back and try it with creamed butter instead of melted butter.

how is the caramel coming?

How many times do you brush the sides down? I do it 3x usually after a couple of minutes of boiling, peak boiling and last time as the colour starts to get close to the final colour I want. I make a lot of caramel and only use 10% corn syrup. Here is the recipe I use: 270 g sugar 30 g corn syrup 1/3 C water - mix gently to make a wet sandy texture and then do not stir!!!!! swirl the pot if you want gently but not necessary Caramelize sugar and add the cream and butter when you want 35 g butter 290 g Heavy whipping cream warm with the butter. boil to 230 1/2 heaping teaspoon of Kosher salt 1-2 tsp Vanilla extract - I use 2 tsp and I also make my own extract - caramel without vanilla just tastes blah to me finish by adding the salt and vanilla. I use a silicone spatula to stir the caramel. If you are just pouring the caramel into a bowl, scrape the pot out onto some parchment paper and use the caramel over ice cream or something - don't waste the caramel left in the pot! I make and sell lots of caramel using this recipe and have not experienced any crystalyzing with it. Hope you figure it out.

Has anyone tried using caramelized sugar to make cookies? I recently tried this - I made some caramelized sugar and ground it up in the food processor and used it to make some cookies - it was a total disaster and I don't know why. I am a pretty experienced home baker and can't figure out why this experiment failed - if anyone more knowledgeable knows why caramelized sugar won't work I would love to hear why. I used melted butter to make the batch of cookies and realized something was wrong as I tried to combine them. As I am typing this I wounder if it would work better if I creamed the butter and sugar. TIA

I would love to attend but just saw the dates and I am not available this year - I am going to block that time period off for next year.

Question for the group - when polishing your molds - if you do - I was just told that isopropyl alcohol is not a food safe product for this use - I have been using it for years and no one has ever gotten sick but now I am wondering? Should I switch to alcohol like vodka or keep using Isopropyl alcohol? TIA

FauxPas - Thanks for posting this list - I heard the Michelin list was out but hadn't had time to look at it yet - Im going to the city Thursday and am going to check one restaurant out of the 3 lists out. Looking forward to it.