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I just completed my first effort (aside from truffles) at dipping ganache in chocolate (Andrew Shotts's Coffee-Hazelnut). Fairly successful, tastes great, but the hazelnut praline paste (homemade, as he suggests, but you can't really get it smooth at home) made cutting neat squares difficult, so some of the finished product is a little rough (can we say "homemade-looking"?). Another issue in cutting was that for the bottom I used untempered (as many people recommend) milk chocolate (I heated it to around 104 F. and then used it), but it still became quite firm and did not cut cleanly. But my question is what to do with the chocolate used for dipping? Ordinarily I let such chocolate harden and reuse it another time, but there are decidedly bits of praline in this. I wouldn't bother asking, but I had to use a sizable amount of chocolate to get the pool deep enough for dipping, so what would you do with the leftover? Just turn it into filling for another batch of chocolates? I'm assuming it should not be used for future dipping, except perhaps for the same recipe. Thanks for any advice.

I have been using some recipes in Ewald Notter's book and have come across a puzzle. In two recipes (key lime pralines, page 178, and mint pralines, page 186) he uses what he calls a "cracker," more like a cookie, made of chocolate and feuilletine, which eventually becomes the base of the praline. This part of both recipes calls for chocolate, cocoa butter, feuilletine (or corn flakes as a substitute), and butter. But he never mentions adding the butter. Instead he calls for adding the cocoa butter twice. I would assume the second mention is meant to be the butter, but at that point in the recipe he specifically says "Add the liquid cocoa butter..." after he has called for adding it previously. Has anyone tried either of these recipes or have a suggestion as to what was intended? Any help would be appreciated.

I am fairly new to chocolate work and have been spending a lot of time looking at possible fillings. I have Greweling's Chocolates and Confections, Shotts's Making Artisan Chocolates, and Notter's The Art of the Chocolatier, have made a list of all the fillings that seem interesting, and have now experimented with some of them. Obviously ganache is the standard type of filling, and some of the options have been delicious (Greweling's pumpkin caramel is the winner so far). But I am feeling some limitations of the medium--the chocolate, especially if it is milk or dark, tends to overwhelm the flavoring. Notter's "Tropical" praline, for example, has banana, passion fruit, mango, lime and lemon juice, but the combination of milk and dark chocolate (in my opinion) nearly overwhelms all those tropical flavors. Tasters didn't know there was banana until I told them. I found a banana/caramel recipe from the Callebaut site (from a link from this forum) that uses white chocolate, and that works better to let the flavors through (I added a few drops of lemon juice to counteract some of the sweetness). So, as far as I can tell, there are two "vehicles" for praline flavor--ganache and fondant--and the authors I have consulted so far don't give a lot of space to fondant. I made it once years ago, and my memory is that it is very, very sweet. So does it make a good filling for chocolates? Can practically any flavor be added? My impression of regular (non-gourmet) chocolates that people buy in boxes (such as Godiva) is that they use a lot of fondant; they are often a color other than chocolate and I can't think of any other way that type of filling is made. I'm not entirely sure what my question is, except to ask whether I am correct in assuming that the choices for fillings are ganache and fondant (maybe caramel is a third?). Do many people on this forum use fondant for this purpose?

I want to ask the chocolatiers here on the board if you have ever considered using another method to keeping chocolate warm and able to work with? I only ask because I was up early this morning making truffles and I had the tv on for some background noise. A commercial for this contraption called a nuwave oven came on and one of the examples they used was on chocolate. He kept the chocolate on 100 degrees and it stayed on exactly 100 degrees the entire time. I paid almost a grand for my used tempering machine and its alot of work. Anyway, I know that ads arent always truthful but this product claims to keep whatever you cook at a precise temp. and I was just thinking that it might not temper your chocolate from the beginning but that it would really help it maintaining the temper while you are working. Anyone else see the infomercial or think this product would help? I find that when im working....the phone will ring or a customer will walk in or something will delay my work and its a hassle when I have to stop what Im doing because the chocolate is now out of temper. By the way, its called the nu wave oven pic

Coconut is one of my favorite flavors with dark chocolate. I've been working on a coconut truffle filling for molded pieces that is coming along, but I'd also like to create a more shelf-stable filling for a chocolate bar, like a coconut gianduja or a coconut version of a peanut butter cup. I've been making Greweling's PB cup recipe, and I'm thinking something like toasted shredded coconut and possibly powdered coconut milk with coconut oil in place of the PB, plus the cocoa butter to firm it up. Anyone tried anything like this? I would do the bars in 60% or 70%, should I be concerned about fat migration with the coconut oil and dark chocolate? I would want these to have a shelf life of 2-3 months. Thanks for any ideas! Andrea

I was checking out Amazon and I discovered Peter Greweling has a new book coming out. Well, not really a totally new book but a new edition of Chocolates & Confections. http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/0470424419 I have his first two books and I have used them with great success. The first book was a great reference book for my Food Chemistry course last year, actually it was a whole lot more informative than the text I had to buy for the course. I am having a hard time deciding if I want to put the money down and pre-order this book too. Decisions Decisions. I think I am leaning towards getting it anyway. His books have been great so far. Anyone got an opinion on picking this book up if you have the other two?

I went out today and came home to a proud hubby, he'd helpfully cleaned all my chocolate moulds for me... With a sponge, the type with a scourer on the back... Now to see what can be salvaged...

The topic of leaking centers has been addressed before: "Leaky chocolate covered peanut butter balls" and "Leaky cherries", but I am dealing with candied ginger pieces in syrup and it's always a problem. (Funny...I googled the problem and found my own posts in eG.) In the PB balls posts, Kerry suggests letting the ginger pieces dry out for a few days. Would that I had a few days. I bought the ginger in syrup today and it has to go out as a gift tomorrow. I have run out of time. In my earlier post, I wondered about precoating the pieces in powdered sugar and cornstarch (and I never tried it). Today I patted the pieces with paper toweling...satisfactory to a point. Next, into a bag of cocoa, shake the cocoa on, shake the cocoa off, and spread on a paper towel. One hour later: most pieces look dry...a few look a tad syrup-ish. Not perfect. Next, repeated above process with some cornstarch. Twenty minutes later: they still all look dry. They still taste just fine. Who has a brilliant tip for me? Or will this latest attempt probably work? I will get back one way or t'other.

Hi everyone! I was wondering if someone can give me a good white chocolate brownie recipe, I've been changing a few brownie recipes and everything messes up when I change dark chocolate for white chocolate. Butter seems to split and consistency gets totally wrong. I'm just looking for a fudgy and dense white chocolate cake that resembles a brownie. Thanks in advance! Lia

Last week I ruined a wonderful chocolate cake...didn't hear the timer...and made cake balls/pops/truffles with the crumb, dipped in tempered 70% chocolate. An interesting first. They were delicious. Oh my. Gave them all away. Serious complaints were forthcoming from friends who are attending next weekend's Annual Dog Weekend. So, I found an old...not too old I hope...Angel Food Cake mix in the cupboard and will add some 52% chocolate to the resulting crumb and then dip the balls into tempered 70% chocolate again. Question: what would be the shelf life of the "Cake Doodads"? They'll be eaten Friday August 17 until they are gone. How early next week can I actually make them? (I need to make as much as I can ahead of time to accommodate my old and doddering bod.) Thanks.

I HAVE tried searching old posts, but I really haven't found what I am looking for. I am trying to find sources for decent chocolate that I can buy in bulk but won't cost a freaking fortune. The best I've found is Albert Uster (http://www.auiswiss.com/). I can buy 5 kg packages of couverture coins for about $45 (with free S&H if the order is over $195). Has anyone found any other sites that can compete with this? Bricks, coins, chips, etc doesn't matter all that much. For the most part, the chocolate goes into making cupcakes, frostings, and fillings. I got a great deal at Costco when they were selling 3lb packages of Ghirardelli chips for $10. I know this wasn't couverture chocolate, but it worked for my purposes. Thanks!

Does anyone know of any giant bar moulds available? When I say giant I mean a single bar larger than 12 inches or so. Thanks.

Anyone ever try it? I've started a new job, and this was one of the chocolates they had brought in to try. They had bags of the 60% that I have used for brownies, truffles and ganache for cakes. It's easy to work with and emulsifies very easily when making ganache. We get it from Italfoods, haven't seen it anywhere else. I asked the rep to send some of the white and milk to try. Not being a fan of white, I really like the flavor of this one. Not too sweet either. Only drawback some people may have with it is they use organic ground vanilla bean in it. So, there are little specks. I attached a picture. I melted some yesterday and it's viscosity is very fluid, so it may mold well. I'll have to try it and see. I don't mind the little specks of vanilla. It might make an interesting molded chocolate. I made my usual passionfruit ganache with it, and it was very tasty. Still have to taste the milk chocolate.

I've been asked to create a white chocolate wedding cake for a friend, whose wedding is in September (the 22nd, to be precise). All well and good, but I haven't got a go-to recipe for such a creature, and I tend to avoid white chocolate (I find myself thinking it's unnatural, like zombies....) I have access to white chocolate couberture made from Arriba cacao beans, and it's all cocoa butter with no vegetable additions (so, as far as white chocolate goes, it's good stuff). Does anybody out there have a really stupendous recipe they'd be willing to share? Or tips on how to incorporate melted white chocolate into a cake batter? Thanks in advance....

As we all know, some moulds de-mould better than others, some always end up with bubbles, others sometimes just mould thinly due to their shapes. I'm about to purchase quite a few new moulds and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Prvoni Innovation moulds (page showing the type of moulds I'm looking at), good, bad, indifferent? I'm trying to find a set of moulds that are modern/contempary for some unusually flavoured chocolates. Thanks!

I made an Herve This style chocolate mousse last weekend - it is an emulsion of only coffee and chocolate - and it has been in my refrigerator all week. For how long will it still be safe to eat? Is there something in there that can go bad? There are two different versions - the details of which are: Mousse 1: 150g bittersweet chocolate 120g coffee Mousse 2: 150g bittersweet chocolate 140g coffee

Moving this over from the report thread on the 2012 conference - noticed I've changed the name to Workshop from Conference as it seems more appropriate to what we get up to. Conference sounds so dry! Anyway I've already booked the dates with Niagara College - April 27 and 28, 2013. I'm working on a block of rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn - rates will likely be between $109 and $119/night depending on two queen beds vs 1 king. The rates are lower than that for the Wed, Thursday and the Monday after. I won't have definite amounts until the beginning of May. There is certainly other accommodation available - but I won't be able to do block for that. I think we can safely say that one of the Friday activities will be a tour of Art and Wilma's new panning facility - they've moved from their very small quarters in to a huge new building and it is a treat to see. I think we'll skip Tomric this time around - but I'm sure people may want to hit there if they are flying into Buffalo. HOST'S NOTE: Click here for the terms under which this event is listed at the eG Forums.

I will be in the Overland Park, Kansas area at the end of April and was wondering if there are any great chocolate shops and/or patisseries that I should check out while there. Thanks In Advance!

Hi I'm a beginner in making chocolate truffles. What I have here are some Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate chips (repacked by my local bakery supply store in 1lb pack). I was planning to temper them and coat the truffles I make, but later I saw online that some chocolate chips contain additives to hold their shapes at a higher temperature, which will cause troubles in the tempering process. Does anyone know if the Callebaut chips are pure chocolate or those compounded baking chocolate? Could anyone recommand some brands of chocolate which are good for coating? The callebaut chips I have here contain 52.9% cocoa, not sure about the cocoa butter content though. Thanks!!!!

Toots and I love dark chocolate. This weekend is her birthday party and I'd like to make something interesting and different that will be robed in dark chocolate. Any suggestions ... besides strawberries and nuts?

When I was really getting into confectionery last month, I was disgusted by how much dipping forks cost, so I decided to make my own. I used plumber's solder to join the wire together, so it's safe. I wasn't too happy with the join because I was using my dollar store soldering iron, and it seemed to have trouble getting the workpiece hot enough. The join is still pretty strong. Next batch, I'm thinking of using my blow torch. The spiral one ended up getting turned into a holder for my instant read thermometer so I can keep my hand cool while checking temps. These are prototypes, so they are a bit ugly. I picked out the poplar dowel handles from the scrap bin.

Has anyone tried any of the ganache recipes in William Curley's book Couture Chocolates? I tried to make the star anise ganache (p. 66) and it didn't solidify. The recipe says to slab the ganache and cut the next day. The problem was that the next day it was still much too soft to cut. It was more the consistency of a very (emphasis on very) soft ganache for a molded chocolate. The recipe uses a mix of bittersweet chocolate and gianduja for the chocolate component. I was suspicious of the recipe before I began because the ratio of the chocolate mix to cream is only about 1.25:1 which seemed too low to me for a slabbed ganache. Also the recipe calls for heating the chocolate to about 45C (113F) before emulsifying with the cream. Could this have contributed to the ganache not setting, at least in the 24 hour timeframe called for in the recipe? I usually use tempered chocolate to make ganaches. The instructions also have you use a chocolate/cocoa butter mix for the foot. As this mixture crystallized on the slab it cracked a lot and was very brittle. Meanwhile I scooped the ganache up and it's sitting in the refrigerator until I have time to make some molded chocolates. Should be a good filling for that! On the bright side, the flavor is quite nice.

I've been searching for a recipe for margarita truffles. Any suggestions?

Ok, so we tend to show off the jewels of the production, but certainly in my kitchen, there is a lot of stuff produced that is less than picture perfect. Let's bring them out into the light - as long as they taste good, the looks are bonus. I'll open by demonstrating how not to make a beautiful cocoa butter swirl. It was beautiful, but the swirl stayed firmly in the mould. It is salty caramel and almond. Tasty!

Perfect for Dipping by Melissa Clark is an article I found yesterday online in the NYT. What's this? Quick tempering of chocolate using a neutral vegetable oil? Why have I never noticed this before? Is this a terrible thing to do? I see that it 'lasts' only two days or so. What would I use it for? Of course I'm going to try it...the courverture, Guittard's Bittersweet, is out on the counter...but I'm really curious to know what, if anything, anyone else has to report about this technique.