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I would like to know what my peers prefer to glaze with..... Ganache: with the addition of butter, eggs or no eggs, no butter? trimolene, glucose, sugar????? Simple chocolate glaze, chocolate, cream, simple syrup? Glacage? Love it, but way to fragile...... I guess I'm searching for the perfect glaze.... One that shines, coats evenly, slighly resilliant, retains its luster and dear god, please no sweating......

I am having problems with my chocolate blooming. I am fairly certain that I am tempering the chocolate correctly. I have not had problems with getting a good temper in the past--although my experience is limited. I am hand dipping caramel centers in dark chocolate couverature. After about 10 minutes of drying, the candies have a noticeable white bloom on their surface. The room temperature is around 72f. Could there be a problem with temperature or humidity? Or is my tempering suspect? Any advice on avoiding bloom would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Christa

I'm getting ready for my annual baking of massive quantities of hamantashen. I use a combination of purchased and home made fillings -- both the traditional fillings as well as some non-traditional ones. The non-traditional filling that I struggle with every year is chocolate. Always a favorite with the kids and, quite frankly, I like it too. Every year I make a pretty thick ganache, and every year it boils up and out of my dough during baking. Can anyone propose a good alternative? Could I make something with cocoa instead of chocolate? Any ideas are welcome. [if you are unfamiliar, hamantashen are a Jewish pastry where the dough is rolled and cut into a round shape and then folded into a triangle to surround a filling, with a small amount of the filling peeking out of the top. Traditional fillings are poppy seed (mohn), prune (lekvar), and a variety of other fruit flavors.]

Saw the story on Business Wire, but can no longer link to it because it is from January 30th. Anywho, here's The Cincinnati Post online story from January 15, 2004: story here. Cheers!

Anybody ever tasted these? I haven't, but am wondering what they're like - upscale? tasty? Thanks ...

Perdices con chocolate (partridge with chocolate) is a traditional dish in Spain, I believe specifically in Toledo, Bux. One of the dishes that I've enjoyed the most, was some cuitlacoche quesadillas with mole poblano and chocolate sauce. Clearly mexican influenced .

I am making desserts for this woman's wedding reception and she is serving Chinese food, so I thought that it might be nice to have a chocolate bao... She said she wanted to incorporate dark chocolate and fruit together in the dessert, so I was thinking about what I could do. A dark chocolate bao stuffed with a fruit mixture would be cool, I think....but I don't know how possible that is. Anybody have any input?

Chocolate Bread Pudding I enjoyed this dessert at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara by the fireplace in the downstairs restaurant. The Plow and Angel has a romantic atmosphere. SO enjoy this dessert, cozy by the fire, at home. Serves 8 6 cups Brioche (croissants, french bread O.K.) Use day old bread and cut into 1 in. cubes. 6 each Eggs 1 cup Sugar 3 cups heavy cream 1 t. Vanilla 8 oz. Semi sweet chocolate, melted (Valhrona) 1/2 t. salt 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Butter ovenproof dish or individual ramikins 3. Combine eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and mix well. Whisk in melted chocolate 4. Add bread to mixture, let soak 25 min. until bread absorbs most of the eg mixture 5. Carefully fill baking dish 7/8 full with the butter 6. Place dish or ramekins in another larger pan and fill pan 1/2 way up with hot water (water bath). 7. Bake 30 to 49 min. until the center of custard is set. 8. Remove from oven and let set 15-20 min. before serving. 9. Serve with homemade whipped cream and I like white chocolate gelato. Garnish with mint and get creative. Keywords: Dessert, Chocolate, Easy ( RG817 )

Chocolate Bread Pudding I enjoyed this dessert at the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara by the fireplace in the downstairs restaurant. The Plow and Angel has a romantic atmosphere. SO enjoy this dessert, cozy by the fire, at home. Serves 8 6 cups Brioche (croissants, french bread O.K.) Use day old bread and cut into 1 in. cubes. 6 each Eggs 1 cup Sugar 3 cups heavy cream 1 t. Vanilla 8 oz. Semi sweet chocolate, melted (Valhrona) 1/2 t. salt 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Butter ovenproof dish or individual ramikins 3. Combine eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and mix well. Whisk in melted chocolate 4. Add bread to mixture, let soak 25 min. until bread absorbs most of the eg mixture 5. Carefully fill baking dish 7/8 full with the butter 6. Place dish or ramekins in another larger pan and fill pan 1/2 way up with hot water (water bath). 7. Bake 30 to 49 min. until the center of custard is set. 8. Remove from oven and let set 15-20 min. before serving. 9. Serve with homemade whipped cream and I like white chocolate gelato. Garnish with mint and get creative. Keywords: Dessert, Chocolate, Easy ( RG817 )

Saw this in the store the other day and decided to try it, a bock beer with real chocolate as an ingredient. Basically a good but not great beer. I thought the chocolate taste was too strong. Reccomend this as no more than a dessert beer. I also those that it was way overpriced at $16/bomber sized bottle.

These are just about my favorite kind of assorted chocolates. My absolute favorites are the following: Hazelnut praline and buttercrunch in marbleized ivory. Chocolate cream and hazelnut praline in milk chocolate. Hazelnut praline with biscuit pieces in ivory, decorated with candied sugar. Dark chocolate truffle dusted with cocoa, sugar and cinnamon. Lemon ganache in a milk chocolate shell. Their newest one is "Noix Macadamia" which is hazelnut praline with ground nougatine and shortbread biscuit, topped with macadamia nut and enrobed in milk chocolate. What are yours? Soba

anybody have any leads on how to get bernachon chocolates here in the us other than calling them directly and trying to decipher an order with my poor french?

Chocolate Coated Mint Leaves After a big hearty meal, I like to wait awhile for dessert. When I have guests, I pass around a plate with the chocolate minted leaves. It's refreshng. The leaves hold their shape well, and these could be for a decoration on any dessert. 6 ounces of Vahlrona chocolate Mint leaves. I use fresh from the garden. Melt the chocolate in a double broiler, stirring constantly. Remove the bowl and continue to stir till the chocolate is melted and smooth. Put wax paper or parchment on a cookie sheet or tray. Put plastic wrap on a rolling pin. Take the mint leaf by the stem and dip in chocolate, coating both sides. Put the leaf on the rolling pin to let dry. It's not mandatory, but I think it retains a nice shape. Then put the leaves in the freezer to set until frozen, and you can put into a freezer bag until ready to use. Keywords: Easy, Chocolate ( RG798 )

Chocolate Coated Mint Leaves After a big hearty meal, I like to wait awhile for dessert. When I have guests, I pass around a plate with the chocolate minted leaves. It's refreshng. The leaves hold their shape well, and these could be for a decoration on any dessert. 6 ounces of Vahlrona chocolate Mint leaves. I use fresh from the garden. Melt the chocolate in a double broiler, stirring constantly. Remove the bowl and continue to stir till the chocolate is melted and smooth. Put wax paper or parchment on a cookie sheet or tray. Put plastic wrap on a rolling pin. Take the mint leaf by the stem and dip in chocolate, coating both sides. Put the leaf on the rolling pin to let dry. It's not mandatory, but I think it retains a nice shape. Then put the leaves in the freezer to set until frozen, and you can put into a freezer bag until ready to use. Keywords: Easy, Chocolate ( RG798 )

I've posted this in the NY forum already, but I thought I might get a different response from my fellow coffee-heads -- perhaps there's an online or mail-order source if not a NY-area source?: Does anyone know where I can get my hands on some Ghirardelli chocolate syrup? Not the powder, not the candies. The syrup. My favorite coffee shop uses it to make the most wonderful mochaccinos I've ever had...I need to get some of this for my own personal stash. It's on the Ghirardelli website here, but says that it's only available to the trade. Any suggestions? Thanks! [edited to add in link that didn't transfer]

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on some Ghirardelli chocolate syrup? Not the powder, not the candies. The syrup. My favorite coffee shop uses it to make the most wonderful mochaccinos I've ever had...I need to get some of this for my own personal stash. It's on the Ghirardelli website here, but says that it's only available to the trade. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I've run out of ideas for a present for my dad; and when this happens, it's time for the Old Faithful of holiday gifts: a box of chocolates. Where should I get them in Philly? I'm tempted to go to Miel, just because I can. And I've never been to Le Bec Fin's pastry shop (and if nothing else, that name would impress my folks.) But I'm open for suggestions.

If you saw this movie (Johnny Depp was in it) do you remember how wonderful the hot chocolate was supposed to be? I thought the owner of the chocolate shop said the secret was a little chili pepper. Is there really such a drink? Anyone have a recipe?

I am involved in doing a choclate and wine tasting for our wine society. I would love to learn from you what type of wines you like best to drink with choclate. So far the dozen or so people I have asked mentioned most often Banyul and Tawny Port. So please, your thoughts.

For Halloween, I did a few trays of eyeballs: peanut butter eyeballs coated in white chocolate and decorated. Well, I'm still a bit weak in my chocolate tempering and I didn't have time for practicing, so I chose the white candy melts. The taste was decent and the audience was kids, so I wasn't worried on that end. More importantly, the color was genuinely white, not the pale yellow of white chocolate. What really sucked is that it was like dipping the balls into pudding. It was horrible to work with. Now the dilemma: I already received a request for the peanut butter balls for Christmas, decorated to look like snowmen (cool idea...wish I thought of it). But I don't want to use the candy melts. And I don't want yellow "snow" (gross!). Is there whiter white chocolate? I've only tried out a couple brands, Ghirardelli and Callebaut to be specific. The Callebaut is whiter than the Ghirardelli, but still yellowish compared to the candy melts. Or is there a way to whiten white chocolate? I thought as a worst case, I could experiment thinning the candy melts with corn syrup, but I'm not too keen on that idea either. Thanks!

I'm looking for one Most appreciated if you can help. Thanks!

For several years, my wife has bought a particular over sized chocolate chip from the Baker's Secret (King Arthur Flour) catalog. They no longer carry the product and I am having trouble finding a replacement. KA sold the product as a "Semisweet Maxi Chip." I have looked in several chocolate product listings and see nothing like it. I checked with KA; they advised me today that they sourced the cips from Peter's Chocolate. Peter's web site does not list the product. I will call them on Monday. The product is a semisweet chocolate chip. I weighed some of last year's crop -- there are 350 chips to a pound. Kathy uses the chip as a cookie garnish and the size is perfect for her application. Anyone have a source for a 300-400 count per pound semisweet chocolate chip? Edit, I probably need only 2 pounds or so; but would buy at least 5 pounds if necessary.

So, I'm currently in my Amsterdam Hotel (Okura) looking over my room-service breakfast. Among the more normal thing is a small box of chocolate sprinkles. The box clearly shows that I am supposed to put it on my toast. The one bit of English reads "Pure chocolate sprinkles for bread." Can someone help me out here. What's the deal? Do I butter the toast first? Bruce

Hello! This is my first post ever and I must start off by saying I LOVE IT HERE! I have learned so much from coming here just as a guest. I feel quite passionate about baking and cakes are my main specialty and it's great to be able to come here to be amongst you all. I hardly feel worthy but I guess it's all about learning and sharing, right? Anyway, my question is about the Chocolate Blackout cake recipe from Margaret Braun's Cakewalk book. Has anyone tried it? I've been using it for about a year now and everyone who tries it thinks it is fabulous. But, whenever I bake it, or at least 95 % of the time, the middle sinks down, a little at the end of baking and more so after it comes out of the oven. I've just accepted it as is and trimmed off the higher edges but it would be nice if it didn't sink in the first place. Is it something I'm doing or is it the recipe? Thanks!

Warm Chocolate Cake with Molten Center Instead of the typically sweet rasberry sauce, try this blueberry-strawberry sauce. It is a beautiful color, and a great combination of flavors. Serve the cake warm. Ingredients for Sauce: 1 basket of strawberries 1 basket of blueberries 1 cup of water 1/4 cup of sugar 1 star anise 1/2 vanilla bean scrapings In food processor mix strawberries, blueberries, water, well. 2 MINUTES Put in saucepan with sugar, anise, and bean and cook on low. 5 min. or so. Remove star anise and bean. CHOCOLATE CAKE FONDANT: 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate 5 ounces butter 4 ounces granulated sugar 4 whole eggs 1 ounce all purpose flour, sifted In bain marie, over hot water, put butter, chocolate, and sugar. Simmer, not a boil. Rub butter in little individual dishes, then flour lightly. Coffee cups can be used. Make sure there is NO excess flour in cups. Oven temp. is 400 degrees. Put on baking sheet. Mixing: Mix when ingredients start melting. It's o.k. if all the butter is not melted. Take off stove. Add eggs one by one when it's not too hot, and break the egg yolk so it blends well. Add flour little by little so there are no lumps with a sifter spoon. Take cup and tap on table to settle the cake batter. And pour 3/4 of the way. Bake for 8 min. at 400 degrees. Keywords: Easy, Chocolate, Dessert ( RG745 )