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Hi, I'm new! I make chocolates and the discussions here have been really helpful for learning new techniques and recipe ideas. I've been playing a lot with chocolates that incorporate a butter cookie, so there's a layer of cookie and a layer of [caramel or nut butter filling or etc.] covered in chocolate. My cookie recipe needs work. I'd like the cookie to have a good crunch, but not so crisp that one bite shatters the whole treat. Think a bit like the cookie inside a Twix bar, but thinner and more flavorful. I've found that the cookies absorb some moisture from the caramel or other filling and get a bit soft after a week or two, and I'd like to minimize that. Here's the recipe I'm using for a small batch now. I started with a basic shortbread, but found that a egg seemed to give the cookie more density and crunch. I've tried browning and re-chilling some or all the butter because I like the flavor, but I think that might contribute to the getting soft problem. Any suggestions? 227g unsalted butter , at cool room temperature 200g granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 whole egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 300g all-purpose flour Cream butter, sugar, and salt; add egg and vanilla; continue beating until well incorporated. Add flour; beat over low speed until flour is just mixed. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, roll out and cut, bake for 10 mins at 350 plus 5 mins at 320.

On the strength of a cake my wife and I made for my parents' 40th anniversary party, a friend has asked us to make her wedding cake. We've agreed. We have the cake recipe pretty well nailed, but are less sure about the frosting. My parents' anniversary party was held indoors, in cool weather. We used a buttercream infused with Grand Marnier, and everyone loved it. The wedding cake, however, will be served outdoors, in June, in the Adirondacks. At a YMCA camp. With sun. And bugs. I would very much appreciate suggestions as to what sort of frosting might be most appropriate for this sort of situation. Flavor is more important than refined appearance; we're probably not interested in fondant. We are ambitious home cooks, but this is a challenging project for us. Please aim us in the right direction.

Can I save it? It's the simple almond crunch-- 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 3 tbls water. Top with melted chocolate, sprinkle with nuts. I didn't even bother to hunt for the candy thermometer as i've made this so often I can time it by appearance. What hubris! I was rolling along with it when the phone rang--I took it off the burner to answer--when i put it back on it separated--tried whisking it, no good. If I reheat at very low temp--water bath even--will it emulse (?) Or can I add something like saving mayo?

I'm wanting to learn some new flowers using pastry tips. I know some basics but would love to learn more. If you have any good reads on the subject that would be awesome too.

Or store-bought? I'm a home cook, but a fairly adventurous one. since I have all the ingredients for marzipan, I thought I'd try making it for the figures on a birthday cake. I'm not finding loads of information in my cookbooks or on the internet (shockingly enough), so I thought I'd check in w you guys. Is there a significant difference with the texture/flavor of cooked v uncooked? Does one last longer than the other? Can they generally be used interchangeably in recipes? I'm assuming the uncooked is easier to make, but is the cooked version tricky? Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi all, I'm putting together a 9-inch round entremet, and I want to add a feulletine insert. Does anyone have a formula with the right amounts of chocolate, butter, praline paste and paillete feulletine, for a 9-inch round preparation, so nothing goes to waste? Thank you in advance, Lisa

Is there any way to soften almond paste once it's become dry and crusty? I know I should have wrapped it better to begin with, but I didn't. Also, I once bought a tube of almond paste at the supermarket that turned out to be literally rock hard.

You know how some cake decorators print edible images for cakes? Is this possible for chocolate transfers? i know of a wonderful company that makes transfers, and even has made logo ones for me...but i was looking into making my own for the mere fact that i have a lot of design ideas, but it might only take 5 sheets instead of 20.... question is, is there acetate paper and a printer and edible ink/cocoa butter that someone can buy to design their own transfer sheets? my husband is a graphic designer so it would be a great fit if we could do some things ourselves for certain projects....any thoughts on that? also, does anyone have a schedule or know of any chocolate shows coming up? or perhaps any chocolate trade shows or anything related to the industry that is happening in 2011? (besides our awesome eG workshop of course!) thank you!

I want to make some candied mint leaves for a dessert. Would you blanch them first to set the color ? Dry them, coat in egg wash. Coat with confectioners sugar or super fine sugar ? Dry in oven at a low temp or on the counter? How long will they last? I will be serving this with a lemon panna cotta with a blueberry or blk berry sauce. Paul

Has anyone made the Passion fruit honey butter ganache? I love passion fruit and tart stuff but wow, reducing the puree made a seriously strong passion fruit tartness. I added a little extra glucose syrup,(ran out of honey) and dipped them in white chocolate for extra sweetness. I'm afraid customers aren't going to like them. I also made the lavender ganache and cut the lavender in half and still thought it was pretty strongly lavender-y. Are my taste buds crazy? Anyone else tried any of these more exotic ones?

ok, so valentines day is around the corner and i had a request from a very old man for tiramisu. he said he had some in florence that was just amazing...amazing! i was trying to get him to explain what was so amazing, and he just sighed and said "i can't even tell you what it was, it was just amazing" so, yes , that gives me a lot to go on question being, he wants tiramisu for his wife for valentine's day to mimic the trip they had when they were younger, but i don't know what makes an AMAZING tiramisu. what do you guys think makes one super awesome? i myself barely know the components, let alone ratios and trying to make it "indescribable" but this man is too darn cute not to try. so....thoughts? also, i would love to make chocolate boxes, or hollow chocolate heart boxes for V-day and have no idea how to proceed. is there a mold for something like that? does anyone know how to make something like that or where i could find a mold for a choc box or a choc heart box? thanks so much you guys!

I'd like to prepare a recipe which calls for gilded hazelnuts. The instructions say to spray the toasted nuts with nonstick cooking spray then place on gold leaf and brush the gold onto the nut. Should I be looking for complete sheets of edible gold leaf or gold leaf flakes?

I recently purchased this book but I'm unsure regarding the use of "glucose"... does anyone know if this refers to liquid glucose (corn syrup) or powdered glucose? Any advice would be grateful. Thanks, Stephen

Has anyone made the Meltaways from the Greweling book? What is the purpose of tabling the mixture? You can't temper peanut butter, and they're covered in powdered sugar for handling so you can't tell if they're perfectly shiny. I was wondering if it's just a question of agitating the mixture while the fat molecules are doing their thing in the cooling process, why can't you just put it in a mixer with the paddle on low speed? Wouldn't that essentially do the same thing? I was wondering the same thing about a small batch of cream centers, instead of using the giant ball mixer which takes 30 minutes to clean, could you add the whipping agent and cool them while they thicken in the Hobart? Thanks, Reb

are there two editions for Grewlings book? I have an at home edition, which doesnt have honey pots in it

The pyramid shaped bonbon in this... how'd they do that? Ive seen a decoration similar to this a few times now. I actually bought this assortment, and the red and white stripes are very precise. I don't think they were done freehand with a brush, as they are straight across the chocolate and even in pigment. I was thinking they might have used some type of food safe tape to tape off the inside of the mold (sort of like making a stencil), hit it with red cocoa butter, then widen the span and re-tape, hit with white, then just do the whole thing in the grey cocoa butter. However, I think a food safe tape would leave a residue on the mold. Any ideas? Does anyone here do anything like this?

I see Kerry has a sponge toffee recipe listed in recipegullet but in one of the threads she mentions using gelatin in Greweling's recipe. I don't have Greweling's recipe and the library is closed. I was wondering if someone could please post it? Do you prefer sponge toffee with gelatin or without?

I've finally got dates pinned down for the upcoming conference - at least as far as the main attraction. Derrick Tu Tan Pho from Callebaut in Montreal has agreed to come and teach us for at least one day of our conference. I've still got to work out the rest of the logistics - but for now it looks like the weekend of May 14th is what we are going to shoot for. I'm thinking we'll do the Friday, Saturday and Sunday (so the 13rd, 14th and 15th). Maybe for a side trip we could join all the bikers up in Port Dover for Friday the 13th - just kidding! The profs at the college are already getting excited about making a meal for us again - hopefully we won't have any issues with the dates we have and their previous obligations. How about some thoughts on what people are interested in doing and learning this year so we can start to come up with a plan. Chris Hennes edited to add the following from Kerry: ABOUT THE CONFERENCE: Location: in or around Niagara on the Lake, Ontario (Canada) Dates: May 13–15, 2011 (tentative) For the past 2 years we have run a DIY chocolate and confectionery conference for eG members and other interested folk. Everyone is welcome - no experience in chocolate or confectionery required - just a desire to learn and play. Costs are shared between the participants so they are very reasonable. We put out a little breakfast and lunch on both the Saturday and Sunday. Generally on the Friday we have some sort of outing. Year one - we crossed the border and visited Tomric Plastics to play on the Selmi enrober and have an opportunity to buy equipment and supplies. Year two - we went to Albert Uster and attended an excellent class covering a variety of pastry and confection topics. Not sure what we will do this year - but I welcome suggestions. On the Saturday evening we have a group meal - I'll be working on the prof's at the college to cook for us again this time. Previous conferences: 2010 conference (Gaithersburg, MD) 2009 conference (Niagara on the Lake, ON) Click here for the guidelines under which this event is listed at the eGullet Forums

has anyone seen this show yet? The first season is done, i was debating downloading it. But not if its just a lousy documentary

Tonight, I made Turkish Delight from Peter Greweling's excellent Chocolates and Confections at Home. The recipe was reasonably straight-forward, until I got toward the end. The recipe calls for whisking the sugar syrup and starch paste over low heat until smooth and clear, and says this will take around 20-25 minutes. I didn't have a problem with the mixture coming together. It was pretty smooth the entire time, and I was just waiting for it to go clear. What I was looking for was for the opaque, frosty mixture to hit a point where it would turn clear so that I could see the bottom of my whisk, but this did not happen, even after standing there stirring for almost 40 minutes. I then quickly had a look at the Turkish Delight recipe in Greweling's professional book, and even though the ingredients were different, I took note that that recipe calls for cooking to 223F. I checked the temperature of my mixture, and it was only around 205F. Out of impatience, I added the mix-ins and poured the mixture into my prepared pan. I will see how it turns out tomorrow, but I would love to know: 1) Did I take the mixture off too soon? If I had persevered, would it have magically become clear after reaching a certain point, or is Greweling's description of "smooth and clear" as an indicator of when it's done somewhat vague and/or misleading? 2) I presume that whether I under- or overcooked the mixture, this would affect the texture of the final product? Or is it the initial cooking of the sugar syrup to 260F the primary determinant of the final texture? 3) The recipe calls for 12oz shelled, unsalted, and undyed pistachios. Should they be raw or toasted? I used raw. I've made Greweling's Peanut Brittle, which calls for adding raw peanuts to a sugar syrup at a much higher temp, which obviously cooks the peanuts. But would adding raw pistachios after taking the mixture off the heat be sufficient to "toast" the pistachios? In addition, I used 200g of pistachios, and I think even that quantity is too much for the amount of Turkish Delight produced. I would use only 100g next time, unless you're going for quite a pistachio-dense Turkish Delight. Thanks for any guidance, and I will report back tomorrow to share how the Turkish Delight turns out. Cheers!

Parts of this show are interesting, especially the ideas they come up with using chocolate. It started Tuesday on TLC and appears to be on for the next few Tuesdays. Is anyone else watching it?

I was thinking of putting pudding into molded chocolates.... the egg yolks are cooked, but it has to set in the fridge. I don't know what will happen to it at room temperature, I don't know if it will rot or what? does something like this have a shelf life?

Is anyone attending the March 22 class at the French Pastry School (Chicago) being taught by JP Wybauw. I'm going and would enjoy meeting up with fellow eGullet contributors. HOST'S NOTE: Click here for the terms under which this is listed on the eG Forums.

Some input is required, please. I have been making lollipops for our local regional library for a couple of years now. They are molded and colored according to holiday season and have been a big hit with the kids (and parents) and a small source of extra income to the cash-strapped library. The lollipops must fit into certain parameters, both for the library purposes and mine: no nuts, not too expensive to make or sell, not too big, easy storage, not a pain to wrap...brain won't come up with what might be other considerations at this point. So I've made every color and flavor of hard tack, in detailed plastic molds and flat outline-type molds. And I've made butterscotch too. I could make caramel-wrapped, chocolate-dipped pretzel rods...but they are expensive and time-consuming to make, need special sleeves for presentation. I think popcorn might well be out for allergy reasons, plus not easy for wrapping?? Seem to recall popcorn lollies... What other kinds of lollipops...or other confections that would fit into this category...can I make? St. Patrick's is coming up.

Manufacturing confectioner. I was wondering if anyone has a subscription? If so, what do you think? Did anyone ever buy an article? There are some interesting articles like March 2007 on crystallizing ganache by Greweling...