Meltaways

[rebgold]

I made your fondant recipe today. I think it turned out fine, but I have nothing to compare it to. I stirred once while it was cooling and it crystalized, but you didn't mention anything about not stirring so I assume that doesn't matter since you paddle it anyway?

I'm going to use it for the dipped mint patties and maybe lemon logs from Greweling's book tomorrow. I guess I'll be able to compare the finished product with his pictures.

[cmflick]

Can you enrobe mint meltaways in chocolate? I thinking that they may get too soft while dipping because of the coconut fat.

[Kerry Beal]

Yup you can - over time there does tend to be some fat creepage - so enrobe in either milk chocolate or dark chocolate with some milk chocolate added in to make it more resistant to the fat bloom.

[rebgold]

How much chocolate would you add the milk? Can you combine them when they're melted or temper them together?

My fondant turned out grainy. Apparently I shouldn't have touched it while it cooled. I made some enrobed mint patties with it anyway and added invertase hoping that it would smooth out the graininess when it started converting the sugar, but just a small batch in case it's garbage.

[Kerry Beal]

It will likely smooth out with the invertase. I'd probably add about 5% or so of milk chocolate to the dark. I usually temper them together.

[cmflick]

Yup you can - over time there does tend to be some fat creepage - so enrobe in either milk chocolate or dark chocolate with some milk chocolate added in to make it more resistant to the fat bloom.

Any idea how milk chocolate mixed with the dark chocolate may inhibit fat creepage? Just curious.

I made the mint meltaways yesterday. Rather than tabling, I put them in the KitchenAid with the paddle for 20 minutes at speed 3. When I poured them into a frame, they were solidified in under an hour. Very smooth texture, definitely melt in your mouth.

[Kerry Beal]

"Milk chocolate contains a significant amount of butterfat and, because butterfat creates a strong eutectic with cocoa butter, the resultant product is much softer than plain chocolate. Milk chocolate rarely if ever undergoes Form VI bloom. The reason for this is the composition of butterfat contains a large range of TAG structures and molecular weights. This is due to the presence of significant amounts of fatty acids from C4 to C14. These serve to block the move from Form V to Form VI because, as they co-crystallise with cocoa butter TAG, the packing density of the crystals does not permit the thermodynamic change. The butterfat TAG also cause a change in the solid solution and thus a softer product. Both these effects reduce the incidence of bloom. This action of butterfat can (and is) harnessed to reduce the occurrence of bloom in plain chocolate. Butterfat can be added at a low level where softening of the chocolate is not significant but the effect on crystal form change is very significant."

Quoted from -

Fat Bloom

Eugene Hammond and Susan Gedney, United Biscuits (UK) Ltd, Group Technical, Lane End Road, Sands, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP12 4JX, UK

The way I've always pictured it is that dark chocolate in temper has all it's little chair shaped crystals lined up in military fashion allowing lines and planes that will allow other fats to creep through - when you add the more amorphous milk fat to it you fill in those lines between the crystalline planes and make it more impermeable to fat creeping.

[cmflick]

Thanks, Kerry. It makes sense, especially your explanation! Next time I'll trying dipping the mint meltaways in dark chocolate spiked with 5% milk chocolate. I didn't have time to dip yesterday, so they got coated with powdered sugar.

[cmflick]

I did enrobe mint meltaways in dark chocolate spiked with about 5% milk chocolate as Kerry suggested. There was no fat seepage at all.

[rebgold]

Has anyone ever made the Greweling meltaways with dark chocolate?

[Kerry Beal]

I make them with a mixture of milk and dark usually - but I have made them with just dark. In his description - he states they can be make with dark, milk or white.

[cmflick]

Has anyone ever made the Greweling meltaways with dark chocolate?

I have made them several times with dark chocolate (70%). Also enrobed them in dark chocolate.

[rebgold]

Well yay, I guess I didn't read that part, lol.

[cmflick]

I made the green tea meltaways from Greweling's at Home book. They're made with white chocolate. The texture is amazing, i.e., very creamy. I have made the mint meltaways before and what surprised me with these is how long that it took for them to crystalize to a point where they could be cut. Whereas the mint meltaways (dark chocolate) could be cut an hour after pouring the slab, it took about 6 hours before the green tea meltaways could be cut. I much prefer the texture of the green tea meltaways, though. The mint meltaways made with all dark chocolate were a little bit on the hard side for me.

[dhardy123]

Other than the green tea meltaways, has anyone tried other meltaways using white chocolate?

[Emily_R]

Hi everyone - thinking of making the chocolate mint meltaways as christmas gifts... I see that they can be enrobed. What about using the meltaway as a filling for a molded chocolate? Has anyone tried this / any sense of whether this would work?

[Kerry Beal]

Hi everyone - thinking of making the chocolate mint meltaways as christmas gifts... I see that they can be enrobed. What about using the meltaway as a filling for a molded chocolate? Has anyone tried this / any sense of whether this would work?

It's a bit challenging because you want the meltaway to be thickening from the tabling you do before you pipe it in to the shells. It can be done but timing is everything.

[Emily_R]

Hmmm. I'm confused about how important the tabling really is... I made a batch tonight that I poured nearly hot into silicone molds, let set on the counter for a little while, and then put in the fridge. Less than an hour later they were set and the texture was divine...

Edited December 6, 2012 by Emily_R (log)

[Emily_R]

And now I'm coming around to the tabling idea. While my meltaways were smooth as silk the first day, the second day they were just an eensy bit grainy. Since I don't have a marble slab, I may try cmflick's stand mixer approach...

[Kerry Beal]

And now I'm coming around to the tabling idea. While my meltaways were smooth as silk the first day, the second day they were just an eensy bit grainy. Since I don't have a marble slab, I may try cmflick's stand mixer approach...

Oops - never got around to answering yesterday - indeed they look great day 1...

I keep the meltaway in a bowl over a bowl of cold water with a bit of ice - and keep stirring to prevent clumps until it starts to thicken up.

[patris]

My apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere - is there a good substitution for coconut oil in meltaways? I wanted to make peanut butter meltaways for our family Christmas celebration, but I have a great niece who is extremely allergic to many things - including peanuts and all things coconut. I figure I will try SunButter to sub for the peanut butter, but wondered what I might sub for coconut oil. Ghee, maybe? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Kerry Beal]

42 minutes ago, patris said:

My apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere - is there a good substitution for coconut oil in meltaways? I wanted to make peanut butter meltaways for our family Christmas celebration, but I have a great niece who is extremely allergic to many things - including peanuts and all things coconut. I figure I will try SunButter to sub for the peanut butter, but wondered what I might sub for coconut oil. Ghee, maybe? Any advice would be appreciated!

I suspect ghee or butter oil would work reasonably well - make a tiny test batch.

[RobertM]

It would be far more expensive, but, wouldn’t coca butter work as well?  

[patris]

5 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I suspect ghee or butter oil would work reasonably well - make a tiny test batch.

 

That was my plan, but I figured if someone knew it absolutely wouldn't work I would spare myself the trip to Wegmans. Thank you, as always!

[patris]

2 minutes ago, RobertM said:

It would be far more expensive, but, wouldn’t coca butter work as well?  

 

My gut says that the texture wouldn't be so nice and soft. I'll try the ghee first and report back.