Confections! What did we make? (2012 – 2014)

[minas6907]

Watermelon taffy, inspired from something I saw while at the grocery store.

[minas6907]

A few things from the last week. Almond drageé, piped truffles, candied ginger, and candied ginger in chocolate.

[The Choc Doc]

Made some chocopops recently and had an idea to put them like a flower arrangement (I've seen this with cake "pops" but not chocolates before, but I am sure I am not the first!). Seemed to work well and went down pretty well too at work!

Also made some patisseries - mousse cakes, praline-chocolate and raspberry. Quite disappointed as I crushed the macarons (and they were 1 min away from being done ) but tasted good!

[minas6907]

Hey, awesome idea about the chocolate pops! I love that with the transfer sheets!

Heres a simple hard candy I made, mango flavored rock candy, in the form of spicy tuna rolls.

[sunshine-supernova]

Minas - I'm in awe of all your candies..... especially the pulled sugar.

I'm really keen to have a go at pulled sugar. Been putting it off for months.

Any good tips for a complete newbie to pulled sugar ?

[minas6907]

Minas - I'm in awe of all your candies..... especially the pulled sugar.

I'm really keen to have a go at pulled sugar. Been putting it off for months.

Any good tips for a complete newbie to pulled sugar ?

Thank you so much!

I'd say just go boil some sugar! Seriously, just have a go at it, make sure you have a silpat, it's indispensable. Keep in mind that sugar is cheap, so expect to make lots of batches, and (this is what I seiously did) for your first batch of sugar, purposely do not wash down the sugar crystals from the sides of the pan, see what is spoken about when the sugar crystallizes from improper sugar cooking technique. Then on your next go, wash down the crystals and do it right, you'll see a huge difference with the feel and workability of the sugar. With time you'll get a feel for the sugar, you'll start to like it! You looking to make hard candy or more like show piece stuff?

[minas6907]

Starch imprinters and layered gianduja.

[minas6907]

Hey, I just wanted to throw this out there, has anyone done a black peppercorn caramel? I always liked the flavors added to caramels from spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, etc, but today I was thinking of black peppercorn. Any thoughts on it?

[Kerry Beal]

Hey, I just wanted to throw this out there, has anyone done a black peppercorn caramel? I always liked the flavors added to caramels from spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, etc, but today I was thinking of black peppercorn. Any thoughts on it?

I think it would be great! Love black pepper in a variety of chocolates and baked goods.

[pastrygirl]

Hey, I just wanted to throw this out there, has anyone done a black peppercorn caramel? I always liked the flavors added to caramels from spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, etc, but today I was thinking of black peppercorn. Any thoughts on it?

Yes, I've made salt & pepper caramels, toasted whole black pepper a little in a dry pan, crushed, then steeped in cream before proceeding. I have szechuan pepper & honey caramels on the menu right now, I like the flavor but I wish they were more tingly-numbing. Maybe the butter fat interferes with that? I finish them with a little extra salt & ground szechuan pepper before wrapping. Pink pepper or Indonesian long pepper could be fun too.

[curls]

Trying out Greweling's mint fondant filling in a variety of moulds to figure out which ones offer the best balance of dark chocolate to mint.

[curls]

Just getting cool enough to think about making chocolates (at least in a well air conditioned room). Clockwise from top left: muscovado sugar salted caramel, mint, peach buttercream, and mint (again).

[judiu]

Just the thought of peach buttercream has me drooling, as does the salted caramel... OMG!

[minas6907]

Trying out Greweling's mint fondant filling in a variety of moulds to figure out which ones offer the best balance of dark chocolate to mint.

mint mould study - 800 x 600.jpg

I havent done this yet, but plan to soon, I wanted to put together some molded cherry cordials. When the instructions call for warming the fondant to 80 degrees and thinning it, is it problematic at all to close the shell?

[minas6907]

Heres pictures from the past month or so. First, I've been loving the candied fruit (got some pears going right now) so we have candied key limes as well as pineapple. Then, in a little experiment to see how a fruit juice would gel as opposed to a fruit puree, I have a pdf with grapefruit juice. Ans lastly, we have chocolate dipped sea salted caramels.

[curls]

Trying out Greweling's mint fondant filling in a variety of moulds to figure out which ones offer the best balance of dark chocolate to mint.

mint mould study - 800 x 600.jpg

I havent done this yet, but plan to soon, I wanted to put together some molded cherry cordials. When the instructions call for warming the fondant to 80 degrees and thinning it, is it problematic at all to close the shell?

If you allow time for the cherry cordial filling to crust over it will make capping off the mold a lot easier. Don't let them sit too long without capping if you are using invertase.

[curls]

Minas6907, really like the color of your grapefruit pdf.The candied fruit looks good too.

[psantucc]

I usually can't make anything in the summer, but we had a surprise break in the heat and humidity that let me do a couple projects for my Co-Op Brewpub; experiments for now, but likely to be full-on production in the fall:

First, a milk chocolate bark with dark-roasted malted barley:

If I can find a suitable mould, I think I'll go with batons for production

Second, a new bar snack - doesn't look like much, but it's tasty. It's malted barley with a seasoned coating based loosely on Moroccan spiced almonds. I call it BarleyKorn:

Now back to waiting out the weather to start my caramel experiments!

Pat

[Kerry Beal]

Playing around with some dried candy cap mushrooms that I ordered. I decided to use some in a ganache. White chocolate, the mushrooms and some maple liqueur.

Quite a tasty filling.

[Anna N]

DSCN2009.jpg

Playing around with some dried candy cap mushrooms that I ordered. I decided to use some in a ganache. White chocolate, the mushrooms and some maple liqueur.

Quite a tasty filling.

Wait a minute! Is that a mold or did you pipe them? Either way they are gorgeous.

[Tri2Cook]

Those look (and sound) awesome Kerry.

[Kerry Beal]

DSCN2009.jpg

Playing around with some dried candy cap mushrooms that I ordered. I decided to use some in a ganache. White chocolate, the mushrooms and some maple liqueur.

Quite a tasty filling.

Wait a minute! Is that a mold or did you pipe them? Either way they are gorgeous.

A mold - you know how piss poor my piping skills are!

[Alleguede]

Fantastic result to have tried them out!

[minas6907]

Heres my recent work. Blueberry rock candy, gianduja macaron, pineapple pate de fruit, raspberry-rose berlingots I made for a friend who was doing a launch of a new fragrance, and finally, sponge candy.

[Kerry Beal]

Was that a mold for the PDF?