Confections! What did we make? (2014 – 2016)

[excv_]

On ‎2015‎년 ‎12‎월 ‎17‎일 at 0:45 PM, gap said:

My Christmas Collection for Family and Friends this year. All up I made ~100-115 of each flavour. The theme was fruit and nuts, but the caramels and gingerbread are traditional favourites and had to be included as well.

What a wonderful collection of chocolates- They all look and sound totally divine! If I may ask, do you just cut the chocolate pieces out with a cookie cutter and pipe the filling for those gingerbread ones? I love that style and have been meaning to try it for ages, but never found proper instructions on how and was afraid to experiment. Do they hold their shape well that way? Asking that because I'm slightly concerned that depending on the consistency of the filling they might easily come apart or collapse/leak. I'm thinking a firm-ish ganache should work... right? Sorry for so many questions any help at all would be tremendously appreciated!

[gap]

14 hours ago, excv_ said:

What a wonderful collection of chocolates- They all look and sound totally divine! If I may ask, do you just cut the chocolate pieces out with a cookie cutter and pipe the filling for those gingerbread ones? I love that style and have been meaning to try it for ages, but never found proper instructions on how and was afraid to experiment. Do they hold their shape well that way? Asking that because I'm slightly concerned that depending on the consistency of the filling they might easily come apart or collapse/leak. I'm thinking a firm-ish ganache should work... right? Sorry for so many questions any help at all would be tremendously appreciated!

 

I use a chablon mat to make the chocolate pieces. Something like this: http://www.robertsconfectionery.com.au/search.php?search_query=chablon. You usei t over a piece of acetate or a transfer sheet, spread the chocolate and then remove the chablon before the chocolate sets. The chocolate then sets on the sheet so when you pipe, it doesn't move about.

Then just pipe with whatever tip you want. You need a ganache that will hold its shape when you pipe - I use a butter ganache and  that works well, but really it's just about having the right consistency.

Edited December 19, 2015 by gap (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Linking to an old post when I last tried to make the pieces similar to gap's gingerbread ones above - mine turned out no where near as well as his did - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/89489-confections-2006-2012/?do=findComment&comment=1385306

 

A bunch of us learned this one at the Wybauw course at the French Pastry School in 2007 - his of course were all perfect unlike ours!

Edited December 19, 2015 by Kerry Beal (log)

[excv_]

Thank you both for replying. I haven't thought of using a chablon, that seems like a good method with way less wasted chocolate; I should be getting one sometime. Also, Kerry, yours too look absolutely beautiful in my amateur eyes- further inspiration! Using gianduja for the filling sounds superb as well.

[curls]

Some of my holiday chocolates and new boxes for the holidays.

 

muscovado salted caramel

 

mint filling

 

coffee ganache

 

marzipan & cherry-raspberry pate de fruit slab

 

marzipan & cherry-raspberry pate de fruit squares ready to be dipped in dark chocolate

 

new boxes! So nice not to have to fold boxes!!!

 

 

Also made (but not pictured) eggnog ganache, brandied cherry cordial, dipped orange peel, dipped ginger, and peanut butter cups.

[ChocoMom]

Curls, 

Absolutely LOVELY work!   Love the packaging, too.   I suspect you will have some overjoyed recipients on your Christmas list!

 

[curls]

1 hour ago, ChocoMom said:

Curls, 

Absolutely LOVELY work!   Love the packaging, too.   I suspect you will have some overjoyed recipients on your Christmas list!

 

Thank you @ChocoMom! Those are for sales. Family and friends get to enjoy the irregulars and prototypes.  :-)

The boxes are from Sweet Packaging; very happy with their boxes.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

10 hours ago, curls said:

Thank you @ChocoMom! Those are for sales. Family and friends get to enjoy the irregulars and prototypes.  :-)

The boxes are from Sweet Packaging; very happy with their boxes.

 

I would be overjoyed with irregulars of any of your beautiful creations, but especially the cherry-raspberry/marzipan ones. *swoon*

[Mette]

The stuff for this holiday season - the blood orange is my favourite, but the christmas cake one goes down very well with the English side of the family

[excv_]

Milk chocolate-covered pumpkin caramel

 

Hazelnut gianduja

 

Milk chocolate cup, filled with coffee ganache

 

Caramel ganache sandwich- so happy this turned out well! I just used the cookie cutter method for this one, which worked fine for small scale production.

 

Green tea truffle

 

Peppermint

 

Mendiants

 

Cherry cordial (not yet liquified!)

 

White chocolate & caramel truffle

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by excv_
removed additional image I didn't mean to use (log)

[kriz6912]

Manon Café... white chocolate butter ganache & mocha, milk chocolate hazelnut gianduja & hazelnut praliné, roasted hazelnut, moulded white chocolate

 

More photos on Facebook and Instagram...

 

Edited January 2, 2016 by kriz6912 (log)

[lambrecht gourmet]

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2014 at 8:41 AM, rajoress said:

From the peppermint patties thread, I made the epicurious recipe to see how they would come out. I usually make Greweling's fondant and flavor it with mint but it can be a little too chalky sometimes. These were very easy to make, had a great texture once dried, but were a little too sweet and you can taste the confectioner's sugar. But, covered in dark chocolate, they make a very nice mint. Thanks for looking!

Ruth

I also use Grewling's recipe and love using the fresh mint as opposed to peppermint oil.  Everyone loves these things.  Myself included.

[ElainaA]

The candies pictured are are so beautiful! I make candy once a year - for Christmas presents - so every year it is a re-learning curve. But here are a few of this year's:

 

Mostly truffles - some with whole hazelnuts inside, some (with gold) caramel, and some with espresso and amaretto. On the left you can just see some of Greweling's "peanut butter bombs" - these were very popular - and on the right apple cider salted caramels.

 

Above: Left to right: 'Black pearls' ( Greweling) , truffle sandwiches and apple cider salted caramels. Below: Raspberry trifectas, white chocolate with candied apricots and pistachios, chocolate nougat and almond brittle.

 

[pastryani]

It took me a while to post these, but here's my platter of bonbons from Xmas.  Most are mint-white choc ('twas the season!), but the others are rose, mango, orange-dark choc, and mint-dark choc.

[tarko]

I played around with colors and made these bonbons filled with a saffron/cardamomganache.

[RWood]

I hadn't planned on chocolates for Valentine's, but my cousin asked me to make some to sell in her shop. So, I made a small selection. Tried a few different colors I had, and a different texture sheet. Not sure I like it as much as the other. 

And, I made an attempt at cashew brittle, similar to See's for people who know it. My mother and a good friend have been asking for me to try it. Basically toffee with cashews, white chocolate and coconut.

 

Edited January 31, 2016 by RWood (log)

[Chocolot]

Been playing with hearts. These are just plain dark chocolate, tempered with EZtemper silk. I think I am liking these:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son-in-law is an artist and said he wanted to come play. This is what we came up with. Just trying out things. He has never played with cocoa butter before. 

 

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

6 hours ago, Chocolot said:

Been playing with hearts. These are just plain dark chocolate, tempered with EZtemper silk. I think I am liking these:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

My son-in-law is an artist and said he wanted to come play. This is what we came up with. Just trying out things. He has never played with cocoa butter before. 

 

 

 

 

How did he do those non splattered ones?

 

[Chocolot]

The orange ones he sprayed through a cooling rack to get the grid pattern. The purple ones he sprayed, then took a small sponge applicator (like a Q tip) and squiggled it. Back sprayed with second color.

[curls]

Valentine's chocolates in progress! Some photos from the making of my hazelnut gianduja and feuilletine bon bon. Transfer sheets from ChocoTransferSheets.com, one of our supporters for many of our eGullet Chocolate & Confectionery workshops.

Edited February 1, 2016 by curls (log)

[curls]

Some extra salty muscovado salted caramels for my husband.

[pastryani]

Happy Valentine's Day all!   Fillings are passion fruit ganache, guava ganache, and rum raisin ganache. 

Edited February 14, 2016 by pastryani (log)

[YetiChocolates]

Well I've finally taken some time to do some much needed R&D as I decided not to make Valentine's chocolates this year.  I picked up a new HVLP air brush, and I just love the thing, makes airbrushing SO MUCH FUN!  Here's what I've been playing with so far...

 

These were the first round I thought of using for the margarita chocolate I'm working on, but then decided to scrap

 

 

These were the first experiments, clockwise from top left is strawberry cheesecake, fig jam and mission fig balsamic, and lime marmarita.  The fig and marmarita were not successful so I went back to the drawing board, but the strawberry cheesecake was pretty good.  The decoration is white chocolate with strawberry freeze-dried powder mixed in.

 

 

Here are all the chocolate airbrush and cocoa butter painting experiments thus far...

 

 

I took my lime chocolate and morphed it into the margarita chocolate with lime salt and tequila added in...these are the two decorations I'm considering for it.

 

 

These are the two decorations I'm considering for the honey-bourbon poached pear...although the flavor still isn't where I want it, so I may just scratch it for a straight poached pear chocolate instead...we'll see.  And I might still play around with the decoration, not sold on either of these (I like the right better than the left)

 

 

These are the two deco contenders for the mango thai chili.  I think I like the right better for the chocolate itself, although I love the look of the left one.

 

 

These are the two options for the fig/balsamic (which I'm thinking of calling figjammin' ).  Changed the formula completely, now it has fig jam by itself, and an alteration of Andrew Schotts balsamic ganache.  The main reason for this was because this is a chocolate I've been asked to make for the olive oil/balsamic shop I sell the chocolates in, so I wanted to get a bolder balsamic flavor.  Haven't tried the finished product yet, but the ganache itself was pretty delicious, a nice bold balsamic flavor.  I think I like the left over the right for this one.

 

 

And here's a close up of the strawberry cheesecake.  I had a couple friends try it and said they were missing the crunch of the "crust", so I ground up some homemade graham crackers I'm going to be using for the smores chocolate I'm working on and put it on top (as I hadn't dipped the milk chocolate ones yet).

 

Made shells in both milk and dark for all the flavors (except the margarita) to see which one works better with the flavors.  Haven't tried them all yet, but so far I think I like the cheesecake and poached pear in milk better than dark (which is quite unusual for me ).  I'm planning on doing a tasting for friends at the beginning of March to get feedback, but so far this was exactly what I needed to do this spring to revive my love for the craft, as it's been super fun playing around so far!

[Jim D.]

2 hours ago, YetiChocolates said:

I picked up a new HVLP air brush, and I just love the thing, makes airbrushing SO MUCH FUN!

 

Could you say more about this airbrush?  Why is it better than the usual, and where can it be purchased?  I find airbrushing more frustrating than fun, so if this device made it fun for you, I'm interested.  Thanks for any help.

 

Your chocolates are beautiful.  Are the swirly ones done with finger-painting or with the airbrush?

 

Jim

[Tere]

I know nothing about chocolate making, but this is beautiful