Santa's Spectactular Tonawanda Workshop

[patris]

8 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

@patris - I forgot to copy that feuilletine recipe - is there a link to it somewhere or if not could you PM it to me?

 

Sure thing - it’s Bravetart’s.

[Kerry Beal]

10 hours ago, patris said:

 

Sure thing - it’s Bravetart’s.

Thanks much - perhaps now I can throw out the box that's probably 15 years old.

[Tri2Cook]

Not sure how I managed to not see this last year and almost again this year but it looks like it was a lot of fun on both occasions. 

[patris]

Ho ho ho! ‘‘Tis the season for the elves to return to Tonawanda. Sunday is the big day, and I’ve taken tomorrow off from work to allow me to retain my sanity while I prepare. @Kerry Beal will arrive Saturday morning, so I am trying extra hard to get all the prep and scut work done so we can get up to whatever trouble finds us.

 

After work this evening I got started on the confections - a hefty slab of peanut butter meltaways and three pans of cinnamon marshmallows. 

 

 

On deck for tomorrow will be another batch of meltaways (this one with feuilletine mixed in), two pans of peppermint marshmallows, one of vanilla marshmallows, and around 12 pounds of peppermint bark. I’ll try to remember to take pictures along the way. 

[RobertM]

Sounds like another fun time!!

[patris]

If there is an advantage to insomnia, it is that waking up at 4 am means you can get a lot done before 9 or so. After indulging in two cups of coffee and more than half of the first 2-hour episode of the new season of the Great American Baking Show,  I set to work on the rest of the confections. All the marshmallows are done, and will rest until I cut them up this evening or early tomorrow:

 

 

and the peanut butter crunch meltaways (about 200 grams feuilletine in about 1 kg meltaway) are behind (within?) bars to crystallize. Later they and their smooth friends will get a foot of milk chocolate and be cut for the elves to dip as they please. The chocolate for the peppermint bark is melting in those cunning little 3 kg Croquade melters - love those things.

 

 

i did run into something I hadn’t really seen before - the meltaway slab I made last night has this odd streaky look. The texture is perfect, and it seems perfectly tempered, so I don’t think it matters, but it got me thinking - I bought some cocoa butter (says it’s organic and fair trade) from a source that is new to me, and when it arrived I noticed that it was very light in color - more cream than the faint butter yellow I am used to - and it took a rather high temp (34.5ish) in the EZTemper to make silk of it. I am assuming it is indeed cocoa butter, but found the streaking curious. It’s a big slab, and I didn’t refrigerate it at all, so perhaps it was just latent heat throwing things off a bit.

 

 

I am off to do some grocery shopping and other errands, and hoping to have time for a nap after lunch to make up for lost sleep.

Edited December 7, 2018 by patris
Removed an extra word (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Arrived this am - no snow in Burlington! So of course I’m in sandals. But socks - my concession to cold.

 

Should have known that Tonawanda would have snow.

 

 

Nice Keto brekkie of cheese, olives and veggies. 

[Anna N]

 Have been waiting anxiously for the games to begin!   Please do not bring that snow back with you. Thank you.

 

Hope you and Patty have a wonderful time in Santa’s Spectacular workshop. 

[curls]

48 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

 

Gorgeous pottery! I also spy a wonderful collection of custom chocolate dipping bowls and the new dipping wires.  🙂

Looking forward to seeing the results of this year's Tonawanda Workshop.

[patris]

2 hours ago, curls said:

 

Gorgeous pottery! I also spy a wonderful collection of custom chocolate dipping bowls and the new dipping wires.  🙂

Looking forward to seeing the results of this year's Tonawanda Workshop.

 

After the workshop orders I spent some time working on a 2.0 design - now they are slightly oval, which offers a bit more dipping room. We shall see what the focus group thinks tomorrow!

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, patris said:

 

After the workshop orders I spent some time working on a 2.0 design - now they are slightly oval, which offers a bit more dipping room. We shall see what the focus group thinks tomorrow!

I saw no reason for one of these bowls.  After all I no longer “do” chocolate. But tomorrow I will be dipping cookies.   Not in chocolate but in an egg white and sugar glaze and so your bowls came to mind. I still don’t want one because I’m unlikely to ever repeat this exercise but it did occur to me that they might have other uses than just dipping chocolate so I thought I would share. 

[Kerry Beal]

Dinner tonight at Prescott’s Provisions.

 

 

Dark Horse - scotch, amontillado sherry and cardamaro.

 

 

Grilled pork shoulder and belly with lentils and apple balls

 

 

Beets with grapefruit Cambazola pistachio and yogurt

 

 

Romaine with blue cheese, red onions and skinned tomatoes 

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

9 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Romaine with blue cheese, red onions and skinned tomatoes 

 

Is it safe to eat Romaine again? 😮

[Tri2Cook]

4 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

Is it safe to eat Romaine again? 😮

We were given the green light by our supplier at work this past Monday... it's been back on the menu all week.

[Kerry Beal]

Yup - seeing it everywhere again - labeled as to where it is from.

[patris]

It’s today! Managed to sleep until nearly 5 am (Kerry got a fair bit more sleep, which seems like a pretty good karmic rebalancing given all she does for me and others), and have been busily reordering and organizing. All is nearly ready for the joyful hordes to arrive in about an hour and a half.

 

Milk, dark and caramelized white chocolates melting:

 

 

dipping bowls at the ready:

 

 

Tally sheets, mixing bowls and little bits and bobs from my candy closet for people to use up:

 

 

15 pounds of peppermint bark, ALL THE MARSHMALLOWS in plain, peppermint and red hot cinnamon, and smooth and crunchy meltaways:

 

 

now off to finish the cheese ball and accompanying crudités and most importantly feed Kerry a decent brunch!

[Kerry Beal]

Brunch before the hordes arrive 

 

[Kerry Beal]

@patris made her own sprinkles 

 

 

 

[curls]

Great setup. So organized! I hope everyone has lot of fun.

 

How are you cutting your marshmallow? Confectionary guitar?

[patris]

1 hour ago, curls said:

 

 

How are you cutting your marshmallow? Confectionary guitar?

 

Nope! 12 inch drywall taping knife. Makes pretty quick work of them.

 

It was another thoroughly delightful  day. The last guest just left. I have a shockingly minimal amount of cleanup to do, and then I must head to the grocery store to replenish some supplies the elves used for their projects that I need for my next project. I did take some photos of the day, which I will post later. 

[curls]

@patris do you make your own carmalized white chocolate? If so, would you mind sharing your technique/recipe?

[patris]

25 pounds of chocolate, 12 pounds of peppermint bark, 30 dozen marshmallows, 21 dozen peanut butter meltaways, and countless varieties of assorted barks later, Tonawanda Chocolate Fest 2018 is in the books. Once again @Kerry Beal kept the wheels on the bus in ways I never could. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, and I enjoyed every second. Here are some pictures of the middle of the activity:

 

 

My poor dear Boris hid in the basement, as is his wont when other people are around. He came right back upstairs when he heard there was tuna for dinner though:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2018 by patris (log)

[patris]

2 hours ago, curls said:

@patris do you make your own carmalized white chocolate? If so, would you mind sharing your technique/recipe?

 

I do. All credit for the technique goes to @Chocolot, who posted it at length here somewhere. White chocolate, vacuum sealed (I do it in 500 g packages), pressure cooked 2 packages at a time for 90 minutes in my Instant Pot. You will think you have ruined it but it will thin out some as it cools. Add cocoa butter to thin out further - I usually add around 20 percent of the weight of the chocolate - and temper as usual. Works great every time.

[Kerry Beal]

A few more pictures to add - yesterday when we were out at Wegmans grabbing supplies - I noticed some wonderful mushrooms.

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

A few more pictures of today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the fabulous cheese ball!