Confections! What did we make? (2017 – )

[Jim D.]

On 5/23/2018 at 8:02 AM, ChocoMom said:

Pink with white splatter: Strawberry PdF/Strawberry creme in 72%

Sphene Green with matte gold: Pear Pdf /Vanilla bean caramel in 38%

 

 

 

 

I'm a bit late in commenting, but those are beautiful. Do you mind telling how you got the nice gold on the green piece?

[Tri2Cook]

26 minutes ago, dhardy123 said:

The inside of a Payday:

BTW there is a copycat recipe out there that uses peanut butter chips, marshmallow and condensed milk...never tried it though

 

So it is a darker color than I remembered. I really didn't remember a Payday being that dark inside so maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly all-around. I do know for sure there was no peanut butter flavor in the center so the copycat recipe isn't going to be accurate.

Edit: I'm thinking a nougat would work just fine. I'm not trying to make a Payday, just capture the general idea of one. The center just needs to be tasty and able to support the caramel and peanuts, it's not really the star of the bar in my opinion.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Tri2Cook (log)

[curls]

3 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

I'm wondering if the center for the pecan log in Ruth's book would be similar. May have to give that a try.

Center of a Payday is white and similar to the traditional pecan log. I'd definitely start your experiments with Ruth's recipe.

[Tri2Cook]

9 minutes ago, curls said:

Center of a Payday is white and similar to the traditional pecan log. I'd definitely start your experiments with Ruth's recipe.

See, that's what I remembered as well. And then the picture above showed up which prompted me to do a google search to see more pictures and they're all a darker color like the picture above as well. So I'm not sure now if my memory is faulty or if the Payday has changed.

[ChocoMom]

@Jim D.  Thank you!  I was experimenting with green sphene cocoa butter from Chef Rubber, and an alcohol based gold spray I found on Kerekes.  (I wanted the Pavoni gold spray, but could not figure out where to get it in the US.)   I sprayed the cavities with the green, and while it was still fluid, gave a little shot of the gold spray on top of it, then a little shot of air from the airbrush to make them blend together.  I was going for a marble-sort of look.   I used it with a turquoise also, which looks pretty cool. I'll have to find a pic to post. 

 

Honestly, I wasn't sure it would work.  But it wasn't bad for the first try.  A little of the gold residue stayed in the cavities. That particular flavor, (the pear PdF and caramel) worked extremely well together.  They went out to the taste testers, and the results were unanimous....the pear tastes like pear, and marries well with the caramel.    

[Jim D.]

5 minutes ago, ChocoMom said:

@Jim D.  Thank you!  I was experimenting with green sphene cocoa butter from Chef Rubber, and an alcohol based gold spray I found on Kerekes.  (I wanted the Pavoni gold spray, but could not figure out where to get it in the US.)   I sprayed the cavities with the green, and while it was still fluid, gave a little shot of the gold spray on top of it, then a little shot of air from the airbrush to make them blend together.  I was going for a marble-sort of look.   I used it with a turquoise also, which looks pretty cool. I'll have to find a pic to post. 

 

Honestly, I wasn't sure it would work.  But it wasn't bad for the first try.  A little of the gold residue stayed in the cavities. That particular flavor, (the pear PdF and caramel) worked extremely well together.  They went out to the taste testers, and the results were unanimous....the pear tastes like pear, and marries well with the caramel.    

I love the gold and green together and thank you for the details. When I have used gold dust, I found the cavities a challenge to clean, especially in a mold with corners (learned that lesson the hard way). As I have written before, the pear flavor is very difficult--but worth the effort, I think. And I must try it with caramel. Do you use a light or dark caramel?

[curls]

5 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

See, that's what I remembered as well. And then the picture above showed up which prompted me to do a google search to see more pictures and they're all a darker color like the picture above as well. So I'm not sure now if my memory is faulty or if the Payday has changed.

I am pretty sure the payday has changed or we are having a shared hallucination of how they used to be. I had one a few months ago and it was off from what I remembered -- it was missing that sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy thing it used to have. :-(

Edited June 4, 2018 by curls (log)

[ChocoMom]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

I love the gold and green together and thank you for the details. When I have used gold dust, I found the cavities a challenge to clean, especially in a mold with corners (learned that lesson the hard way). As I have written before, the pear flavor is very difficult--but worth the effort, I think. And I must try it with caramel. Do you use a light or dark caramel?

 

It's a med-light caramel. Somewhat pipe-able, if kneaded for a few minutes in the piping bag. I ended up using Q-tips and a soft-tip dental tool to clean out the square molds, but those cotton make-up removal pads work vey well on the dome molds.  

[patris]

8 hours ago, curls said:

I am pretty sure the payday has changed or we are having a shared hallucination of how they used to be. I had one a few months ago and it was off from what I remembered -- it was missing that sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy thing it used to have. :-(

 

 

Any chance you and @Tri2Cook are conflating Paydays and Salted Nut Rolls in your memories? I had the same recollection and realized this is what I was actually remembering.

 

[Tri2Cook]

7 minutes ago, patris said:

 

Any chance you and @Tri2Cook are conflating Paydays and Salted Nut Rolls in your memories? I had the same recollection and realized this is what I was actually remembering.

 

100% sure on that one. I've never even heard of the "Salted Nut Roll" until now. They were definitely Payday bars I was eating. I'm just assuming at this point that I'm less correct than I originally thought I was on the center. I was thinking about the pecan logs I sometimes ate when I was younger and whether the nougat center in those would work when it occurred to me that I'm mistaken on those as well. They didn't have a nougat center, it was divinity. So I think I'm just going to do a little experimenting and see what works for me and not worry about what's authentic.

[curls]

37 minutes ago, patris said:

 

Any chance you and @Tri2Cook are conflating Paydays and Salted Nut Rolls in your memories? I had the same recollection and realized this is what I was actually remembering.

 

Thank you for the suggestion but I don't remember seeing the salted nut roll when I was growing up. Will keep my eyes open for it now and give it a try. Also, waiting for the results of @Tri2Cook's experiments. :-)

[rotuts]

I remember Payday's as pictured above.

 

a candybar w great potential :

 

PeaNutty , salty , soft caramel  

 

the problem was for me the nuts were stale

 

I preferred BabeRuth for that reason.    not as salty ...   but better PN's

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

I remember Payday's as pictured above.

 

a candybar w great potential :

 

PeaNutty , salty , soft caramel  

 

the problem was for me the nuts were stale

 

I preferred BabeRuth for that reason.    not as salty ...   but better PN's

Exactly. Payday is only worth eating when they're fresh. Which is why it occurred to me to try to create something similar. So that, if I get a hankering, I can make it myself and it will be fresh and with peanuts that are even more salty than those used on the commercial bar... which will make it even better. While I don't mind a Baby Ruth, it's not a viable replacement for the Payday. There's no chocolate involved with a Payday.

[Toliver]

5 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

Exactly. Payday is only worth eating when they're fresh. Which is why it occurred to me to try to create something similar. So that, if I get a hankering, I can make it myself and it will be fresh and with peanuts that are even more salty than those used on the commercial bar... which will make it even better. While I don't mind a Baby Ruth, it's not a viable replacement for the Payday. There's no chocolate involved with a Payday.

Baby Ruth's are a softer "chew", as well.

The nougat/caramel with the Payday is a lot chewier/tougher. Plus, there's a salt-kick with the Payday, upping the Salty/Sweet combo. 

[chromedome]

On 6/3/2018 at 3:27 PM, Kerry Beal said:

Never tasted a payday - is the nougat one I might know from a snickers or similar bar?

Imagine an O Henry without the chocolate (-ish) coating, and a thicker layer of peanuts instead. That's not it exactly, but it'll put you in the right neighbourhood.

 

I used to buy myself one any time I ran across to Calais.

[Tri2Cook]

7 hours ago, chromedome said:

Imagine an O Henry without the chocolate (-ish) coating, and a thicker layer of peanuts instead. That's not it exactly, but it'll put you in the right neighbourhood.

 

I used to buy myself one any time I ran across to Calais.

And the peanuts are much more salty than those in an O Henry.

[Jamal12]

[Jamal12]

[Jamal12]

On 1/8/2017 at 11:21 PM, Kerry Beal said:

 

Here's what I found to mold

 

 

A little in the bottom allowed to set

 

 

Stuff him in - bang for bubbles

 

 

Take him back out

 

 

 

 

 

I'm in here!

 

 

Too soon! Good insulator.

 

 

I'm still in here!

 

 

Now I'm out!

 

i make my own molds too, how do you remove this without breaking the chocolate?

[Jamal12]

On 1/7/2017 at 7:01 PM, Tri2Cook said:

I did some searching for the casting/modling jelly the last time he posted something with the chocolate nails and had no luck. I did find a recipe for a DIY version but haven't tried it. It uses gelatin, water, glycerin, glucose and denatured alcohol.

I use 1 part gelatin and 2 parts glycerin to make molds it works great. Mix them together, the put in microwave for a little bit not to much then pour into the container or on the object to be casted

[Jamal12]

On 2/13/2017 at 1:48 PM, martin0642 said:

As ever, I am stunned by the artistry of people here - just beautiful. So...figured it was time I put some of my semi-amateur (semi because I do have a chocolate business :)) efforts up! 

 

Large Valentines Hearts (double normal size) -

Dark ones are a 65% shell filled with a little Orange & Balsamic caramel (William Curley recipe) and a firm dark chocolate ganache infused with a little orange zest and cinnamon.

White ones are a Casa Luker white chocolate (yummy!) filled with a homemade hazelnut gianduja.

 

The boxed chocolates are some of my Valentines selection - 

Top row = 70% dark heart with a Vanilla Sencha ganache, Dark and white cup with a fresh coffee ganache, White heart with a morello cherry pate de fruit centre (blended to make it pipeable)

Bottom Row = 70% half dome with an orange & balsamic caramel, 45% Milk heart with a hazelnut praline centre, 65% dark shell with a ginger caramel centre (the caramel is actually a dulce de leche, blended with milk chocolate and pieces of preserved ginger)

 

Then - Dark squares decorated with white and orange cocoa butter - filled with an Orange & Clove ganache

 

Finally - White & Dark chocolate shells, filled with an Apple & Cinnamon ganache (big favourite for many people!)

 

I have to thank the many people who post helpful tips on this board for helping me to be able to do any of these chocolates

 

 

 

WOW !

[Jamal12]

On 11/20/2017 at 1:21 AM, dhardy123 said:

I think its well worth the money. It works out to about $10 Cdn a month. She generally has 1 new video per week which is accompanied by a recipe in PDF so you can download it. The videos can range from minutes to hours based on what she is doing. You can definitely pause the video as you work at your own pace. As  Kristen is the self-proclaimed "Queen Of Chocolate", she has numerous videos on chocolate techniques, such as molding, decorations, spraying, tempering, etc. She also does many videos on non-chocolate things like gateaux, cookies, and pastries. In addition, she has guest chefs demonstrate their techniques, such as Bachour, Haasnoot, Melissa, etc.

 

I would suggest sign up for a month and check it out. It also has a pretty active forum relating to the recipes and Kristen replies to most questions posted there.

 

hi I joined Savour school online classes as well they are very good,  the thing that pushed me to join them i saw her do the red Jupiter on youtube and i was so intrigued and wanted to do  it aswell and learn more on how it was done. That blew my mind so when i found  it was part of the Online course including many others i too enrolled.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Jamal12 (log)

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, Jamal12 said:

 

i make my own molds too, how do you remove this without breaking the chocolate?

It’s like silicone - you can coax it out

[Jamal12]

Just now, Kerry Beal said:

It’s like silicone - you can coax it out

yeah i am making molds out of Glycerin and gelatin but I half of the object. May be i can make the full object but then cut the mold the mold into two haves and rejoin them at molding, so it does not break when demolding.

[Jamal12]