Confections! What did we make? (2017 – )

[Kerry Beal]

The thing I've been able to temper with the EZtemper that I can't temper any other way is the 'chocolate' that folks make with all sorts of liquid sweeteners like agave - not supposed to be able to temper it - but strangely it works.

 

[Pastrypastmidnight]

So... my supermarket had bags of beautiful blood oranges last month. And I went a little bit crazy ;).

 

Left to right: blood orange pâte de fruit and blood orange infused white chocolate ganache in a dark chocolate shell, blood orange pâté de fruit, blood orange dark chocolate ganache atop blood orange pâte de fruit, blood orange caramel in a dark chocolate shell, and chewy blood orange vanilla bean caramel.

 

[pastrygirl]

Made some bonbons for Valentine's but it's currently Snow-pocalypse '19 in Seattle, so I think Valentine's Day is cancelled

 

 

From top/left, all with caramel, dark shells except the first one in milk: milk choc chipotle, white choc passion fruit, milk salty caramel, white (Orelys) butterscotch, dark honey

 

Snow-mageddon - we got about 8" which is unusually deep, some winters we get no snow at all.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2019 by pastrygirl (log)

[curls]

@pastrygirl they look great and sound delicious. I hope the weather doesn't affect your sales too much. Hoping the same for myself (wintery mixed precipitation coming to my area Monday & Tuesday).

[pastrygirl]

12 minutes ago, curls said:

@pastrygirl they look great and sound delicious. I hope the weather doesn't affect your sales too much. Hoping the same for myself (wintery mixed precipitation coming to my area Monday & Tuesday).

 

Thanks!

 

But we are comically inept in the snow.  Transplants from the Midwest, Northeast, Canada, and everywhere colder laugh at us.  Part of it is that we don't get enough snow to be properly equipped with chains and snow plows and practice driving in it, part of it is that it doesn't stay cold enough so it thaws then re-freezes and we get layers of ice on the road.  Oh, and all the hills.  Good for sledding, bad for driving!

[Fernwood]

Got some Ruby chocolate from Trader Joe's and made some goodies for my Valentine.  I tempered ridiculously small amounts of both chocolates by nuking and seeding, with reasonable success, piped from zip bags onto parchment and threw some crumbled freeze-dried raspberries (also TJ's) on top.  Very amateurishly improvised but I was pleased with the result.

[minas6907]

So recently I revisited something I was trying to do years ago. I think alot of it had to so with seeing a bunch of CNC machining videos on youtube and IG, but years ago I looked into making a lollipop mold. Originally I got the idea from seeing these videos of a company called Papabubble, they shape their lollipops is a very clever way. An early version of this is seeing in the first picture, it seems just like a ring with a notch cut into it, and its welded into a plate. Later Papabubble videos show a piece of bar stock with the lollipop shape milled out. Anyways, after seeing these CNC videos, I realized that revisiting something like this is very possible. A friend of mine works in a machine shop, I gave him some dimensions, and the fourth picture is what he gave me. So the idea is that as your pulling the sugar for the lollipops, you coil it up as you normally would, but now you can stuff it into the metal form, insert the stick, press it against the granite surface, and remove. This should give a very consistent and clean shape to the lollipops. I have yet to use it yet, but I was planning on a few different sized circles and hearts. I've always had trouble with hearts, they take too long to make by hand, and I cant say they are as consistent as I'd like. Anywho, I'll report back, hopefully with some nice pops!

[minas6907]

Hey all,

So I was able to boil up some sugar, and here is the results. Very pleased with the metal form, its a massive help in speeding up lollipop production. The first two pictures are money shots of the lollipops and berlingots. Every time I make sugar I can't help but cut a few berlingots, those little pillows always look so sharp. Third picture is a side by side of a lollipop shaped by hand, and the other with the metal form. The one shaped by hand does look good, but when I have to make 100 of these, I see too much variation in shape, though it may not be as noticable to others. But anywho, I love the perfectly round shape of the lollipops, I just can't get over it. Fourth picture is pretty much everything that was produced from the sugar recipe. This form was just sort of a test run to make sure it works, but next step is to modify the dimensions a little bit, as well as producing a metal form for a heart shape. Oh yeah, almost forgot, the pops are blueberry. 🙂

[curls]

Beautiful confections @minas6907! Whenever I see your work I ‘m inspired to try some sugar work. Did you need to keep things warm or rewarm the sugar while you are working? If so, what is your process / heat source?

[minas6907]

1 hour ago, curls said:

Beautiful confections @minas6907! Whenever I see your work I ‘m inspired to try some sugar work. Did you need to keep things warm or rewarm the sugar while you are working? If so, what is your process / heat source?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Give it a try! It might seem a little intimidating, but like anything else it just takes time to get a feel for it. Believe it or not, I worked for a long time with no heat source (had to go fast), then I did get a single hanging heat lamp, and now have two heat lamps, nothing special, just a Winco model from a local restaurant supply, but it does do the job, I'm able to get through a 3.5 lb of sugar, minimal waste. But in the beginning I used an oven to keep the sugar warm. I set it to 250f, lined a sheet pan with a silpat and just set it in there when it started to firm up. But really, just give it a try. Make some sugar with the goal of getting some stripes on it, don't worry about flavor. If you have any specific questions don't hesitate to ask!

[curls]

@minas6907 thank you so much for all the information and the encouragement. Starting with the oven & just a stripe sounds like a great way to start. If I start down this path I'm sure I'll have tons more questions for you. 🙂

[Haley]

I tried this new flavor combo for valentines this year.  White chocolate cherry ganache, dried cherry, with a smoked almond/dark chocolate gianduja on the bottom.  I wasn’t too sure about each layer individually, but together it made a very delicious combination.

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

I made these for Valentines - first time making praline and I can't believe how good it is - best I've ever tasted - also my first water ganache made with beer - interesting mouth feel.  Not perfect but I am working on it  The flavors are Lto R Rasperry jam, peanut butter and salted caramel, praline, Baileys, Beer Ganache

[sbain]

Those look lovely. Can you share more about your delicious praline filling? I’ve never attempted it. Love to get your recipe

[sbain]

Made some bars this weekend. These are a peanut nougat layer with a chipotle and peanut butter milk chocolate meltaway layer on top (dipped in dark and splattered with cocoa butter). Inspired by a David Chow recipe. There came out pretty  yummy!

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

14 hours ago, sbain said:

Those look lovely. Can you share more about your delicious praline filling? I’ve never attempted it. Love to get your recipe

I used equal parts sugar and hazelnuts - 300 g in this case.  roast the hazelnuts first until done - if they still have the skins on you can put them in a dish  towel and rub vigoursouly to get rid of the skin - much easier when they are hot.  meanwhile caramalize the sugar using dry or wet method until the colour you want to work with.   I have seen 2 different ways for the next step -  1} pour the caramel sugar over the warm nuts and stir to mix them together and set aside to cool.  When cooled break up into small pieces and put in the food processor.  

   2} pour the caramel only on a silpat and let cool - break up into small pieces and to food processor and add the roasted hazelnuts as well.  Blitz until you get the texture you are looking for - crumble, powder or paste - I took mine to a paste - it's amazing how liquidy it ends up when the oils are released from the hazelnuts. 

 

to make the ganache

500g cream

600g praline

300g milk chocolate

100g dark chocolate

 

The recipe actually calls for 100g glucose which I subed with praline - add praline to chocolate callettes - bring cream to a simmer and pour over chocolate and allow to melt and stir to incorporate   I found at first I could still taste tiny granuals of the sugar but it disappears over time.  hope this helps

 

Now how do you make the meltaway layer?  That sounds delicious - I love peanut butter - one of my favorite bonbon fillings is peanut butter raspberry jam and salted caramel.

[sbain]

Thanks! I’m gonna try it

 

the meltaway layer was a easy:

560g  milk chocolate 

95g coconut oil

95g peanut butter

1.5 teaspoons chipotle powder

 

i melted and tempered it all together (I use slab method), then poured it onto my peanut nougat layer. It took a long time to set (almost 24 hours). You can find the whole recipe in this article about David Chow: https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/12/24/how-david-chow-makes-his-delicate-sweets-and-chocolates.html

[Haley]

A friend requested turtle bonbons and I love how my “turtle shells” came out.

[teonzo]

1 hour ago, Haley said:

A friend requested turtle bonbons and I love how my “turtle shells” came out.

 

What filling did you use? If you made a turtle soup ganache then you'll be my hero!

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

2 hours ago, Haley said:

A friend requested turtle bonbons and I love how my “turtle shells” came out.

Your turtle shells look great - nice shine on them and your photo is a good close up!  I bet they taste great - so turtle filling how?  pecans crumbled into caramel?

[Haley]

Just simple salted caramel and chopped roasted pecans for the filling.

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

What size molds does everyone like to use?  I have bought various molds and have found my personal preference is a mold that is 11g -15g - I find smaller amounts you can't get a good amount of ganache or filling to savour - just my 2 cents.

[Pastrypastmidnight]

38 minutes ago, Chocoguyin Pemby said:

What size molds does everyone like to use?  I have bought various molds and have found my personal preference is a mold that is 11g -15g - I find smaller amounts you can't get a good amount of ganache or filling to savour - just my 2 cents.

I like my 9g spheres and my 12g domes best. Spheres for ease of spraying and cleaning, domes for layering flavors. 

[Jim D.]

44 minutes ago, Chocoguyin Pemby said:

What size molds does everyone like to use?  I have bought various molds and have found my personal preference is a mold that is 11g -15g - I find smaller amounts you can't get a good amount of ganache or filling to savour - just my 2 cents.

I aim for approximately the same size you mention, though occasionally I have bought especially attractive molds that are smaller (such as the very popular "quenelle"). I find that recipients appreciate a larger bonbon. In cases where there are several layers, a larger one is practically required--if you really want the recipient to taste both layers. All that being said, my impression is that most chocolatiers use smaller molds. I like half-spheres, but the readily available ones are either quite small or rather large (the geometry of a sphere dictates that the diameter of the cavity will increase dramatically with more space allowed for ganaches). That's why I had larger-than-normal half-spheres made, and I use them a lot.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Jim D. (log)

[Tri2Cook]

41 minutes ago, Chocoguyin Pemby said:

What size molds does everyone like to use?  I have bought various molds and have found my personal preference is a mold that is 11g -15g - I find smaller amounts you can't get a good amount of ganache or filling to savour - just my 2 cents.

I use 12/13 gram (depending which website description you believe, I've never verified them for myself) domes for the majority of my non-bar stuff. Small enough for a single bite if desired/required (runny fillings), big enough for layering or plenty o' filling.