Confections! What did we make? (2017 – )

[Matthew.Taylor]

On 10/26/2024 at 3:14 AM, Rajala said:

 

I made what we in Sweden call "smuldeg" (crumb dough). It's essentially just some flour, butter and some sugar (quite low amount of sugar actually). You use that to make a pie very quick. Called "smuldegspaj" or "crumble dough pie". I did just that, but for me I blended the baked dough too much, as the pieces kind of turned into something resembling caster sugar crystals in size. I would've liked to have it a bit bigger.

My first idea was to use some kind of apple PDF as well. But then I thought: well, when you make an apple pie you do get some caramelization and such - so I ended up with the apple caramel instead. I think it worked out pretty well. But in hindsight, I probably would've baked the apples before using them in the caramel to get out even more flavor.

Could I possibly get a recipe for that? Or is it just a “throw together” thing?

[Rajala]

On 12/15/2024 at 9:23 PM, Jim D. said:

Christmas 2024 assortment: 24 different fillings, including crème brûlée, sesame crunch, apple crisp, pecan pie, cinnamon bun, tiramisù, pineapple caramel, orange with habanero chili, carrot cake, and baklava.

 

Looks great, would like to try the all!

[Rajala]

11 hours ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

Could I possibly get a recipe for that? Or is it just a “throw together” thing?

 

Of course, you can find it here: https://matsrajala.com/en/recipes/apple-pie-bonbon

[Matthew.Taylor]

3 hours ago, Rajala said:

 

Of course, you can find it here: https://matsrajala.com/en/recipes/apple-pie-bonbon

👍

[RWood]

It’s been a busy month, but I got a few chocolates done. 
Late to the party, I finally made the Dubai bar and a few smaller. Pretty good, I think when I added a little tahini I liked it better. 
Flavors: peppermint patty, s’mores, raspberry caramel, pecan, Aperol, Dubai. 
I finally experimented on my toasted marshmallow, and I like how it came out. But the crust is still in progress. I tried @Rajala crust, but my cocoa butter was awful. Tasted terrible, so I made one with just browned butter. 
I made the Aperol for my step sister. She had the Aperol Spritz for her wedding cocktail. I could not find a blood orange within 20 miles of me (couldn’t get to Atlanta) so I made a Cara Cara gelee layer, and white chocolate Aperol ganache. Better than I thought, kinda marmalade-y. 

[Rajala]

22 minutes ago, RWood said:

but my cocoa butter was awful. Tasted terrible

 

Ouch! Rancid or just a bad tasting one? Maybe I should clarify in the future that I always use deodorized cocoa butter as well - but I guess most you buy from larger manufacturers won't taste bad (thinking, Barry Callebaut, Valrona etc)

[RWood]

24 minutes ago, Rajala said:

 

Ouch! Rancid or just a bad tasting one? Maybe I should clarify in the future that I always use deodorized cocoa butter as well - but I guess most you buy from larger manufacturers won't taste bad (thinking, Barry Callebaut, Valrona etc)

Just bad tasting, wasn’t deodorized. I’ll be getting some from Cocoa Barry for the next round. I think I got this from Olive Nation. 

[Rajala]

"Mozart" - Almond marzipan and nougat (obviously not the French one)

 

[Jim D.]

@RWood, I'm interested in your comment about tahini improving the Dubai bar.  I followed a recipe that included  tahini (most recipes do, I think), and I did not detect any sesame-y taste added to the filling.  The next time I omitted the tahini paste and tasted no difference.  What do you think it added?  I've never thought that tahini had a lot of taste on its own; in my "sesame crunch" bonbon I add lots of toasted sesame seeds, which do give it some flavor.  The tahini paste I use is from Soom, and the seeds used are toasted.

[RWood]

4 hours ago, Jim D. said:

@RWood, I'm interested in your comment about tahini improving the Dubai bar.  I followed a recipe that included  tahini (most recipes do, I think), and I did not detect any sesame-y taste added to the filling.  The next time I omitted the tahini paste and tasted no difference.  What do you think it added?  I've never thought that tahini had a lot of taste on its own; in my "sesame crunch" bonbon I add lots of toasted sesame seeds, which do give it some flavor.  The tahini paste I use is from Soom, and the seeds used are toasted.

I think in my case, it helped tone down the sweetness. I used a 7oz jar of Italian pistachio paste that was the best of the three types I had.  But, it was sweet, and after I stirred in 2 TBS of tahini, it was better. I can't say I really tasted tahini, but it seemed to help balance it. I had an open jar of Trader Joe's tahini. 

[GRiker]

Following the discussion about the Dubai Bar with interest.  Tasted this for the first time at the Dallas Chocolate Festival in September at Kate Weiser’s booth. Just had a customer a couple weeks ago request that I make it and justust started looking into how to make it. 
 

I see some people online are using pistachio butter/paste (pistachios ground into a paste) some are using pistachio cream  (which appears to be a sweetened butter/paste). @RWood I see you’re buying pistachio paste. Is that pistachio paste just unsweetened ground pistachios? Anyone using pistachio cream?
 

Is anyone making their own ground pistachio butter/paste? 
 

@Jim D. you said the Dubai bar is essentially a gianduja. Are you mixing the pistachio paste with chocolate?

[RWood]

13 minutes ago, GRiker said:

Following the discussion about the Dubai Bar with interest.  Tasted this for the first time at the Dallas Chocolate Festival in September at Kate Weiser’s booth. Just had a customer a couple weeks ago request that I make it and justust started looking into how to make it. 
 

I see some people online are using pistachio butter/paste (pistachios ground into a paste) some are using pistachio cream  (which appears to be a sweetened butter/paste). @RWood I see you’re buying pistachio paste. Is that pistachio paste just unsweetened ground pistachios? Anyone using pistachio cream?
 

Is anyone making their own ground pistachio butter/paste? 
 

@Jim D. you said the Dubai bar is essentially a gianduja. Are you mixing the pistachio paste with chocolate?

I should probably edit my post, mine was actually a cream (I'll add a photo). I had a jar of sweetened pistachio paste, it wasn't as smooth, and I think it's better added to buttercream than as the base for the bar. I've read some places people have made a gianduju for it, but that doesn't look like the texture I see in photos. Usually they look runny, and I haven't seen a recipe that includes chocolate.  The ones I've seen are pistachio cream, tahini, butter and kataifi.

[GRiker]

Thanks @RWood for the clarification. Were you able to find that product locally or did you buy it online? I do see it on Amazon. 

[RWood]

7 minutes ago, GRiker said:

Thanks @RWood for the clarification. Were you able to find that product locally or did you buy it online? I do see it on Amazon. 

Amazon

[Jim D.]

5 hours ago, RWood said:

I think in my case, it helped tone down the sweetness. I used a 7oz jar of Italian pistachio paste that was the best of the three types I had.  But, it was sweet, and after I stirred in 2 TBS of tahini, it was better. I can't say I really tasted tahini, but it seemed to help balance it. I had an open jar of Trader Joe's tahini. 

Good idea about reducing the sweetness.  I use pistachio praline paste plus plain pistachio paste (no sugar) to reach that goal.

[Jim D.]

4 hours ago, GRiker said:

Following the discussion about the Dubai Bar with interest.  Tasted this for the first time at the Dallas Chocolate Festival in September at Kate Weiser’s booth. Just had a customer a couple weeks ago request that I make it and justust started looking into how to make it. 
 

I see some people online are using pistachio butter/paste (pistachios ground into a paste) some are using pistachio cream  (which appears to be a sweetened butter/paste). @RWood I see you’re buying pistachio paste. Is that pistachio paste just unsweetened ground pistachios? Anyone using pistachio cream?
 

Is anyone making their own ground pistachio butter/paste? 
 

@Jim D. you said the Dubai bar is essentially a gianduja. Are you mixing the pistachio paste with chocolate?

 

I purchased pistachio butter from Fiddyment Farms.  It is simply ground pistachios, no sugar added.  I put it in my melanger and added some ground up hard caramel to make pistachio praline paste, which (I think) adds a lot of flavor to the pistachios.  But to cut the sweetness I also include plain pistachio paste from Sicily.  I know this all sounds counter-intuitive, but the Siciian paste has a wonderful flavor, and I do want the caramelization taste as well.  And yes, I add white chocolate, making a gianduja.  If you add any water (making a ganache), the general principle is that anything crunchy will (eventually) get soft.  And since the whole point of the Dubai bar is crunchiness, I want to preserve the texture of the kataifi (for more crunchiness I also add some crushed feuilletine, plus some chopped pistachios).  I don't add a lot of chocolate because I want to preserve the fluid texture that the Dubai bar seems to have.

[GRiker]

Thanks for that info @Jim D..  I don't have a melanger, but I suppose if the hard carmel still has some small bits in it, they'll get lost in the crunch of the filling anyway.  I'll have to get some ingredients and start experiments.  Hoping to have some ready by the end of January.  I have a couple local middle eastern markets so I'll see if they have any kataifi there and maybe they'll have some Sicilian pistachio paste as well.  If not, Amazon seems to sell a popular brand.  Thanks for the suggestions for the California pistachio butter.  I'm also looking to make bon bons, not bars.  

[Jim D.]

9 hours ago, GRiker said:

Thanks for that info @Jim D..  I don't have a melanger, but I suppose if the hard carmel still has some small bits in it, they'll get lost in the crunch of the filling anyway.  I'll have to get some ingredients and start experiments.  Hoping to have some ready by the end of January.  I have a couple local middle eastern markets so I'll see if they have any kataifi there and maybe they'll have some Sicilian pistachio paste as well.  If not, Amazon seems to sell a popular brand.  Thanks for the suggestions for the California pistachio butter.  I'm also looking to make bon bons, not bars.  

 

Thanks for pointing out  that pistachio paste available on Amazon.  I just noticed that my source, L'Epicérie, has it only on special order (I guess the price scared customers off--though it is a bit lower than the item on Amazon).  I also make Dubai bonbons, although (as I have stated elsewhere) filling the cavities is a real pain--I put foil over all the cavities except the row I'm working on so as to limit the mess.  But I don't want to reduce the crunch, which is what it would take to get the filling out of a pastry bag or (the otherwise indispensable) confectionery funnel.