Confections! What did we make? (2017 – )

[GRiker]

On 2/1/2025 at 8:06 AM, Jim D. said:

Love the Ruby color, and the filling sounds perfect for a chocolate that's difficult to match with not-too-sweet fillings.  I see that you have your branded boxes.  The business is off and running.

The Ruby was a great fit. I have made a previous iteration of that filling molded into white chocolate.  The filling was good, but overall pretty sweet.  The ruby added a nice tartness that complemented the lime.  I still have some ruby left to use.  Will need to come up with another complimentary flavor.  

 

Indeed.  The business is getting started. 🙂  It's a cottage business and I'm slowing getting the business pieces together.  I decided that if I waited to start until everything was perfect, I never would.  So, I'm learning and developing as I go.  I owe lots of my inspiration to @Jim D. for the idea of making chocolates on my schedule which allowed me to make it work for my current circumstances.  

[GRiker]

On 2/1/2025 at 8:08 AM, Jim D. said:

do you mind describing how you made the filling

Happy to share!  I studied the ideas posted here about making this filling. Then I went online to see what I could learn there.  I distilled it down to four different recipes plus the suggestions about caramelized sugar, white chocolate and the thoughts on pistachio paste vs butter. 

 

I found a couple middle eastern stores where I could buy kataifi - much cheaper than Amazon and close.  I chopped the kataifi into pretty small pieces and toasted them in ghee.

 

One of the stores had pistachio paste.  Ingredient list taught me that it was 30% pistachios plus milk powder, sugar, vegetable oils, vanilla and soy lecithin.  I decided I'd rather use 100% pistachio butter and add my own additions.  I bought my pistachio butter from Fiddyment Farms as @Jim D. recommended.  

 

I combined my pistachio butter with pulverized caramelized sugar and tahini.  

 

I liked the idea of adding chocolate for flavor and body.  It also mimics the pistachio paste - adding oil, sugar and milk powder but where I control ratios myself.  I thought white chocolate would be too sweet so used Callebaut Gold chocolate.  

 

I combined the pistachio butter mix with the melted gold chocolate.  Added toasted kataifi and a touch of silk from my EZ Temper at proper temp.  Then piped into my dome molds.  

 

Piping was easier than I expected.  I cut the opening about 1 cm, then used one hand to open and close the bag filling the cavity.  

 

The first attempt was good, but second attempt was better with more pistachio, less chocolate. 

[Jim D.]

Raspberry Rose (one of the 12 offerings in the Valentine's 2025 assortment):  dark chocolate ganache, raspberries, a hint of rosewater.  And, alas, adorned with the rose transfer sheet  probably not to be seen again with the closing of ChocoTransferSheets, source of some of the most beautiful transfers ever produced.

 

[GRiker]

17 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

with the closing of ChocoTransferSheets

I was just looking for them last week and couldn't.  If they are closed, that explains why.

[RWood]

17 hours ago, Jim D. said:

Raspberry Rose (one of the 12 offerings in the Valentine's 2025 assortment):  dark chocolate ganache, raspberries, a hint of rosewater.  And, alas, adorned with the rose transfer sheet  probably not to be seen again with the closing of ChocoTransferSheets, source of some of the most beautiful transfers ever produced.

 

It’s a bummer they closed. When I lived near there, I would drive over to pick up my order. They had a big facility, I’m sure there was a lot of money involved in that building. I thought it looked like a lot of space for that kind of production. Can hope they might reopen in the future.

[RWood]

Tried the Dubai again for my Valentine’s box. I ordered a different pistachio cream and I like the flavor a lot. It still has chunks of pistachio in it, which is fine for the crunch. I also used some of the Irca Sinfonia pistachio chocolate. I added a little fueilletine as well. I think it needs more chocolate so it will be a little firmer. It’s a hard filling for small chocolates, the bottom was a little thick on some of them. Not sure if it will be a regular or not. 

[GRiker]

@RWood What’s the consistency of your pistachio butter/cream?   My 100% pistachio butter is quite thick - not quite as thick as commercial peanut butter but just a little thinner than the natural varieties. 

I decreased my chocolate it was a little too firm. 

[RWood]

22 minutes ago, GRiker said:

@RWood What’s the consistency of your pistachio butter/cream?   My 100% pistachio butter is quite thick - not quite as thick as commercial peanut butter but just a little thinner than the natural varieties. 

I decreased my chocolate it was a little too firm. 

This brand is pretty thin actually. It pours off the spoon. I think I added 2 oz of chocolate to 7 oz of cream, and it could definitely use more.

[pastrygirl]

4 hours ago, RWood said:

This brand is pretty thin actually. It pours off the spoon. I think I added 2 oz of chocolate to 7 oz of cream, and it could definitely use more.

 

I believe the original/viral bar is pretty runny - it's all about the filling oozing out when you break it. 

 

There might not be any chocolate in the filling.   However, I think they'd show fat bloom fairly quickly from the oil migrating so adding chocolate should help stabilize/slow that.

 

 

[RWood]

16 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

I believe the original/viral bar is pretty runny - it's all about the filling oozing out when you break it. 

 

There might not be any chocolate in the filling.   However, I think they'd show fat bloom fairly quickly from the oil migrating so adding chocolate should help stabilize/slow that.

 

 

The filling did always seem like it was very runny, and for a bar, that may be fine. But, I have seen some recently that did look firmer. I kinda like that better I think. The first bar I did, there was a problem with oil migration. I think you have to be very careful when filling, and make sure you have a clean seal. If I make them again, I think adding enough chocolate to get it to set more will be the way I go. The Sinfonia pistachio chocolate I used is very good, so it added pistachio flavor without adding a lot of extra sweetness like a regular white chocolate. This new pistachio cream is very runny, along with the tahini I added, I think adding chocolate to get more of a gianduja would make it better.

[RWood]

Valentine boxes are done and shipped out. 
German Chocolate, Orelys Espresso, Bailey’s, Red Velvet, Raspberry, Salted Caramel, Peanut Butter, Dubai. 

 

[Jim D.]

@RWood, a great selection.  A couple of questions:  "Orelys Espresso"?!  Have you found a hidden source?  Or just a stash you still have?  I made Orelys once (with @pastrygirl's recipe), and it was close to the original (I kept a few pieces of Valrhona's product just to compare), but it was a lot of work.  I have now more or less substituted Dulcey.  Also:  Do you mind telling how you made the Red Velvet?  I tried that once and used a "red" cocoa (plus a lot of food coloring) to get the effect.

[RWood]

1 hour ago, Jim D. said:

@RWood, a great selection.  A couple of questions:  "Orelys Espresso"?!  Have you found a hidden source?  Or just a stash you still have?  I made Orelys once (with @pastrygirl's recipe), and it was close to the original (I kept a few pieces of Valrhona's product just to compare), but it was a lot of work.  I have now more or less substituted Dulcey.  Also:  Do you mind telling how you made the Red Velvet?  I tried that once and used a "red" cocoa (plus a lot of food coloring) to get the effect.

It's just my stash. I vacuum sealed what I had. I eek it out slowly. Dulcey or the gold from Callebaut will work, but it's just not the same. I probably have two pounds or so left. 

The red velvet is similar to a recipe I came across a long time ago and hadn't done much with. I did two layers though. First one is just a cream cheese white ganache with vanilla. The other is a white ganache with cream cheese, cocoa powder, vanilla and a little red color from Colour Mill. It's fairly close in flavor. RV is hard to pinpoint the flavor other than cocoa and buttermilk in the cake, so this sorta gets it. I wondered about using buttermilk powder some way instead of the cream cheese? I thought about holding back on the cocoa too. I used a dutched from Cocoa Barry and it's pretty dark. Here’s a photo of inside.

Edited February 8 by RWood (log)

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, RWood said:

It's just my stash. I vacuum sealed what I had. I eek it out slowly. Dulcey or the gold from Callebaut will work, but it's just not the same. I probably have two pounds or so left. 

The red velvet is similar to a recipe I came across a long time ago and hadn't done much with. I did two layers though. First one is just a cream cheese white ganache with vanilla. The other is a white ganache with cream cheese, cocoa powder, vanilla and a little red color from Colour Mill. It's fairly close in flavor. RV is hard to pinpoint the flavor other than cocoa and buttermilk in the cake, so this sorta gets it. I wondered about using buttermilk powder some way instead of the cream cheese? I thought about holding back on the cocoa too. I used a dutched from Cocoa Barry and it's pretty dark. Here’s a photo of inside.

 

Thanks for the information.  For my cheesecake bonbon, I use a recipe that calls not only for cream cheese but also sour cream, which gives a little of the buttermilk idea.  Another technique, which I used for a yogurt ganache that didn't have enough yogurt flavor, is to add a little distilled white vinegar.

[RWood]

Just now, Jim D. said:

 

Thanks for the information.  For my cheesecake bonbon, I use a recipe that calls not only for cream cheese but also sour cream, which gives a little of the buttermilk idea.  Another technique, which I used for a yogurt ganache that didn't have enough yogurt flavor, is to add a little distilled white vinegar.

White  Balsamic vinegar could work. I have a recipe to make a shelf stable “cream cheese” frosting which uses white balsamic in regular buttercream. It’s supposed to mimic the flavor of cream cheese without the dairy issue.