Confections! What did we make? (2017 – )

[kstone2016]

I'm gearing up for my big Halloween Haunt event! My Aunt's neighborhood goes all out with decorations and haunted houses. My Aunt does Harry Potter for their house and since I set my booth up outside their house I figured I should have some themed products. They get thousands of trick-or-treaters each Halloween. Last year was the first year I set up a booth there (it was also a month after I decided to start my little at home bakery) and I sold out on the "Friends and Family" night because I couldn't do enough volume... Well this year I am prepared! Here are my "Harry Potter" themed offerings.

Owl: Solid Cookies and Cream (Hedwig)

Blue/Bronze: Blueberry Cream (Ravenclaw)

Red/Gold: Chili Chocolate Ganache  (Gryffindor)

Green/Silver: Mint Ganache (Slytherin)

Yellow/Black: Honey Lemon Cream (Hufflepuff)

Milk Frog: Peanut Butter

Dark Frog: Milk Chocolate Ganache

 

I am so glad I found this forum, I have learned so much already from everyone's contributions! I can't wait to start trying more complex fillings and decorating techniques. My end goal is to open up my own shop, but I feel like I have a long way to go before I'll be on that level.

[pastrygirl]

Finally got on the Halloween bandwagon...

 

Response has been good and it's a fun diversion from all Christmas production all the time, will do it again.

 

[Chocoguyin Pemby]

Question for the group - when polishing your molds - if you do - I was just told that isopropyl alcohol is not a food safe product for this use - I have been using it for years and no one has ever gotten sick but now I am wondering?  Should I switch to alcohol like vodka or keep using Isopropyl alcohol?  TIA

[Tri2Cook]

On 10/26/2022 at 9:27 AM, pastrygirl said:

Finally got on the Halloween bandwagon...

 

Response has been good and it's a fun diversion from all Christmas production all the time, will do it again.

 

 

Nice! Not gonna lie, those eyes are really nice and I know they were a lot of work... but I really like those ghosts. 

[curls]

Making some hazelnut bon bons for my November selection and needed some more hazelnut praline. Decided not to order it this time but to make my own. I'm quite happy with the results! Unless I need a ton of hazelnut praline, I'll keep making it myself.  Some process photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[curls]

Bonbon flavors for November are fig preserves with a port ganache, coffee ganache, and hazelnut in chocolate hazelnut paste. Also dark chocolate bars with candied orange peel.

 

 

 

 

 

[pastrygirl]

 

festive holiday boxes with gold salty caramel (dark shell, milk center), red white chocolate cranberry, blue dark choc brown butter rum, and green milk choc peppermint

 

 

[Jim D.]

@curls, is that a melanger you are using to make the paste?  About how long did the grinding process take?  And did you "pre-grind" the nuts in a processor?

 

I see that you toast the nuts and make the caramel separately.  I have started doing that after seeing a video from Kriss Harvey saying how much easier it is than trying to caramelize the nuts.

[curls]

@Jim D. no melanger, the hazelnut praline was made with a food processor. The caramelized sugar still has a bit of crunch… can’t make the paste super smooth via food processor but previously I bought Trablit hazelnut paste and my paste is smoother than theirs. My bonbon also includes a whole hazelnut, so it is a piece with multiple textures.

 

Yes, I tried the method of roasting nuts & caramelizing sugar as separate processes. So far I like this method better than the traditional one. Nice to get more precise roasting of nuts & cooking the sugar to a specific temperature. Next batch I plan to increase the hazelnuts going from 50/50 to 60/40. May also roast the nuts a bit longer.

[Jim D.]

28 minutes ago, curls said:

@Jim D. no melanger, the hazelnut praline was made with a food processor. The caramelized sugar still has a bit of crunch… can’t make the paste super smooth via food processor but previously I bought Trablit hazelnut paste and my paste is smoother than theirs. My bonbon also includes a whole hazelnut, so it is a piece with multiple textures.

 

Yes, I tried the method of roasting nuts & caramelizing sugar as separate processes. So far I like this method better than the traditional one. Nice to get more precise roasting of nuts & cooking the sugar to a specific temperature. Next batch I plan to increase the hazelnuts going from 50/50 to 60/40. May also roast the nuts a bit longer.

 

I too use a food processor for making some of my nut pastes (haven't talked myself into a melanger...yet).  And I too don't mind the sugar crunch that a processor leaves.  I have started straining the ground caramel through a fine-meshed sieve that helps somewhat with that (minor) issue.

[curls]

4 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

I too use a food processor for making some of my nut pastes (haven't talked myself into a melanger...yet).  And I too don't mind the sugar crunch that a processor leaves.  I have started straining the ground caramel through a fine-meshed sieve that helps somewhat with that (minor) issue.

For my hazelnut piece, I like the additional sugar crunch.

 

No room in my shop for a melanger, perhaps there will be one day. Definitely a longer process if you use a melanger.

[MikanPotatos]

Made some chocolates for the office. Stand out flavor from this batch was corn. Was not expecting it to be good but the olive oil and black pepper really compliment it.

[Jim D.]

10 hours ago, MikanPotatos said:

Made some chocolates for the office. Stand out flavor from this batch was corn. Was not expecting it to be good but the olive oil and black pepper really compliment it.

 

You have some very interesting flavor combinations in your assortment (I would never have thought of combining pistachio with cassis).  But the corn ganache is especially intriguing.  Are you able/willing to share your recipe?

[MikanPotatos]

23 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

You have some very interesting flavor combinations in your assortment (I would never have thought of combining pistachio with cassis).  But the corn ganache is especially intriguing.  Are you able/willing to share your recipe?

Pistachio and raspberry has been a pretty popular combination over here in Japan. It was popularized by Pierre Hermes of French fame. I found cassis(blackcurrant) to be a more complex tasting raspberry so it naturally pairs well with pistachio as well.

 

For the corn ganache, I sauted sweet corn with butter in a pan until they were all caramelized. The goal was to decrease water content and increase smokiness. Then soaked corn flakes in heavy cream similar to how Momofuku milk bar makes their cereal milk. The ganache is then assembled by melting white chocolate with the corn flake infused cream. Then I puree the corn flakes and caramalized corn until smooth as possible, and adding it to the ganache. Extra virgin olive oil, black pepper, salt are added to taste and the entire thing is immersion blended for at least a good 5 minutes. Then homemade caramel is blended in. I think I also added some powdered dehydrated corn.

Edited November 30, 2022 by MikanPotatos (log)

[Tri2Cook]

On 11/29/2022 at 12:20 AM, MikanPotatos said:

Stand out flavor from this batch was corn.

 

Sounds good! I played around with corn as a flavor a while back but never really pursued it beyond seeing if it would work. I like the direction you went with the flavor. I did it in the style of the fruit couvertures with freeze dried corn, cocoa butter, sugar, butter powder and salt. It was tasty but softer than the fruit couvertures when set. I may revisit it with some tweaks one of these days now that you have it on my mind again. I think it would have worked in a ganache setting, I was shooting for a molded bar.

 

 

[MikanPotatos]

17 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

 

Sounds good! I played around with corn as a flavor a while back but never really pursued it beyond seeing if it would work. I like the direction you went with the flavor. I did it in the style of the fruit couvertures with freeze dried corn, cocoa butter, sugar, butter powder and salt. It was tasty but softer than the fruit couvertures when set. I may revisit it with some tweaks one of these days now that you have it on my mind again. I think it would have worked in a ganache setting, I was shooting for a molded bar.

 

 

I think if I had access to a melanger I would also make a courerture for the shell of the ganache. To reduce the overpowering flavor of the white chocolate I had to caramelize the white chocolate. In the end it tastes good but its obscuring a bit of the corn flavor.

[Tri2Cook]

6 hours ago, MikanPotatos said:

 

I think if I had access to a melanger I would also make a courerture for the shell of the ganache. To reduce the overpowering flavor of the white chocolate I had to caramelize the white chocolate. In the end it tastes good but its obscuring a bit of the corn flavor.

 

If I ever get around to revisiting it, I'm going to reduce the amount of butter powder and up the cocoa butter a bit and see if that gets me a better end result. The flavor was good, it just wouldn't firm up enough for bars or shelling, even with tempering.

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

 

If I ever get around to revisiting it, I'm going to reduce the amount of butter powder and up the cocoa butter a bit and see if that gets me a better end result. The flavor was good, it just wouldn't firm up enough for bars or shelling, even with tempering.

Yup - likely the butter powder - more like a gianduja texture than a chocolate texture. 

[Tri2Cook]

10 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

more like a gianduja texture than a chocolate texture. 

 

That's exactly what it was like! 

[Kerry Beal]

 

Made some hazelnut torrone - unfortunately had the brilliant idea to use a stainless container as a mold - not easily released. I've got a million molds in this house - why did I use that I ask?

 

 

 

 

Big batch of Dulce de Leche ganache for truffles - gotta get something made before Christmas rolls around. 

[Jim D.]

My first attempt at snacking bars and tablets, made for a new indoor winter market opening January 14, 2023:

 

The bar on the left is strawberry pâte de fruit and crispy peanut butter gianduja, on the right is coffee-flavored marshmallow and hazelnut praline gianduja:

 

 

The tablet on the left is almond praline gianduja topped with caramelized almonds, sour cherries, and sea salt.  In the middle is dark chocolate with glacéed oranges, candied rose petals, and sea salt.  On the right is a plain 72% cacao (Felchlin's Arriba) tablet made especially for dark chocolate fanatics and in a mold that I really like.

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Jim D. (log)

[curls]

Valentine's Day selection:

raspberry dark chocolate

milk chocolate ganache

passion fruit jelly & passion fruit ganache

 

 

 

[GRiker]

Made some new recipes for a fundraising auction last week.  Really happy with how they turned out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple Dome: Pecan Caramel Popcorn (Maple Pecan Praline (Notter) w/ a commercially prepared piece of caramel popcorn in side.) Just thought it would be fun to try.  It took some time to find small fully covered pieces of popcorn to fit in the mold, but it worked.

 

Square -  Chocolate Caramel (Greweling.) 

 

Dark Stripes - Sesame Ginger (Greweling at home, recipe modified from truffle to molded chocolate).  This is the first time I've made a more savory filling.  I only used half the ginger because I thought it would be too strong.  While it was the first day it mellowed considerably by day two.  Would use the full amount next time.  I used the mini massage gun from this discussion to help tap out the bubbles, but should have used it more because the milk chocolate didn't settle all the way in.  Another issue is that some of the dark stripes came out of temper

 

Balls - Hazelnut Truffles (Greweling at home, added crushed croquantine to the outside.)  Also the first time I've made anything with praline paste.  I got some because I see it talked about here a lot and wanted to try it.  Then when I got it, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  Finally settled on these truffles. Adding the croqantine on the outside created some fun texture.

Edited February 20, 2023 by GRiker (log)

[kstone2016]

Here were some of my Valentine's Day offerings. I was completely under prepared for the number of orders I got (this was my first Valentine's Day selling) and spent the whole week before scrambling... but all my customers were over the moon with the products they received so I guess that means it was worth it.

 

Strawberry Cheesecake (strawberry cream cheese ganache made with powdered cream cheese, strawberry jam, white chocolate, and a graham cracker shortbread), Almond Toffee Ganache (roasted almonds, toffee, milk chocolate ganache), Raspberries & Cream (raspberry fondant cream and vanilla bean ganache), Salted Caramel Ganache (caramel and semi sweet chocolate)

 

It was also my first time offering chocolate bars.

 

From Left to Right: S'mores (Vanilla Marshmallow, Graham Cracker Shortbread, Semi Sweet Chocolate), Cookies & Creme (Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, White Chocolate), Rocky Road (Vanilla Marshmallow, Roasted Almonds, Milk Chocolate)

 

And a few other pictures that turned out great thanks to my husband...

 

 

 

 

[Saltychoc]

It was my first Valentine's day too! Finally posting on here. I didn't take cross sections of many of them because the time really got away from me. Just started selling professionally and the packaging takes more energy than making the chocolates. For the lychee & Almond I ended up doing my regular lychee white chocolate ganache and then making an almond shortbread with sifted almond flour and no egg and then slightly crushing that and mixing with some dulcey chocolate. It was pretty easy to pipe though I wish I had left more room in the shell so that I had a thicker "cookie" layer. I used reduced apple cider syrup in the apple one, framboise liqueur in the raspberry caramel, reduced pomegranate juice (this REALLY tasted like pom. And if only they all actually looked like the first photo - that's the amazing sunset light at our kitchen.