White Chocolate - All about it.

[kthull]

For Halloween, I did a few trays of eyeballs: peanut butter eyeballs coated in white chocolate and decorated.

Well, I'm still a bit weak in my chocolate tempering and I didn't have time for practicing, so I chose the white candy melts. The taste was decent and the audience was kids, so I wasn't worried on that end. More importantly, the color was genuinely white, not the pale yellow of white chocolate. What really sucked is that it was like dipping the balls into pudding. It was horrible to work with.

Now the dilemma: I already received a request for the peanut butter balls for Christmas, decorated to look like snowmen (cool idea...wish I thought of it). But I don't want to use the candy melts. And I don't want yellow "snow" (gross!).

Is there whiter white chocolate? I've only tried out a couple brands, Ghirardelli and Callebaut to be specific. The Callebaut is whiter than the Ghirardelli, but still yellowish compared to the candy melts.

Or is there a way to whiten white chocolate?

I thought as a worst case, I could experiment thinning the candy melts with corn syrup, but I'm not too keen on that idea either.

Thanks!

[eem]

I don't know how this would work flavor wise but you could roll the freshly coated balls in shredded coconut which, if memory serves me right, is whiter than white chocolate. And the flakey surface could be seen as snowflakey.

[Katherine]

If you cook a sugar syrup to the soft ball stage (238F?), and immediately mix it with lots of shredded coconut, you can shape balls around your filling, and when it cools, it will be firm and taste like the inside of a Mounds bar.

[kthull]

Coconut snow sounds cool, but they like the chocolate. Frankly, I thought peanut butter + white chocolate would be weird, but it was actually rather nice. Not too sure about peanut butter and coconut though...

[pastrymama]

You could thin the candy melts with either cocoa butter or shortening. The karo would probably cause it to thicken unless you use a lot then your chocolate won't set up. Don't use butter or margarine, they contain water and will cause your chocolate to thicken also. Good luck

[nightscotsman]

PCB makes an opaque white cocoa butter coloring using titanium dioxide. You could either mix some into your white chocolate or spray it on the finished candies.

You could also use vegetable oil to thin your candy melts. If you use about 8% or less it shouldn't have a big impact of the firmness of the set piece.

[Wendy DeBord]

To the best of my knowledge you can't completely whiten white chocolate couveture by mixing titanium dioxide into it.

The PCB products aren't cheap and really are meant to be used in conjuction with couvetures....not alone. But I haven't used or seen the opaque white, night mentioned. But if your saying you can mix it into white chocolate and obtain a pure white color...I have my doubts...it's better to spray/airbrush it over your dipped white chocolate couveture.

Honestly, for kids I'd use the candy coating. I do all the time and kids like it.

Corn syrup and chocolate mixed- seize up into chocolate plastic (depending upon your proportions).

For candy melts I use solid shortening to make it more fluid for diping.

P.S. In my experience most kids aren't fond of coconut.

[kthull]

Sounds like I'll be trying the shortening idea Wendy. (Don't know what I was thinking when I said corn syrup )

Thanks a bunch everyone for your input.

[excelsior]

I need to be educated on white chocolates; whose should I buy and where on line can I get some without mortgaging my first born...

I've used white chocolate as a base for coffee, lemon, and raspberry truffles and have use Callebaut & Nestles in the past... are any others worth investigation

Or is there and archive that I can find a discussion on this?

Has anyone ever used http://www.chocolatesource.com/ ? for their chocolates?

Edited November 19, 2003 by excelsior (log)

[KarenS]

valrhona

my

favorite

and

easy

melting

too.

Karen

[kthull]

I have a love/hate relationship with chocolatesource. From what I've seen, they have the biggest selection and best prices. And, a lot of sites you'll find are just affiliate sites of chocolatesource. But they seem to have an inventory management problem (maybe due to the fact that they are not the only ones selling their inventory), so you have to baby sit your order and only order when you have a couple weeks of cushion. That's been my experience, maybe others have had better luck. I still go back to them, but now only if I can wait.

[momlovestocook]

Hi

It's Canadian thanksgiving this weekend. I want to make dessert since we go to my MIL's and she always buys supermarket black forest cake. I am into baking right now so want to make something yummy. Dh LOVES cheesecake. I was thinking of making a pumpkin cheesecake recipe here but substituting some of the sugar with melted white chocolate(another fave of dh's).

Has anyone paired these two flavors with success? I was thinking of just adding the melted chocolate(3 or 4 ounces or maybe more????) instead of the 1/3 cup of sugar that is added to the pumpkin. Any thoughts on how much to add.

thanks for any help

Sandra

[Swisskaese]

I have never made it with white chocolate, but it can't be bad. Here is a recipe I found:

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

This is my favourite recipe and I decorate it with dark chocolate and white chocolate leaves that I make by painting fall leaves that I wash and dry thoroughly before painting them. I have also decorated it with a chocolate spider web and black widow. I make the crust with gingersnaps instead of graham crackers.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

[PastryLady]

Actually at work I just made a pyramid shape mousse dessert with these two. Pumpkin mousse on the tip and white chocolate mousse on the bottom glazed in dark chocolate glaze/ganache. We plated this up for several hundred, so I hope tons of people liked it! Swiss cheese's recipe looks awesome! Ginger snaps crushed always gives pumpkin desserts a good zip to them too.

[Redsugar]

To the best of my recollection, I’ve used this combination for at least two dessert trays: White-Chocolate Ice Cream served w/ my adaptation of Maida Heatter's spiced pumpkin cake. (The ice cream would also be ideal scooped onto banana-pumpkin tart.) And White-Chocolate-glazed pumpkin doughnuts. You could awaken me in the middle of the night – and I’d eat those doughnuts unhesitatingly! Nevertheless, I'd decline the coffee.

[Wendy DeBord]

I didn't peak at your recipe link..........but, yes pumpkin works with both white and dark chocolate.

[Dee]

Hello, fellow Canadian! My Mom recently made the white chocolate pumpkin mousse cake which is currently on the cover of Canadian Living magazine. The flavors went really well together. It was delicious!!

[bripastryguy]

On Pastrylady's suggestion I added pumpkin puree to my white chocolate mousse. I mold it in a demisphere mold and topped it with a chocolate almond daquoise-put in the freezer and then unmolded it the next day. Glazed it with ganache. Garnished it with orange butter cream and a black cat cookie. Boy do they look awesome in my case and by the way. Pumpkin is great with ganache

[jgarner53]

On Pastrylady's suggestion I added pumpkin puree to my white chocolate mousse. I mold it in a demisphere mold and topped it with a chocolate almond daquoise-put in the freezer and then unmolded it the next day. Glazed it with ganache. Garnished it with orange butter cream and a black cat cookie. Boy do they look awesome in my case and by the way. Pumpkin is great with ganache

That sounds amazing.

[achevres]

Hello, fellow Canadian! My Mom recently made the white chocolate pumpkin mousse cake which is currently on the cover of Canadian Living magazine. The flavors went really well together. It was delicious!!

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Dee, I have searched the Canadian Living website top to bottom and also googled for it, but I can't find the cake you are referring to. On the website, the Oct '04 issue has a pumkin pie on the cover, but sometimes magazines put out different covers. In any case, I can't find the recipe on their site. Could you post a link for us?

[momlovestocook]

canadian living recipe here

[achevres]

Thanks! I didn't know about Food Network Canada--another site to help me procrastinate . It's definitely worth a look. About 60% of the shows are on US Food network, but the others are different and some look very interesting, like Cook Like a Chef and Great Canadian Food Show and a reality show that seems right up egullet's alley: Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.

[laurenmilan]

I pour pumpkin mousse into a gingersnap crust, then layer white chocolate mousse on top and garnish with gingersnaps. Big hit at Thanksgiving/Xmas dinners (traditional pumpkin custard pie just doesn't have as much of a following as its traditional status might suggest - when I serve it w/other pies, it is the least popular of the bunch every time.)

I've also done the pumpkin-banana mousse pie from Ina Gaten's "Barefoot Contessa Family Style", that went over very well too.

Me, I LOVE plain ol' pumpkin custard pie too, but when I've served it, I'm often treated to a lot of leftovers... any other pumpkin custard lovers out there?

[Lexica]

Me, I LOVE plain ol' pumpkin custard pie too, but when I've served it, I'm often treated to a lot of leftovers... any other pumpkin custard lovers out there?

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Yep, one right here. Sometimes I make "crustless pumpkin pie" - skip making a crust, just pour the filling into an appropriate baking dish and bake. Yum.

[Richard Kilgore]

I have never made it with white chocolate, but it can't be bad. Here is a recipe I found:

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

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Thanks much. I used that recipe with a few changes (primarily less sugar than called for), and it produced six 4 1/2 inch springform cheesecakes, with a little pumpkin batter left over. I did not use a water bath. The white chocolate was El Rey. About 1/3 of one of the 4 1/2 inchers was enough for most people. I think for an individual size, a 2 1/2 inch pan would be about right. Nonetheless, this cheesecake was wonderful, with layers of flavor and texure. I would do it again.