Confections! (2006-2012)

[Desiderio]

I had that type of toffe only once , and I was thrilled by it , I wanted to try one as well and then spread chocolate on top of it.Kerry if you find it to be a good recipe can you post it  if you have a chance?

Thank you it looks so yummy 

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Vanessa,

The proportions are as follows, this was quite a small batch just to experiment,

5 ounces butter

1 ounce maple syrup (or water)

6 ounces sugar

1 ounce of finely ground sugar ( ground it in my spice grinder, I suppose you could use a coffee grinder)

Bring butter to a boil, add maple syrup or water and bring back to a boil. Add 6 ounces of sugar. Cook on higher heat to 280 degrees F, then turn down heat and continue boiling to 310 to 312 F. Pour out onto parchment and spread out. Cool, dust with cocoa, coat each side with milk chocolate and sprinkle with toasted chopped almonds. Let sit one week to age.

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Kerry one more question ( oh my my , I dont know how long you will resist here with all of us , asking you only one more question )

When do I add the fine sugar?At the end in the place of the baking soda style?

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry one more question ( oh my my , I dont know how long you will resist here with all of us , asking you only one more question   )

When do I add the fine sugar?At the end in the place of the baking soda style?

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Exactly. Just after you take it off the heat and before you pour it out, add the fine sugar.

[Desiderio]

Thank you Thank you

[Desiderio]

Today I had some more of that brittle /toffe etc that my collegue made , and I have the feeling that his caramels and brittle is made with condensed milk. Is that possible?In the brittle I mean.

[miladyinsanity]

Today I had some more of that brittle /toffe etc that my collegue made , and I have the feeling that his caramels and brittle is made with condensed milk. Is that possible?In the brittle I mean.

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I've seen recipes for brittle made with condensed milk, but I've never tried. I don't like the taste of it in the final product.

[Desiderio]

Yes you can taste it , I didnt noticed that before.

[tammylc]

422 truffles. My goodness, that was a lot of truffles. I'm still finishing up the packaging today, and then I'll be eagerly getting them out of my house.

For the Christmas collection, there was cranberry, gingerbread, egg nog and chestnut. Then I had a little bit of custom work to do, with Hazelnut, Patron XO Cafe and chipotle.

Chestnut

12 oz chocolate

24 oz chestnut spread (sweetened chestnut puree, basically)

6 oz butter

1 tbsp brandy

These turned out to be my favorite. Rich and decadent. Easy to make because I went with a commercial chestnut spread

Cranberry

18 oz chocolate

12 oz cream

2 tbsp unsweetened cranberry concentrate

This concentrate is really potent stuff. You can find it in health food stores. It's liquid, in a bottle - mine was in the juice aisle.

Egg Nog

24 oz white chocolate

7 oz egg nog

1 vanilla bean

3/8 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp rum

These needed more rum, but I didn't realize that until too late, so you can't really taste it.

Gingerbread

21 oz milk chocolate

8 oz cream

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger powder

2 tsp cinnamon

4 tsp molasses

1.5 tbsp ginger juice

Black pepper was the magic ingredient to make these actually taste like what I was looking for. And the combination of powdered ginger and juice from fresh works really well.

I ended up hiring a friend to come by and help for a few hours yesterday afternoon, and that was well worth the expense.

And now I know that anything over 300 is probably too many.

[alanamoana]

tammy, what great truffles. thanks for taking the time to post the recipes as well. i'm sure you're glad to have gotten those out of the way so you can enjoy a relaxing week of the eGullet pastry challenge!

it just doesn't end, does it?!

[Anna N]

Fabulous truffles - thanks for sharing.

Some chocolates I tried to decorate with a stiff stencil brush and other odd techniques.

[tammylc]

tammy, what great truffles.  thanks for taking the time to post the recipes as well.  i'm sure you're glad to have gotten those out of the way so you can enjoy a relaxing week of the eGullet pastry challenge!

it just doesn't end, does it?! 

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The pastry challenge does seem fun, in comparison. High demand, but low volume!

I also have a head cold and a sick child, so finding the time to actually try all the things I'm thinking about will be the real challenge!

[tammylc]

Fabulous truffles - thanks for sharing.

Some chocolates I tried to decorate with a stiff stencil brush and other odd techniques.

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Anna - you are totally my inspiration for trying to do some molded chocolates. I have to wait until all these truffles are out of my house and I can stand to think about chocolate again, though!

Where's the best places to get good molds?

[Anna N]

. . .

Anna - you are totally my inspiration for trying to do some molded chocolates.  I have to wait until all these truffles are out of my house and I can stand to think about chocolate again, though! 

Where's the best places to get good molds?

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Thank you. I owe it all to Kerry Beal! She was my encouragement and teacher and so much more.

I am in Canada and most of my molds have been loaned to me so I have no idea yet of the best source for molds esp. outside of Canada. Maybe someone in the U.S. who molds chocolates can jump in here and help tammylc?

Edited December 19, 2006 by Anna N (log)

[Kerry Beal]

JB Prince has molds, but you might want to order direct from Chocolat-chocolat in Montreal. A bit more time to get them due to the border, but their prices are reasonable.

[Anna N]

JB Prince has molds, but you might want to order direct from Chocolat-chocolat in Montreal.  A bit more time to get them due to the border, but their prices are reasonable.

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Thanks for answering this, Kerry.

These are my favourites to date. So simple and so classy.

[tammylc]

Any recommendations on shapes that are easier for beginners? I love the geodesic dome, but I'm guessing that it's really hard to get the air bubbles out of all those corners?

[Anna N]

Any recommendations on shapes that are easier for beginners?  I love the geodesic dome, but I'm guessing that it's really hard to get the air bubbles out of all those corners?

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I can only answer for myself but I have found the smooth molds work more reliably than the intricately patterned molds. Further, I think you can do more in terms of colouring them.

If the chocolate is properly tempered, the chocolates will simply fall out of them and have a brilliant shine. If you have made a mistake, they will show it up immediately too - but that is a great way to learn. They are also easily marred if they are handled much so I use editor's gloves with these.

[Kerry Beal]

Any recommendations on shapes that are easier for beginners?  I love the geodesic dome, but I'm guessing that it's really hard to get the air bubbles out of all those corners?

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The geodesic dome with the flat top molds well and isn't too much of a problem with bubbles. Anna will be able to tell you in a few days when her mold makes it from my car to her house.

[Anna N]

Any recommendations on shapes that are easier for beginners?  I love the geodesic dome, but I'm guessing that it's really hard to get the air bubbles out of all those corners?

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The geodesic dome with the flat top molds well and isn't too much of a problem with bubbles. Anna will be able to tell you in a few days when her mold makes it from my car to her house.

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I will be more than happy to report on this mold! I do not find bubbles a problem in the small demispheres - much more trouble with bubbles in intricate molds!

Just to make you smile - I agitate for the same length of time we are told to wash our hands - sing one chorus of Happy Birthday! It works most of the time. And now to show that not all experiments work as well as we hope - a mishmash of efforts to colour chocolates:

Edited to add:

Some are pretty good - some are awful but it was fun and that's what counts!

The spots are reflections not flaws but the paint work is pretty bad on some of these!

Edited December 20, 2006 by Anna N (log)

[lexy]

I made some rather, er, rustic-looking nougat based on this recipe, but with whole almonds and pistachios rather than peanut butter.

I'm planning on giving these bars as Christmas gifts, but I'm not sure how best to wrap them - they're a bit sticky, and I don't want people to have the be tearing them apart from their wrappers. Any suggestions? (note: I didn't have any rice paper handy, so they haven't got a rice paper covering) I'm leaving them out for a bit to see if the outsides will air-dry a little.

[Desiderio]

They look delishious! I would wrap them in wax paper , easy to find and works pretty good.

[Desiderio]

Tammy and Anna , your productions look awesome! Great job !

[alanamoana]

AnnaN, i think your efforts are great. for a newbie, you've done a lot more experimentation than i have (as a professional) and it is great to see. it is also fun for me to see how much fun you are having. i guess it is helpful to have someone so skilled and giving with their time as kerry around to dispense advice and molds!

lexy, you can also use cellophane which you can buy easily at craft stores. make them look like a big piece of candy by twisting the ends, or even tie the ends with ribbon after wrapping around the nougat.

[tammylc]

Well, you've all sucked me in. I just ordered three molds from JP Prince (Chocolat-Chocolat was cheaper, but only a little bit, and I'm hoping to get these in time to make some for New Year's Eve). I got the geodesic dome, the squared off pyramid, and a regular dome (not the demisphere, because neither of the sizes was what I was looking for).

I've only been making rolled truffles up until now - what ratios do I want for a ganache to be piped into molded chocolates? Anyone have a Champagne ganache recipe they want to share?

[Kerry Beal]

Well, you've all sucked me in.  I just ordered three molds from JP Prince (Chocolat-Chocolat was cheaper, but only a little bit, and I'm hoping to get these in time to make some for New Year's Eve).  I got the geodesic dome, the squared off pyramid, and a regular dome (not the demisphere, because neither of the sizes was what I was looking for). 

I've only been making rolled truffles up until now - what ratios do I want for a ganache to be piped into molded chocolates?  Anyone have a Champagne ganache recipe they want to share?

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Tammy,

Send me your regular e-mail and I'll send you a champagne ganache recipe. It is quite thin, better for piped chocolates, totally unsuitable for truffles. Should work well.

Essentially you can use your regular truffle recipes as long as you pipe them before they set up, or heat them in the nuke for 1 minute on the lowest microwave power to soften them before piping. But you can also get away with centres with more liquid in molded chocolates.

[Kerry Beal]

I had my little high school student around today. She wanted to make some orange chocolate slices for her mother for Christmas. We tempered some milk chocolate, added some drops of orange oil and molded in an orange slice mold. This is a Chinese polycarbonate mold, and unlike the Belgian ones the orange slices were detailed more like mandarin orange pieces.

I didn't wrap them in the foil, I am foil wrapping impaired, but the kids got talent. She is in a program at the high school that is streamed for chef training, and she has been selected by her chef teachers to compete in 3 upcoming competitions, the prizes which include scholarships to other cooking schools like George Brown in Toronto.

So while she was making orange slices, dipping biscotti (for which she brought the dough, baked it off and dipped the cookies before she left), dipping other cookies, dipping candied orange rind, etc, I played with my new experiment - copying the Sterling Truffle Bar. On aguynamedrobert's new forum on his website www.chocolateguild.com there has been some discussion of this bar. It is basically a big honking triangle filled with truffle, and you slice it into pieces. Kind of like the cheese ball of truffles.

I went out to the reuse centre last week and found some acrylic triangular and half round things that looked like they would do for molds. I lined them with cling film (cause I assume they aren't food safe), put some chocolate on a transfer sheet cut to the right size, placed it into the mold. After it had hardened I filled it with truffle filling and backed it off with more tempered chocolate. After removing from the mold, I dip both ends in a bit more tempered chocolate. The ends need work, I think I could probably cut a shape equal to the ends and place it while the transfer chocolate is still wet and before adding the truffle filling. These ones contain amaretto truffle first, backed up with caramel truffle.