Confections! (2006-2012)

[tammylc]

The last batch I did I cooked to 252 and they were too hard. But that was a weird extra small batch, so the temperature got up too quickly. This time I cooked them to 149.5, I think. I have yet to actually cut them and try to do anything with them, so we'll see what happens.

[Kerry Beal]

I had a busy confectionary day yesterday, testing some recipes for a "Halloween Candy for Grownups" truffle sale.

One of my ideas was to do some vegan/non-dairy truffles for some friends who requested them.  Thanks to discussion here on eGullet and searching the web I got some good ideas and decided to use coconut milk instead of cream.  Technically, this worked very well.  But the first vegan chocolate I tried (Green&Black 72% baking bar) was quite unpleasant, so yesterday I tested out a couple of others, first plain, and then in actual truffles.

They were both much tastier chocolates than the Green&Black.  The Endangered Species bar was slightly better for eating on its own, but the Terra Nostra made MUCH better ganache and truffles, so we finally have a winner!  (These will be called "coconut ghosts" in the Halloween collection.)

One of the other recipes I'm working on is a pumpkin seed praline truffle.  Yesterday's version was much closer to what I'm looking for than my previous attempt, thanks once again to eGullet!  In the thread on keeping praline crunchy in a ganache center I found out about using an all-butter ganache.  But I wanted to use dark chocolate instead of milk, so I had to make some changes.  At Kerry's suggestion, I started off with equal parts butter and chocolate, but that was too buttery and never firmed up.  So I added another part of chocolate for a 2:1 ratio.  Much better.  Perhaps a little too firm, so I'll probably settle somewhere around 1.75:1 in the final version.  I dipped them in 72% chocolate and sprinkled a little bit of praline powder on top.  Sorry no pictures, but they were tasty and pretty.

The other flavor I'm expermenting with is an apple caramel.  I made the caramel yesterday and let it set up for a full 24 hours as Kerry suggested in her confectionary thread, but I'm worried that it's still going to be too soft to dip.  Anyone have any suggestions for chocolate coating caramels - I've never tried it before...

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Looks great, I'll be interested in your pumpkin seed praline truffle when you're done.

One thing you can try for caramel, is coating one side of the caramel with chocolate before cutting, might help a bit if things are too soft. Or if you've got some molds, cut pieces, place them in the lined mold, give them a while to creep into place and back off.

[Desiderio]

These are my creation for the fall, and I think I am going to be making alot of them this coming weekend , a crazy lady ordered a ton of them ( dont they relize I do everything by hand ?? )

Edited September 29, 2006 by Desiderio (log)

[John DePaula]

These are my creation for the fall, and I think I am going to be making alot of them this coming weekend ,  a crazy lady ordered a ton of them ( doesnt  they relize I do everything by hand    ?? )

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Quite beautiful, Vanessa! Especially like what you've done with the Arabesques - nice contrast between dark / milk chocolates.

Could you tell us about the flavors?

thanks.

[RuthWells]

These are my creation for the fall, and I think I am going to be making alot of them this coming weekend ,  a crazy lady ordered a ton of them ( doesnt  they relize I do everything by hand    ?? )

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WOW, those are gorgeous! I'll be right over!

[Tweety69bird]

These are my creation for the fall, and I think I am going to be making alot of them this coming weekend ,  a crazy lady ordered a ton of them ( doesnt  they relize I do everything by hand    ?? )

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Desiderio, your chocolates are just beautiful! Wonderful work.

[Kerry Beal]

These are my creation for the fall, and I think I am going to be making alot of them this coming weekend ,  a crazy lady ordered a ton of them ( doesnt  they relize I do everything by hand    ?? )

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Vanessa, these look fabulous. I'm sure there will be many more 'crazy ladies' in your future to keep you busy.

[Desiderio]

Thank you so much , as always Egullet works on the self estem ( sp ?),god knows I need some now .

John, that was the fist experiment I did with the sheets , but I think I really need to find a thicker chocolate for enrobing ,I find the one I use ( eguittard 58% or 72% atm ) very nice to work with but maybe too fluid ,Do you think I should switch to more viscous chocolate for enrobing , expecially caramels?

The flavors , were

Creme de Menthe,chai tea, garam masala pistacchios,maple,sea salt caramels and a combination of espresso caramel ganache in two layer ( that was an experiment with the espresso powder ).

[John DePaula]

Thank you so much  , as always Egullet works on the self estem ( sp ?),god knows I need some now  .

John, that was the fist experiment I did with the sheets , but I think I really need to find a thicker chocolate for enrobing ,I find the one I use ( eguittard 58% or 72% atm ) very nice to work with  but maybe too fluid ,Do you think I should switch to more viscous chocolate for enrobing , expecially caramels?

The flavors  , were

Creme de Menthe,chai tea, garam masala pistacchios,maple,sea salt caramels and a combination of espresso  caramel ganache in two layer ( that was an experiment with the espresso powder ).

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I don't know, Vanessa. For me, I try to get the flavor I'm looking for first, then go for decoration or appearance. If you switch to a more viscous chocolate, I think it may possibly lead to more bubbles. What you're currently using doesn't seem to have this problem. Might be worth a try, though, just to see how it affects the mouth-feel and appearance. I think they look really good as they are, and I'm sure you'll have lots of customers after those bonbons!

[Kerry Beal]

Try as I might I just can't seem to get this picture in perfect focus with the light I want. If I was at home I guess I could dig out a lamp to light it better.

Anyway, here are the two little piggies from my blog ready to move off to their new home with the organic butcher on the island. I hope he likes them.

[Desiderio]

Try as I might I just can't seem to get this picture in perfect focus with the light I want.  If I was at home I guess I could dig out a lamp to light it better.

Anyway, here are the two little piggies from my blog ready to move off to their new home with the organic butcher on the island.  I hope he likes them.

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Ahh kerry those are just adorable (even I dont like this word too much ) but they are soo cute ,what a great job with those hallow molds ( are you going to have a class on those ???? )

[gfron1]

Vanessa and Kerry - those are all beautiful! I can never seem to quite get the sheen that you two do (I haven't taken the time to really understand tempering). And Kerry, I just returned from our county fair and spent too much time in the pig exhibit - they aren't quite as cute as your pigs.

[Kerry Beal]

Vanessa and Kerry - those are all beautiful!  I can never seem to quite get the sheen that you two do (I haven't taken the time to really understand tempering).  And Kerry,  I just returned from our county fair and spent too much time in the pig exhibit - they aren't quite as cute as your pigs.

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Bet they don't smell as good either.

[Desiderio]

LOL

[Natho]

I have heard heaps in various places about combining pepper and chocolate, so tomorrow I am going to make dark chocolate, black pepper and cinnamon truffles. My question is, how much pepper should I use? I will be using about 250 gm of chocolate (just a small batch) and I will add the cinnamon and pepper to the cream when heating it and leave it to infuse for a while. Also would whole peppercorns work fine or would cracked be better? I am scared of not being able to strain all the pepper out if I use cracked pepper. Any idead would be fantastic! Thanks.

[Kerry Beal]

I have heard heaps in various places about combining pepper and chocolate, so tomorrow I am going to make dark chocolate, black pepper and cinnamon truffles. My question is, how much pepper should I use? I will be using about 250 gm of chocolate (just a small batch) and I will add the cinnamon and pepper to the cream when heating it and leave it to infuse for a while. Also would whole peppercorns work fine or would cracked be better? I am scared of not being able to strain all the pepper out if I use cracked pepper. Any idead would be fantastic! Thanks.

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I'd probably do a couple of tsp of cracked pepper, steap and strain. I actully use ground pepper right in or on top of the chocolate for a couple of things I make, I also have some black pepper essential oil that adds a wonderful touch.

Try black pepper and bergemot with with chocolate if you get a chance, it's one of my favorite combinations.

[Kerry Beal]

I was fooling around with a filling this week, I tried almond butter mixed half and half with white chocolate. So these are almond frogs. I was actually copying a purchased peanut butter chocolate that was made with fake white chocolate, and you know what, I got better texture with the merkens than with my fabulous white chocolate. Pearls before swine I tell ya!

I finally got around to experimenting a bit with the airbrush. I need some serious help here. You can't make fine lines with colour, cocoa butter and an airbrush!!! I must have sucked in about a gallon of cocoa butter vapour, that can't be good for you. I had the stuff inside a great big box, I think I need a fume hood if these experiments are going to continue.

[choux]

What kind of airbrush do you have? I use a Badger and I definitely can't make fine lines. I don't usually get a huge cloud of cocoa butter, so maybe you can try to adjust the flow.

[Desiderio]

Same as Choux i use the badger and cant make fine lines , only spraying , not very fancy airbrush , but works for now.

By the way thos frogs look great , it is a polycarbonate mold ?

Edited October 5, 2006 by Desiderio (log)

[choux]

Have you ever seen anyone doing detail work with an airbrush onto bonbons? I'd love to see it if you have a link.

[Kerry Beal]

What kind of airbrush do you have? I use a Badger and I definitely can't make fine lines. I don't usually get a huge cloud of cocoa butter, so maybe you can try to adjust the flow.

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I have a badger and I have an Iwata G6 eclipse. It is supposed to handle viscous liquids but so far, no luck. I'm trying a more powerful compressor with it this time (which just makes the badger throw up more clouds.

Same as Choux i use the badger and cant make fine lines , only spraying , not very fancy airbrush , but works for now.

By the way thos frogs look great , it is a polycarbonate mold ?

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Frogs are a polycarbonate mold from Chocolate World, aren't they great. I have about 6 of them.

Have you ever seen anyone doing detail work with an airbrush onto bonbons? I'd love to see it if you have a link.

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I thought somehow you could do detail work, but now I'm starting to question that.

[Trishiad]

Kerry, I bought an airbrush in hopes of doing detail work and was never able to manage it. The best I've done is to mask parts of the mold with a sheet of light cardboard and then spray. I got some cleaner lines but never found the end result to be worth all the effort. A paintbrush and some pretty cocoa butter is just as successful.

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry, I bought an airbrush in hopes of doing detail work and was never able to manage it.  The best I've done is to mask parts of the mold with a sheet of light cardboard and then spray.  I got some cleaner lines but never found the end result to be worth all the effort.  A paintbrush and some pretty cocoa butter is just as successful.

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It's just so slow to use a paintbrush though, I have no patience.

[choux]

I don't have a compressor, just use canned air. I guess that makes a difference in the clouds! I find red is the worst, I'm wiping it off the counters and blowing it out of my nose for days!

[Natho]

Question - I made some white chocolate and raspberry truffles, well i started to anyhow. I had a tin of raspberries (out of season here and couldn't afford the frozen ones for what was essentially an experiment) and drained them and then cooked them in with the cream, before straining the cream and adding the chocolate. However, the raspberries released rather more liquid then I anticipated into the cream and now the mixture is too runny to roll. Can I re-heat it and add more chocolate to thicken it? Or is it best too make some shells and use it as a filling?