Confections! (2006-2012)

[Kerry Beal]

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?

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First do you love the flavour the way it is? If so I'd probably just use it as a filling for shells.

But you can also do the reheat thing, make sure you don't overheat it, I'd probably just heat in the microwave for a few seconds at a time until it is fairly soft then stir in some melted chocolate. If it isn't perfectly smooth, continue to heat a few seconds at a time, stirring between each heating, until it becomes smooth.

When I'm using berries in a truffle, I put the berries through a food mill to remove the seeds and add the fruit as a flavouring in the truffle. If it is way to liquid, then I cook it down gently to get the thickness I require.

[Natho]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I think I will try add more chocolate to it. It won't need much, it is just not quite solid enough. I strained my cream after I had heated it to remove all the seeds pulp etc, but I did wonder if it would have been good to have had some fruity bits in it anyway.

[Desiderio]

When I use fresh raspberries in my chocolates, I usually put them thru a fine sieve and I add a little bit of sugar or not , and boil the puree to thincken a little bit first , then I boil the cream and then I add the raspberry pure, in this way you dont get the water in your cream .

[Art]

I think it is time that the chocolatiers and confectioners on eG have a place to post their day to day "what did I make" pictures and projects.

Well, my little project is still in progress. There are still bugs to be worked out and hurdles to be overcome though the end is in sight. I snapped these pictures in the last couple of days so this is about as good a time as any to share them.

Here are some beans that I'm using to test our machinery. Even though they are "test beans", they can turn out an incredible chocolate given the proper roast.

The beans are loaded into the roaster. Roasting helps bring out the "chocolate" flavor in chocolate though it is only a single step in a long series of steps. This roaster was made in Portugal and dates to 1962. Interestingly, I have an engraving of the same roaster from 1915.

The beans are roasted to bring out peak flavor. Getting this down is a bit difficult since the window between under-roasted and over-roasted is extremely narrow.

After the beans are roasted, they are crushed and then winnowed to remove the papery husk that is around each bean. When this operation is complete, you have cocoa nibs that are great on salads, in cookies and all around baking. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the winnowing process yet and I just finished taking apart the winnowing machine (again! ) this evening. The winnowing machine is of my own design so I'm still adjusting things to get it running optimally.

Once the cocoa beans are winnowed leaving only the nibs, the nibs are placed in a melangeur to grind them until they are smooth. Our melangeur was made in Italy in the 1930's and has a 300lb grainite roller to grind with. The bowl rotates under the roller and is heated via a water bath. As the beans are ground, sugar and vanilla are added and the entire mass is finely ground.

I don't yet have pictures of our other refiner in operation yet, nor the conche. Hopefully, I can get some nice pictures of these machines in operation in the not too distant future.

So, while my little project isn't yet reaching a final stage (in this case chocolate bars), hopefully this will be interesting to fellow EGers....

-Art

Edited October 8, 2006 by Art (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I think it is time that the chocolatiers and confectioners on eG have a place to post their day to day "what did I make" pictures and projects.

Well, my little project is still in progress. There are still bugs to be worked out and hurdles to be overcome though the end is in sight. I snapped these pictures in the last couple of days so this is about as good a time as any to share them.

Here are some beans that I'm using to test our machinery. Even though they are "test beans", they can turn out an incredible chocolate given the proper roast.

The beans are loaded into the roaster. Roasting helps bring out the "chocolate" flavor in chocolate though it is only a single step in a long series of steps. This roaster was made in Portugal and dates to 1962. Interestingly, I have an engraving of the same roaster from 1915.

The beans are roasted to bring out peak flavor. Getting this down is a bit difficult since the window between under-roasted and over-roasted is extremely narrow.

After the beans are roasted, they are crushed and then winnowed to remove the papery husk that is around each bean. When this operation is complete, you have cocoa nibs that are great on salads, in cookies and all around baking. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the winnowing process yet and I just finished taking apart the winnowing machine (again! ) this evening. The winnowing machine is of my own design so I'm still adjusting things to get it running optimally.

Once the cocoa beans are winnowed leaving only the nibs, the nibs are placed in a melangeur to grind them until they are smooth. Our melangeur was made in Italy in the 1930's and has a 300lb grainite roller to grind with. The bowl rotates under the roller and is heated via a water bath. As the beans are ground, sugar and vanilla are added and the entire mass is finely ground.

I don't yet have pictures of our other refiner in operation yet, nor the conche. Hopefully, I can get some nice pictures of these machines in operation in the not too distant future.

So, while my little project isn't yet reaching a final stage (in this case chocolate bars), hopefully this will be interesting to fellow EGers....

-Art

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Art,

This is fabulous. Can't wait to see pictures of your winnower and conch. What sort of quantities will you be able to produce in what time frame.

Will you be sticking to dark chocolate or making milk as well? What beans are you using (if that's not a secret)?

I've checked out your website a couple of times, looking forward to the day it says that retail sales are available so we mere mortals can taste your chocolate.

How's your tempering article coming along?

[gfron1]

Art, thanks so much for taking the time to post the pics and process...please keep sharing - its very interesting and fun to see.

[Art]

This is fabulous.

Glad you like it.

Can't wait to see pictures of your winnower and conch.  What sort of quantities will you be able to produce in what time frame. 

Well, a lot depends on the winnower. Since I built it, I'm not sure as to its capacity. I fired it up for the first time on Thursday. However, the hopper door that the roasted beans fall through was wide open so the classification screens that sort all the nibs by size became clogged. I imagine it is going to take a few days of solid work on it to get it in some sort of running order.

Will you be sticking to dark chocolate or making milk as well?  What beans are you using (if that's not a secret)?

Initially, all our chocolate will be 70% dark. The first few chocolates we will do will be single origin so it will be clear what beans we are using. I'm not going to say right now exactly what beans we are using but simply say they are fabulous and the test batches I've done have come out wonderful. Right now, I'm thinking of giving them a fairly light roast. In this case, the "chocolate" flavor isn't quite as intense but the light roast allows the fruity flavors of the bean to remain intact. A good example of a chocolate of this type would be Michel Cuizel's Mangaro (Madagascar) bar.

I'm doing a custom milk chocolate for someone -- that will be the only milk that I'm doing initially. I can't say too much about it other than it will be quite unique though I've asked her not to, my wife can't stop eating the test batch.

I've checked out your website a couple of times, looking forward to the day it says that retail sales are available so we mere mortals can taste your chocolate.

I'm looking forward to that time too. I thrive on challenges but I think the time has come to move to new challenges -- the actual making of the chocolate instead of spending my time putting a factory together. The FDA came and did their first inspection so we can get signed off. I have to change a bit of pumbing around to make them happy -- I'm hopeful that it can be done next week.

How's your tempering article coming along?

It is coming along slowly. I'm trying to make it fairly comprehensive and so it is taking time to research and write. I'm up to about nine pages right now and anticipate I still have a reasonable amount left to go. It is hard to find as much time as I would like since so much of my day (and night) is already spent on working on the various machines getting them working how I want them and running various tests.

-Art

[Art]

Art, thanks so much for taking the time to post the pics and process...please keep sharing - its very interesting and fun to see.

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Thanks. I see you are out of Silver City -- I hear it is beautiful there and is similar to Los Alamos where I grew up. I really miss the incredible food found in New Mexico. (I also had green chili stew for breakfast. )

-Art

[Kerry Beal]

You might recall the 120 plus chocolate bars I made for the boy's wedding.

Last night was the wedding, the guys looked fabulous and it was a wonderful party. This is the wrapping they spent a long time on. They did an amazing job with the foil. Three big piles of bars made a rather imposing site.

The wedding food was fabulous, particularly the little tarts with shortcrust pastry, caramelized onions with balsamic vinegar reduction and danish blue cheese. I've been trying to sucessfully imitate them ever since I had them at the tasting before the wedding. I need help with the shortcrust pastry, it's not the kind I usually make.

There was a chocolate fountain, not too exciting, but there was a caramel fountain as well, I could get to like something like that. The lemon pound cake dipped in the caramel was a great combination.

[Desiderio]

Kerry the wraping for those bars is gourgeous , I mean really well done .

Art , wow , I didnt know what you were up to ( i just went to your web site ), I have to say I am really looking foward to see your products out , I want to try your chocolate ( will you be selling bulk chocolate as well ?)that would be the best.Hey any chance you going to organize a tour to you chocolate factory any time soon, maybe after you get all squared away??? .Weel please keep us posted , I will like to know more detail of how things are coming along.

Thank you and good luck

[Art]

Art , wow , I didnt know what you were up to ( i just went to your web site ), I have to say I am really looking foward to see your products out , I want to try your chocolate ( will you be selling bulk  chocolate as well ?) that would be the best.Hey any chance you going to organize a tour to you chocolate factory any time soon, maybe after you get all squared away???

I'm in the process of getting my molds made for a 10oz bar. The prototype arrived on Friday and it looks sharp. It will be the same size as that made by Scharffen Berger and Guittard. Initially, I'll probably make a handful of baking bars for chefs and see how they sell provided simply in plastic sleeves before getting boxes made since the boxes are expensive and I don't know what the demand will be and as you can imagine, we have spent a HUGE amount of money getting this far.

I'd be happy to show any eG'ers around the factory once things get going. Probably nothing formal and so a lot would depend on my time availability. We won't be giving public tours since we aren't set up for it so it would be something special and handled on a case by case basis. Needless to say, if it is someone from EG, they'd get bumped up in the priority list.

-Art

[In2Pastry]

Art,

this process is extremely interesting. Maybe I can get down to visit next summer and take a tour if your schedule allows. Thank you so much for posting your journey! I look forward to the day when you are open for business!

[Desiderio]

Ohh I can only immagine the amount of cash you guys had to go thru , I was actually thinking about that last night while I was looking at the pics .

Ohhh let us know when the bars are available for buying , I dont care about the packaging hehe its the inside that count .

You are not tooo far from me , I mean I am in the rockies as well , another state but well .I will definately plan a trip next year

Thank you for keeping us posted , its very very exiting )

[Kerry Beal]

Not your most attractive picture, but these truffles are unusual and quite tasty.

I've been making bacon over the last week or so, and I have a fridge full of it. I had been looking at a thread about pig candy on eG and I decided to experiment a bit.

I made a ganache with one part of bacon fat, about 6 parts of milk chocolate. I took thin slices of bacon and baked them, covered in brown sugar, until they were very brown and crisp. I crumbled the bacon as well as the little caramel bits that had formed from the brown sugar in the bacon fat and added them to the ganache.

I dipped in milk chocolate and then decorated with pink swirls (going for the pig tail look).

So I went off to work with them today. One person figured out what was in them. All said they liked them.

[Art]

I made a ganache with one part of bacon fat, about 6 parts of milk chocolate.....

Definitely an A+ for creativity ...

Too bad you can't pass flavors around the internet.

-Art

[Kerry Beal]

I made a ganache with one part of bacon fat, about 6 parts of milk chocolate.....

Definitely an A+ for creativity ...

Too bad you can't pass flavors around the internet.

-Art

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Easy to try at home!

[tammylc]

I've spent the last few days making all the candy for my Halloween Candy for Grownups sale. I had orders for about 220 candies.

All laid out and ready for packaging:

The flavor assortment:

L to R: Pumpkin Seed Praline, Coconut Ghosts, Candy Corn, Caramel Apple

For the pumpkin seed praline, I caramelized sugar and mixed in toasted pumpkin seeds, then cooled it and chopped it up fine. The ganache was 8 oz butter, 11 oz chocolate, and 6 oz of praline. These were dipped and sprinkled with extra praline.

The coconut ghosts are 12 oz chocolate, 8 oz coconut milk, and 1 tsp coconut extract, coated in chocolate and rolled in unsweetened coconut.

The candy corn are just a plain chocolate ganache, dipped in tempered chocolate and garnished on the top and bottom with candy corn.

For the caramel apple, I made an apple cider infused caramel. I started by reducing 2 cups of apple cider down to 1/3 c. From there, the recipe goes:

2/3 c cream

6 tbsp butter

Heat to boil, then set aside

1 1/2 c sugar

1/4 c corn syrup

1/4 water

Cook to light brown

Add cream, butter and apple cider, cook to 250 degrees.

Taste is great, but my caramels spread a lot even after they were coated. I'm new to caramel, so any advice on dipping caramels would be appreciated for next time I try this. Is there a recipe that would yield a firmer caramel? Do I just need to cook it to a higher temperature? (Although I like the texture a lot, and wouldn't want them much chewier.)

All boxed up for gift giving:

[Kerry Beal]

Tammy,

Your chocolates all look gorgeous! Thanks for including the recipes.

My caramel cooks the sugar, glucose and water to 149 C (300 F) then adds the butter, honey, and heated cream, then boils again to 121 C (249 F). It spreads if not dipped, but seems ok after dipping. Is your thermometer accurate? You might try going up a couple of degrees as an experiment.

[laniloa]

The coconut ghosts are 12 oz chocolate, 8 oz coconut milk, and 1 tsp coconut extract, coated in chocolate and rolled in unsweetened coconut.

For the caramel apple, I made an apple cider infused caramel.  I started by reducing 2 cups of apple cider down to 1/3 c.  From there, the recipe goes:

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These both sound wonderful and are now on my to do list. I think I may roll the cider caramels in toasted, chopped nuts rather then chocolate (since I'm not so great at dipping caramels).

[Anna N]

Molded fruit jellies and molded chocolate. Thanks to lots of encouragement and coaching by Kerry Beal, these are my first attempt at chocolate. They are not filled – that will be my next challenge but these were challenging enough!

[Kerry Beal]

Molded fruit jellies and molded chocolate.  Thanks to lots of encouragement and coaching by Kerry Beal, these are my first attempt at chocolate.  They are not filled – that will be my next challenge but these were challenging enough!

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Anna,

I am very impressed with the gloss on that chocolate. Who knows what you can accomplish since this is just your first attempt.

You used the same molds for the fruit jellies and since I know they are the thinner plastic molds you are using, did the molds get damaged at all by the hot fruit paste?

[Anna N]

. . .

You used the same molds for the fruit jellies and since I know they are the thinner plastic molds you are using, did the molds get damaged at all by the hot fruit paste?

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No, surprisingly, the hot fruit didn't seem to cause any damage at all. I did however, give them a good wash and then polished them with a microfibre cloth (as you suggested) before I put the chocolate in there.

The major pitfall with these plastic molds is that they are "floppy" so you cannot get a clean base. Using them for solid chocolate was not so bad but I couldn't imagine trying to get a thin base on a filled chocolate using them. But then again, I might be brave enough to give it a shot if I get through my to-do list in good time today!

[Anna N]

Second attempt at filled chocolates thanks to the loan of the proper molds and much, much encouragement and teaching from Kerry Beal.

I keep shaking my head and asking, "Why am I making chocolates?" I don't do "sweet stuff" except for cookies and bars for hubby's lunches BUT when you get too close to a chocolate enthusiast something rubs off on you and before you know it you are searching eGullet and the WWW for knowledge and planning your next chocolate-making session.

These are not nearly as beautiful as those made by our experienced chocolatiers but believe me, they impress the heck of family and friends!

I just wish that I could persuade others that chocolate isn't half as scary as it can seem. Mind you not everyone is lucky enough to have a mentor close by!

[John DePaula]

...

These are not nearly as beautiful as those made by our experienced chocolatiers but believe me, they impress the heck of family and friends!

...

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Oh, Anna, you're so wrong about that! I think that your chocolates look just gorgeous! Brava!

[John DePaula]

. . .

You used the same molds for the fruit jellies and since I know they are the thinner plastic molds you are using, did the molds get damaged at all by the hot fruit paste?

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No, surprisingly, the hot fruit didn't seem to cause any damage at all. I did however, give them a good wash and then polished them with a microfibre cloth (as you suggested) before I put the chocolate in there.

The major pitfall with these plastic molds is that they are "floppy" so you cannot get a clean base. Using them for solid chocolate was not so bad but I couldn't imagine trying to get a thin base on a filled chocolate using them. But then again, I might be brave enough to give it a shot if I get through my to-do list in good time today!

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Wow, didn't know that you could put hot fruit in those floppy molds! Might try that myself, sometime.

About getting a flat edge with them... I don't use the floppy ones myself, however you might try putting them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for stability. Then grab one end of the mold and drag the palette knife across the top letting the excess chocolate spill onto the parchment paper. Messy but it might work.