Liquor-filled Sugar Shells

[mrose]

Does anyone have any experience making liquor filled sugar shells. I tried last night and had maybe a moderate success. About 50% or so broke when trying to take them out of the corn starch. Lost more trying to bush off starch (bush might have been too stiff). I made them in a 1/2 sheet pan, the forms were about 3/8" deep. The really pack a punch for approx 3/8' heart (I used kirschwasser in them).

The questions I have:

-do you need a certain amount of starch under & over the sugar forms?

-most instructions say to keep in starch 10 - 12 hours, will the shells get thicker if they set longer?

-Jacque Torres has a bit different procedure than does the Time Life Book on candy, any comments on either procedure?

Mark

[Desiderio]

Mark , I never made them , but we discuss about thos in along thread in Italy.

You have to make sure the starch is cured, meaning has to cook at certain temperature in the oven till it turns like the poweder we lady use for makeup ( cipria).It can take up to several days etc.Do you own the Wybauw book?If yes he has the description oh how to obtain those ones, if not I can pm you with the formula and description in detail , maybe getting some more info from my italian chocolatier friends.

[Desiderio]

Ok I went to check Wybauw book for those.

Starch needs to be prepared first for 20 to 30 hours in a heat chamber at 100C/.

212 F.

It says to make the imprints into the dried starch ( in a high sided pan) fill the holes with the liquid and leave it there for 30 mins, after than you sift more starch on top, after this he says to place the pan into a heated chamber not higher than 45C/113F after 4 hours you turn the centers into the starch.

Leave it overnight the following morning put them into a sieve and brush off the starch , then after they are nicve and cool dip them.

This one of those experiemnts I meant to do but time is alway on me , but I might give it a try.

[David J.]

Does anyone have any experience making liquor filled sugar shells. I tried last night and had maybe a moderate success. About 50% or so broke when trying to take them out of the corn starch. Lost more trying to bush off starch (bush might have been too stiff). I made them in a 1/2 sheet pan, the forms were about 3/8" deep. The really pack a punch for approx 3/8' heart (I used kirschwasser in them).

The questions I have:

-do you need a certain amount of starch under & over the sugar forms?

-most instructions say to keep in starch 10 - 12 hours, will the shells get thicker if they set longer?

-Jacque Torres has a bit different procedure than does the Time Life Book on candy, any comments on either procedure?

Mark

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Hi Mark,

I followed JPW's technique and it worked pretty well for me. You do have to have a light touch with the sugar shells as they are not very thick and you can crush them if you are too rough. I had a 2" deep pan and pressed about 3/8" deep cavities. I baked my cornstarch in the oven overnight to drive off all the moisture. After pouring the syrup I sifted a fairly thick layer of cornstarch on top and let it all sit for 24 hours. I used a pretty flexible pastry brush to clear off the remaining starch after fishing them out of the pan.

After doing all that once I realized that casting the shells inside chocolate molds is far easier and less failure prone. You just mold the chocolate as usual, then pour in the syrup and let it crust over on top overnight before bottoming the mold. I did that and it worked out great.

A big trick is to not handle the syrup much and don't shock it. If you are too rough with it, small nucli will form in the middle of the syrup and it starts growing crystal lumps inside the middle of your chocolates.

David

[Desiderio]

I second David on the chocolate shells , I did those with Wybauw recipe and they came very nice at the first try .

[mrose]

I second David on the chocolate shells , I did those  with Wybauw recipe and they came very nice at the first try .

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I used a recipe from an old Jacque Torres show. What temperature did you let the syrup cool to before filling shells? I know this would be much easier than molding in corn starch.

Mark

[mrose]

I second David on the chocolate shells , I did those  with Wybauw recipe and they came very nice at the first try .

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I used a recipe from an old Jacque Torres show. What temperature did you let the syrup cool to before filling shells? I know this would be much easier than molding in corn starch.

I don't want to cook corn starch too much do to the fact the I have birds in the house. Not sure if there will be any odors from the process that would be harmful.

Mark

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[Desiderio]

Mark, I am at work at this moment, I will check the book for temperatures when I get back home.

[Kerry Beal]

Geerts says to cool to 30 C, with the lid on. Pour the syrup in an uninterrupted flow, filling 4/5ths full. Wait at least a day for crusting over before topping with tempered chocolate.

[mrose]

I had some solution left over, I put in in a jar & the sugar has crystalized out. If I bring the solution back up to the 229F (not sure will have to lookup) can this be reheated & reused? will it form a crust? I want to try again filling chocolate molds?

Thanks

Mark

[David J.]

I imagine you can get the sugar to disolve again, but in the process you will boil off all the alcohol. Remeber that you added the liquour to the sugar solution after it cooled down quite a bit. I would start from scratch again myself.

David

[mrose]

I tried to make the liquor filled shells agian. This time I tried pouring the solution into shells. This posed another problem. I let the solution cool to ~86F (30C). At that temperature there was a syrupy solution at the bottom of the pan which was a good part of the sugar solution. I was able to pour some of it into the shells & tried getting the "syrup" out to fill the rest. I had mixed results, some of the shells crusted over the proper way, some you could see the crystalization all the way to the bottom of the shell, you could also see that the shell forming process caused the surface to bow downward. Some tasted right on and others were like crystalized sugar.

I don't know if I will try again, I have used 1/2 a bottle of kirshwasser.

Another issue is that I have in a jar what looks like the sugar solution setting up & falling to the bottom (yoyu can see the crytalized sugar) and a liquid ontop which I assume is kirshwasser which some sugar in it. Anyone have an idea what I could do which this, I hate to waste good liquor? Or should I just heat it enough to get it all into solution & use it to make a ganache (it might be a bit sweet)?

Mark

[David J.]

The solution should not separate with a thick syrup on the bottom. How did you mix the sugar solution with the liquor?

The supersaturated solution is very susceptable to shocks or tiny bits of matter suspended in it. If you shake it you end up with tiny crystals which will form solid sugar inside the center rather than on the walls. Also if you have too concentrated a solution which seems to be the case in half your centers you end up with a solid or mostly solid mass of sugar instead of a nice even coating of the walls.

I would try again and carefully mix the liquor and sugar well by pouring between two bowls.

The recipie I used for molded shells:

750g sugar

25g glucose

250g water

75g liquor

75g Everclear

-Bring the sugar and water to a boil

-Carefully brush the sides of the bowl with water. Add glucose

-Continue to heat syrup to 223 to 225F

-Leave to cool to 122F before mixing in liquor

I tried to save my unused solution before and found out that it doesn't work. The sugar will find a way out of solution and usually end up as a mass on the bottom of your jar or squeeze bottle.

[mrose]

Thanks I'll give it a try. Do you use premake shells and fill them?

Mark

[David J.]

Thanks I'll give it a try. Do you use premake shells and fill them?

Mark

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I form the shells in a polycarbonate mold in the usual manner, then fill them with the sugar solution as you would fill with ganache. I used a squeeze bottle but I believe the best method is to use a confectioners funnel with a stop valve. The difference between the liquid center and ganache is that you then have to leave the molds perfectly still after filling them so you don't grow crystals in the middle of the chocolate. Fill them someplace you won't have to move them from and where they won't get bumped. After 24 hours you should have a thin crust of sugar which will allow you to bottom as usual.

[Desiderio]

Mark , I did the same , made the shells into polycarbonate molds.Then I made the solution.And David is right , you need to pay extra attention when you mix the syrup and the liquor together.Wybauw says to pour between two bowls , like David said,this is very important , dont rush the mixing , it takes a little bit for the syrup to mix well with the liquor , but once they are mixed they stay mixed.I dont know what formula you are using but either me or David can PM you the one form Wybauw's book, that seems to work very well.

Good luck

[mrose]

The solution should not separate with a thick syrup on the bottom.  How did you mix the sugar solution with the liquor?

The supersaturated solution is very susceptable to shocks or tiny bits of matter suspended in it.  If you shake it you end up with tiny crystals which will form solid sugar inside the center rather than on the walls.  Also if you have too concentrated a solution which seems to be the case in half your centers you end up with a solid or mostly solid mass of sugar instead of a nice even coating of the walls.

I would try again and carefully mix the liquor and sugar well by pouring between two bowls.

The recipie I used for molded shells:

750g sugar

  25g glucose

250g water

  75g liquor

  75g Everclear

-Bring the sugar and water to a boil

-Carefully brush the sides of the bowl with water. Add glucose

-Continue to heat syrup to 223 to 225F

-Leave to cool to 122F before mixing in liquor

I tried to save my unused solution before and found out that it doesn't work.  The sugar will find a way out of solution and usually end up as a mass on the bottom of your jar or squeeze bottle.

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Can you just use your liquor of choice or do you need the Everclear to raise the alcohol content?

[David J.]

Can you just use your liquor of choice or do you need the Everclear to raise the alcohol content?

The recipe calls for an equal amount of the liquor of your choice and pure alcohol. Everclear was just what I had on hand. Obviously when you get to a pure alchohol the brand doesn't matter as it's all the same chemicaly.

I asked Jean-Pierre Wybauw himself the reason for the total amount of alcohol and his response was it was designed to counter the sweetness of the sugar.

[mrose]

Can you just use your liquor of choice or do you need the Everclear to raise the alcohol content?

The recipe calls for an equal amount of the liquor of your choice and pure alcohol. Everclear was just what I had on hand. Obviously when you get to a pure alchohol the brand doesn't matter as it's all the same chemicaly.

I asked Jean-Pierre Wybauw himself the reason for the total amount of alcohol and his response was it was designed to counter the sweetness of the sugar.

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David

Have you made this recipe? I have a lot left over from the last 2 trials & would like to know if you have an idea how many this will fill? (since most molded chocolates weigh about .5oz). I don't want too much extra to have to toss again.

Mark

[David J.]

David

Have you made this recipe? I have a lot left over from the last 2 trials & would like to know if you have an idea how many this will fill? (since most molded chocolates weigh about .5oz). I don't want too much extra to have to toss again.

Mark

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I gave you the original recipie cut in half, but I can't recall if I cut it in half or thirds when I made it. Either way it made more than I needed because I filled two trays and had some left over.

My suggestion would be to cut what I gave you in half and have four trays ready to fill. It won't hurt to have unfilled cavities. To be a little more scientific you could add up the weights of all the liquids and measure out that much in water. Then fill your trays with the water and you'll have a good idea of how many trays you would need. Some of the water will boil off, but that would be balanced by the thickness of the shells.

[BakingBee]

one stupid question...can I substitute Everclear with Vodka or other kind of liquor?

I couldn't find Everclear in Asia.

Thx!

[David J.]

one stupid question...can I substitute Everclear with Vodka or other kind of liquor?

I couldn't find Everclear in Asia.

Thx!

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The recipie calls for straight alcohol to fortify the syrup and liquor mixture, so whatever brand you can find that has a high proof will do fine. Everclear is just a particular brand that can be found in the States at 95% and 75.5% pure depending on where you live. Where I am they can't sell the 95% version by law so I make do with the 75.5%. Typically Vodka is available at 40% so it probably isn't much stronger than whatever liqour you are using for flavor.

[Kerry Beal]

The only place I have sucessfully bought the everclear 95% is in the duty free. They don't seem to be subject to the same rules as the state they are in.

[Desiderio]

I didnt know there were restriction about everclear 95% .I found it here in COlorado ( the 95% ).