Archive for July, 2010

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Handmade Fondant and Southern Pecan Pralines

Posted in candy, confections, how to videos with tags , , , on July 31, 2010 by thebrokenganache

I had to run to J.Crew today to pick up a few things, and bring them some chocolates. They are all so nice over there, especially Doris. She knows exactly what I like and has everything waiting for me when I get there. When I got home I had to help a friend with her website for a new business. Once that was done it  was time to make some fondant. This time I did it by hand on a marble slab. I have really enjoyed working with my hands instead using a machine, lately. Like with temping chocolate. I have a tempering machine but I prefer doing it by hand. It just feels right for some reason, sort of  artisan crafty.  Mixing the fondant by  hand I really noticed the subtle changes  from a clear syrup to a thick creamy mass.  It’s something I didn’t pay much attention to when using the mixer, beacause all of a sudden it was done..

So now when my invertase arrives I can make cherry cordials. Invertase is a yeast-derived enzyme that breaks down the fondant once its dipped in chocolate. Thats what gives it a gooey center . I know I mentioned I was going to make nougat,  but  it felt like pecan pralines night. Even though I have never made them before the recipe looked good, quick and easy.  So that’s what I did.  They where pretty good, a little salty for me. Andy didn’t think so. Need a few taste testers to get their opinion.

Dose anyone know if you use kosher salt instead of table salt  do you need to change the portions in the recipe?

The videos of making the fondant and pecans are up!

Southern Pecan Pralines

10 Comments »

No chocolate tonight

Posted in Uncategorized on July 30, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Just got done watching the film Unthinkable. So it’s a little late to start with the chocolates.  But big plans tomorrow need to work on perfecting my fondant, so it’s smoother than last time and start on my pralines and nougat.

Until tomorrow

2 Comments »

Tempered Tropical Bark?

Posted in confections with tags , , , on July 29, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Today at lunch eating my usual grilled cheese sandwich (‘usual’ meaning when I’m too pre-occupied with other things to think of what to order) I thought about what type of bark to make when I got home. Then all of a sudden I began to think about chocolate school and how I cant wait to begin. I have lists upon lists of questions that I would like answered; what’s better for this…? what’s great for that…?, how do you know when..?.etc. etc. I can be an impatient person when I’m passionate about something. I  have a need to soak up everything there is to know and become completely immersed in the subject and at the moment it’s chocolate.  Well enough of that, back to the bark…

So I decided I’m going to continue with the latin theme and make a tropical bark, of  dark and milk chocolate  topped with toasted almonds, dried papaya, pineapple, apricots, golden raisins and coconut.

Melting the milk chocolate to the right temperature was the easy part. But when it came time to ‘seed’ with the dark chocolate it took a lot of work since dark chocolate has a slightly higher melting point. It took some work to smooth out the bits.  I think by adding the dark chocolate to the milk chocolate gives the milk chocolate more depth and a richer flavor with less sweetness.

I decided to cut it into little squares for tastings  so I’m not sure if you can still call it  a bark. Whatever you want to call it-is good.  The different  textures and flavors are wonderful together. It’s a keeper. But then I realized that I may have gotten my first false temper. Which is when the chocolate looks/feels like it’s completely set but it’s not.  The reason I think it may be is  because it sticks a little to your fingers when you touch it, which it should not do or because it’s so thick it just has completely set . Need to check my temperatures may have been off somewhere in the process.

Chocolate Tropical bark

Chocolate tropical bar

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La Dulce Leche!

Posted in confections, how to videos with tags , , , , on July 28, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Tonight I made dark chocolate shells with a dulce leche cream filling. As I was chopping the chocolate I realized I didn’t have as much Callebaut chocolate as I thought I had so I added some Guittard, but not enough where you can tell the difference in taste. I also used transfer sheets for the first time. Transfer sheets are designs made out of cocoa butter thats printed on acetate and come in a variety of colors and patterns, which are used for the top of molded  and dipped chocolates. Everything was going smoothly up to that point. Then it all went down hill as I began to pipe the dulce leche. I noticed that peaks of the leche were not spreading out in the molds – but I continued piping the rest of the molds thinking that they would flatten over time. I was wrong!

I tried using a spatula to  spread out the leche and the peaks got bigger!! So I thought I should just pour the chocolate over top,  thinking that the heat would melt and flatten out the peaks.  Well that didn’t happen and when I scraped the mold clean the leche and the chocolate smeared! In a last ditch effort to save them I used a spatula to spread tempered chocolate on the bottom of each individual piece. My bottoms are lumpy. :(  It didn’t dawn on me until afterwards that I should have used a  lightly buttered spatula  to smooth out the peaks, that way the leche would not have stuck to the metal.

They  look pretty (sides & tops). I love the white  floral design on the tops from the transfer sheets and the chocolate has a great gloss, bottoms excluded. The dark chocolate seems to overpower the dulce leche centers in my opinion and I don’t think I gave a hard enough whack to the  back of mold when  draining the chocolate since the tops seem a little thick.

Next time I will try this with milk chocolate, thats not to sweet.

La Dulce Leche chocolates

Dark chocolate shells with dulce leche centers

22 Comments »

New directions? Maybe!

Posted in confections on July 27, 2010 by thebrokenganache

I am thrilled that everyone liked the last batch of chocolates!

I came across this interesting demo for making chocolate from bean-to-bar http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/82761-demo-making-chocolate-at-homefrom-bean-to-bar/

It’s all that I can think about at the moment. How amazing would it be to actually produce our own blended chocolate bars! Need to do a little research and order some equipment and we should be good to go! Andy and I chatted about it and he thinks its a wonderful idea. If you haven’t figured out by now, I love trying out and learning new things. You never know whats gonna stick unless you try! I’ll keep you posted about bean to bar!

In the mean time I just started the dulce leche centers for tomorrows chocolates. A 4 hour process. I still cant decide if the shells should be dark or milk chocolate. If anyone has an opinion let me know – I am always open to suggestion.

Thanks again for everyones support!

2 Comments »

1st batch of molded chocolates

Posted in confections, how to videos with tags , , , , on July 26, 2010 by thebrokenganache

I just made my first batch of molded chocolates. A milk chocolate carmel and cognac center with a dark chocolate shell. A 5 hour process but it was worth it. The main reason it took so long is because we had to wait for the ganache to cool to 75F. They came out perfectly. Nice shine fabulous flavor – I couldn’t have asked for anything more for my first time!

I am thrilled with the outcome – taste test tomorrow!

Molded chocolates

First batch of molded chocolates!

milk chocolate caramel and cognac ganache

milk chocolate caramel and cognac ganache

14 Comments »

It started as mint and ended with a bark

Posted in chocolates, confections with tags , on July 25, 2010 by thebrokenganache

I know I started the peppermint patties a little too early in the morning – reason being I usually have a pot of coffee and smoke like a chimney so my taste buds were a little whacked.

As I began blending the fondant and the fresh mint leaves in the food processor and tasting along the way I kept adding leaf after leaf trying to get that minty flavor (more than the recipe called for). By the time I was done it did produce a lovely shade of green. Anyway after blending it was time to heat it up to 160F and once it reached that temperature the recipe suggested that one could add peppermint extract to boost the flavor – so of course I did! I added some, and some more and than just a little more! At the time I thought what a fabulous minty fresh taste.  Once they were poured and dried I couldn’t wait to taste it with some dark chocolate before dipping them. Well, it was like eating a bunch of mint leafs with a peppermint extract chaser!!! So after that experience its a great reason for me to quit smoking! And for all you smokers out there try not to have a cig before starting to cook.

So with my taste buds back on track I proceeded to make ‘bark’ with a 38% Guittard milk chocolate, toasted almonds and dried raspberries. I have read that you should use candied fruit since the sugar acts as a preservative giving it a more stable shelf life, but since I was making the bark as a snack I wasn’t that concerned.

I usually use my temping machine to temper chocolate, but this time with the help of Andy we did it by hand using the microwave. First melting the chocolate in 30 sec intervals until it reached 116F than letting it cool for 10 min and than seeding it until the temp came down to 81F (seeding is the process of adding finely chopped chocolate to the melted chocolate in order to help bring the temp down).  Than the tricky part of re-heating it up to 86F in 1-5 sec intervals in the microwave. Well it came out perfectly tempered I was amazed. I poured it onto parchment paper and sprinkled the nuts and berries – waited a few hours than as I broke it heard that perfect snap sound I was hoping for. I was thrilled. It was great until the last little crumb. I will definitely  be making this again.

Milk chocolate bark

38% Milk chocolate bark with almonds and dried raspberries

Homemade peppermint fondant centers

Homemade peppermint fondant centers

4 Comments »

Orange creamsicles sucked! But fondant was the silver lining!

Posted in candy, confections with tags , on July 24, 2010 by thebrokenganache

So I finally made the creamsicles. Well they really weren’t what I was excepting. Way too sweet for my taste buds and only had a hint of orange. I will probably look for another recipe down the road since that wasn’t the one – you never know until you try. I also made fondant for the chocolate peppermint patties I plan on making tomorrow. The fondant recipe was really quite easy to make it just consists of; sugar water and corn syrup, boiled to 236F cooled than mixed for 10 min until it turns white. Thats it!

Until tomorrow!!

Hand made creamsicle square

The little creamsicles that didn't!

6 Comments »

Waiting with Agatha for the humidity to drop

Posted in confections on July 24, 2010 by thebrokenganache

I’m sitting here waiting for the humidity levels to drop before I begin today’s festivities. Watching “Murder Most Foul” an Agatha Christie flim from the 60’s with Margaret Rutherford, the best Miss Marple in my opinion. Which I must have seen it at least 20 times. I’m a huge Agatha Christie  fan.

So as I wait I thought I should write about the challenge of making candy in South Florida’s heat and humidity.  Sugar is very hygroscopic so it pulls in all that moisture from the air and can change the consistency of the final product. So I try to plan accordingly for the best results.

From  everything I have read so far the ideal room temperature should be 68-72 degrees with a humidity range of 40-42% for candy to come out successful. So for me that means waiting until the humidity level drops, since it’s around 51% when I get up in the morning and then drops to 43-42% later in the day. By late evening it goes up again.  It’s a relatively short window for optimal conditions. As for the  room temp the lowest I have put the AC to is 73 degrees and it seems to work out. Oh, by the way the reason I know what the humidity levels are in the house is because Andy went to Home Depot to pick up an Acu-Rite Thermometer which has a digital display of room temp, room humidity and outdoor temperature.

One day I would love to visit a professional candy kitchen too check out their set-up.

Still waiting, down to 46% humidity. I do have another Agatha Christie movie to watch.

2 Comments »

No time for creamsicles…

Posted in confections on July 23, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Busy day today – just literally got done working. So I think it’s rather late to make a batch of candy. But tomorrow is another day. I have a full day planned, first off to Whole foods to pick up some supplies then to Barnes and Nobles to see if there are any new confectionary books out and then the fun will begin! A full day of candy making,  Hooray!

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