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Day 1 of Chocolate from Bean to Bar adventure

Posted in bean to bar, chocolates with tags , , on May 1, 2011 by thebrokenganache

Today is day 1 of my bean to bar adventure. I began by roasting the beans at 400F for 10 minutes than 350F for 10 min and finally 300F for the remaining 10 min. Stirring every 5 minutes through out the process.

Roasting Beans

The whole house was scented in a yummy cloud of roasted chocolate – I did find it odd that every time I opened the oven to stir the beans my nose was assaulted by a slight acidic almost vinegary scent which quickly went away.

Cocoa beans in coco mill

Once the roasting was done and the beans had cooled completely it was time to place them in the coco mill.  Which cracks the husk from the nibs of the bean. As soon as everything was cracked it was time to move outside to begin winnowing the beans – I used a blowdryer to blow the husks away from the nibs. It felt like I was out there forever baking under the hot Florida sun. I was covered in coco husks  from head to toe and so was our patio. Luckily we still had Don’s leaf blower to blow the discarded husk into the flower beds (where they will do some good).

After winnowing

I got most of the husks separated from the nibs so now it was time to extract the coco liqueur from the nibs and remaining husks using the Champion Juicer. A very long and noisy process and after running it through twice it was time to clean the juicer to get it ready to run the liqueur through a final time (but that will have to wait until tomorrow as the juicer components need to dry 100% because if even 1 drop of water gets onto the liqueur its ruined). So tomorrow  I will run the liqueur through a final time in the juicer then place it in the  melanger to conch it with sugar and coco butter.

Extracting chocolate liquor from the nibs and husk

Chocolate liqueur

That’s it for now

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Missing Coco Mill and Homemade Thin Mints

Posted in baked, chocolates, cookies with tags , on April 17, 2011 by thebrokenganache

I felt like a kid on Christmas morning when I woke today because I was so excited about opening the packages that came from Chocolate Alchemy. The first box was filled with roasted and un-roasted cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic, cocoa nibs, organic coco butter, lecithin, and five different chocolate bar molds. The next box contained the Champion Juicer which will turn the coco nibs to liquid chocolate. The last box had the Ultra Melanger which conches and refines the chocolate, sugar, coco butter and lecithin which gives it that silky smooth texture.  Then I realized that I was missing the coco mill which is used to crack and separate the hulls from the nib. I ran to my laptop to send off an email to see what was going and within five minutes I got a response that it was on back order. I was relieved that it wasn’t lost but a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be making chocolate today. In reality I still could make chocolate, I wouldn’t have to do the first few steps and go right to the juicer to make the chocolate liquid. But I really had my heart set on experimenting with the whole process from beginning to end. So I will wait.

Melanger, Juicer and Cocoa Beans

So I was looking for something to make when I ran across a Thin Mints recipe from Heidi Swanson’s blog 101 Cookbooks which is really a wonderful blog with great recipes. Her recipe called for whole wheat pastry flour which I didn’t have so I substituted   a 1/2 cup cake flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour to equal ! cup whole wheat pastry flour. I also thought tempering the chocolate for the cookie was a better way to go than just melting it, that way the chocolate would not melt on your fingers when eating it. I also ended up using a 53% Callebaut Dark Chocolate since that’s all I had. They came out rather yummy and I just love the mint with that nice crisp cookie inside!

Homemade Thin Mints

Thin mints anyone?

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A busy week in the kitchen

Posted in baked with tags , , , on April 16, 2011 by thebrokenganache

What a week, I think we must have gained 20 pounds from all the sweets I’ve made. Every evening after work last week I felt compelled to whip up a yummy treat. It all started with the arrival of raspberry freeze-dried fruit powder that I had ordered to add to chocolate.  It’s a wonderful product because you get the great fruit flavor with out adding any moisture to ganaches. Of course I had to try it out right away so I made a white chocolate and raspberry tart with almond crust. which was so yummy that we ate  it as soon as it was done and unfortunately we didn’t take a photo. Then it was on to a creamy Tahitian Vanilla bean Panna Cotta, homemade Cinnamon Graham Crackers, Coconut Graham Cracker Bars, then I thought perhaps I should make something a little healthier so I made some Chewy Granola bars. Healthy is no fun so I decided to make more Macaroons, actually a lot more Macaroons with a variety of fillings from a Pear Williams and dark chocolate ganache to a peanut buttercream. I must admit I became slightly obsessed with macaroons trying to get them perfectly crisp on the outside with a soft chewy center.  Andy was a good sport about being a taste tester for all those macaroons since it’s not his favorite dessert.

Tahitian Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with pears poached in Pear Williams

Cinnamon Graham Crackers

Coconut Graham Cracker Bars

I ended up baking over 10 different batches of raspberry and chocolate Macaroons  two batches a night with some success and others complete disasters. I did learned a few things along the way, such as: 1. When I baked Raspberry Macaroons at 350F for 15 mins. they came out a light brown color, but when I baked them at 300F for 18 mins. they came out a lovely shade of pink. 2. Make sure egg whites are stiff with a nice satin sheen. 3. When folding the powder sugar/almond mixture into egg whites the consistency shouldn’t be too stiff nor too loose. With all the ups and downs I experienced with making macaroons It was a lot of fun, I do look forward to the day when I can constantly make a prefect batch every time. So I will keep practicing, I just won’t be eating them all other wise I will be as big as a house.

Chocolate Macaroons with a Pear williams chocolate ganache

more Chocolate macaroons with a raspberry/dark chocolate ganache

But for the moment I will take a break from macaroons. Since all the equipment for my chocolate from bean to bar experiments have arrived. I haven’t unpacked the boxes since I told myself that I wouldn’t open them until I quite smoking. So tomorrow will be the big day, I can’t wait to get my hands on everything and see what type of cocoa beans I have to work with. As you can image tonight will be spent smoking like a chimney, saying good-bye too my old friend tobacco for tomorrow will say hello to my new friends taste buds. I’ve heard when you quit smoking your taste buds and sense of smell improve dramatically. I’m sure it doesn’t happen the day of quitting, but I would like to think so.

Raspberry Macaroon with a Vanilla bean buttercream baked at 300F

Raspberry Macaroon with a Milk Chocolate ganache baked at 350F

P.S. If anyone out there can recommend an amazing macaroon recipe it would be greatly appreciated. Even though I’m getting back to chocolates I just love those little things so much.

Here are the recipes I used over the course of last week and how I changed them: 

Tahitian Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta from Epicurious

  1. I Spilt/scraped 1 Fresh Tahitian Vanilla bean and steeped it in heavy cream for 10 minutes.
  2. I also used organic cane sugar.
  3. The recipe came out quite nice the only thing is that I wish that the Vanilla bean was suspended throughout the Panna Cotta instead of settling on the top and bottom of the bowl.

Cinnamon Graham Crackers from Smitten Kitchen

  1. I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and used dark muscovado.
  2. They came out fantastic, better than any store-bought brand I have ever had. differently a winner. The only thing I would do different is to roll them out thinner they where a bit to thick. And next time I will dip then in Dark Chocolate.

Coconut Graham Cracker Bars from All Recipes

  1. I didn’t add the layer of chocolate on to because I thought they where already a bit to sweet for me. I don’t think I would make these again.

Chewy Granola bar from Joyful Abode

  1. I did  make a few changes to the recipe since I wanted to use what I had on hand.

2 cup whole oats
1/2 cup wheat gem
1/2 cup wheat bran
1 cup pecans
a handful of sour cherries and dried apricots

Macaroons from David Lebovitz (My favorite recipe out of all the ones I tried)

  1. For the raspberry Macaroon I just substituted freeze-dried raspberry powder for coco powder and baked at 300F for 18mins.

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Bake sale Brownies

Posted in brownies, chocolates with tags , on December 15, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Late last night I made a batch brownie for a fundraiser bake sale  at work for Sun Sentinel Children’s Fund. I used the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks Baked by Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito, and Tina Rupp. They came out  quite moist, rich and chocolaty but I think I like the recipe by Lisa Sera of Cooks Illustrated that I used last time (click here to  read previous post and recipe). I do hope people buy them since it’s for a good cause.
That’s it for now.

Bake sale Brownies

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Crystalized flowers and buttercream centers

Posted in chocolates with tags , on December 14, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Tonight I made three buttercream centers to compliment the crystalized flowers that I received from Karen at the Crystalized Flower Company. They arrived while we were out-of-town and this is the first chance I have had to use them. I was thrilled when I opened up the packaging and all the flowers were still perfectly intact and beautify done. In the past I have ordered from other companies and they have always arrived with at least half of them broken. Anyway to compliment the colors of the flowers I made a Limoncello buttercream, a lavender and honey buttercream and a vanilla buttercream. All were dipped in a 64% dark Valhrona chocolate. Karen also sent Sechuan buttons, which are really cool they give a wonderful tingly sensation to your mouth. I want to come up with something really special for those. I will keep you posted.

Thats it for now!

Hand dipped buttercream centers with Crytalized flowers

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A chocolate Painting

Posted in chocolates, other things with tags , on November 17, 2010 by thebrokenganache

I came across this wonderful blog today called Eye Candy run by fellow  blogger Jojo Krang from Switzerland. There is a wonder demo of painting with chocolate and coloring chocolate naturally. I can’t wait to try these techniques out when I get back. Check it out here.

Image comes from the blog Eye Candy run by Jojo Krang

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Bouchée, french for mouthful

Posted in candy, chocolates, confections with tags , , , , , on November 14, 2010 by thebrokenganache

This weekend I continued experimenting with St Germain and after many trial and errors I made three that I am pleased with. A St Germain, orange, lemon with a hint of vanilla bouchée enrobed in white chocolate and rolled in edible gold glitter. The next one is a lychee, vanilla, and St. Germain bouchée enrobed in white chocolate and sprinkled with edible gold glitter on top. The final is St. Germain, lemon and honey bouchée  enrobed in white chocolate and painted with edible antique gold powder.

After all that experimenting with St. Germain I was in the mood for some peanut butter.  So I decided to make a peanut butter bouchée dipped in milk chocolate then enrobed in white chocolate and rolled in crushed peanut brittle – Amazing!

That’s it for now!

a basket of bouchée

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Chocolate lesson with friends

Posted in chocolates with tags , on November 6, 2010 by thebrokenganache

My dear friend Sonia’s sister Andrea was having problems with her chocolates and asked for some help, so I invited the girls to come over for my first ever chocolate lesson. During the course of the lesson we find out that Andrea’s problem was that steam from tempering the chocolate using the double boiler method was getting into her chocolate. Well thats a Big no no, water and chocolate should never come in contact with each other – they simply do not mix.

So today’s lesson started with how to temper chocolate using the microwave method. Followed by learning how to make a Pear Williams Cognac truffle enrobed in a 53% Callebaut dark chocolate. We began with making a ganache and infusing the Pear Williams cognac, followed by Andrea using her newly learned microwave tempering method to temper her chocolate and then learning how to enrobe the ganaches. It was a blast! It’s so much fun having friends in the kitchen. I love helping people if I can and I think down the road when I learn more myself  I would love to give classes.

Thats it for now.

Pear Williams Cognac Truffles

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The most chocolate’s ever!

Posted in candy, chocolates, confections with tags , , on November 3, 2010 by thebrokenganache

It’s been so busy lately between my day job, testing new recipes, making chocolates and having tastings that I haven’t had a minute to post – I am j beat by the end of the evening.  I know I need to make the time so here we go.

The last few days we have been making chocolates for a grand opening event tonight at The Loft at Congress, where we have an opportunity to present some of our confections for roughly 200 people including wedding planners and event planners who will be in attendance. Its been a hell of a lot of work but it’s been a blast working with Andy in the kitchen, he has come along way from a few months ago, now he just whizzes around and gets things done and it’s great. There have been a few challenges in making so many chocolates and treats like not having enough molds of the same size to produce in an efficient manner. Since we have to wait until the 1st batch cools to un-mold before starting on a second batch, also we tried an espresso and milk chocolate ganache which we enrobed in milk chocolate which didn’t look too pretty so we decided to dust in cocoa powder which looked fabulous – but the taste was just so wrong so we scrapped that one.  All in all though it went pretty well. We have never produced this many chocolates before so I am rather proud of us, even though I could not sleep last night and I am a bundle of nerves hoping that everyone likes everything.

Tonight’s menu will consist of: Grand Marnier truffles enrobed in dark chocolate topped with a candied orange peel, a ginger and white chocolate ganache dipped in dark chocolate with candied ginger on top, a pineapple and rum buttercream center in a dark chocolate shell, an orange and Cointreau center in a dark chocolate shell, a Dulce de Leche creamy center in a dark chocolate shell, a hazelnut praline milk chocolate ganache dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in crushed English Toffee, a triple chocolate bouchée covered in dark chocolate, a Lemon and Lavender Bouchée covered in white chocolate, an Autumn spiced Bouchée covered in cinnamon white chocolate topped with toasted pecans, a raspberry pate de fruit and a pecan caramel dipped in dark chocolate with Mediterranean sea salt.

I hope it all goes well that’s it for now!

 

The Broken Ganache Tablescape

Close up 1

Close up2

 

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4 mini cupcakes for a birthday girl!

Posted in buttercream, chocolates, cupcakes with tags , , on October 16, 2010 by thebrokenganache

Last week was so dreary with it being rainy and overcast, busy at work and waiting for candy supplies to arrive. I wasn’t really in the mood to make anything – I just wanted to relax and watch some good movies. In hindsight I realized that if I had forced myself to make candies I probably would have had a better week. Yesterday the sun came out and I was right as rain.

We were given the  opportunity to make cupcakes for a birthday party  on Saturday, so Friday after work we began by making buttercreams. We thought it was good to start the buttercreams the night before so that Saturday morning we just had to bake the cupcakes and frost them. I must say I get so much pleasure out of being in the kitchen and Andy was a huge help, I couldn’t have done it without him. For the birthday party we made: a red velvet cupcake with a pink cream cheese frosting (pink was a request from the birthday girl), a strawberry buttercream with a a vanilla bean cupcake, a peanut butter buttercream with a chocolate cupcake and a chocolate French buttercream (Pate a bomb) on a chocolate cupcake. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. I do hope the buttercream’s hold their shape since we dropped them off around 3:30 and the party isn’t until 6.  Will let you know how they turned out! This week promises to have some new and interesting things coming out of this little kitchen so stay tuned!

Thats it for now

 

Our 4 Birthday cupcakes for the party

 

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