Green Ones

Here is todays effort.

Swiping colors

No, I didn't steal them, just used a gloved finger to wipe or swipe the color in the molds. I used white and topaz yellow. I think it worked quite nicely, thank you. The mottled ones I used a cotton ball to apply the color. Tell me what you think.


This is my "Norman Love" impression. You will have to google him to know what I mean:-)


I am thinking I really like these.


These were made with the cotton ball. Different effect, but kind of cool.



I made these because I was filling some molds for a wedding order and I had extra filling. I didn't want to waaste it and I didn't have any shells ready, so I hurried and made these. I didn't have time to get the compressor running, so I just melted the color and swiped the molds, made the chocolate shells, filled them and closed the molds all in about 20 minutes.

Marcona almond caramels

Yesterday I made Marcona almond caramels. It is a new recipe where I caramelize the sugar and glucose before added the cream. It seems to make a very nicely flavored and textured caramel.




I don't dip the entire caramel because the nuts make the top irregular and it is hard to put a transfer sheet or texture sheet on it. If you look close, you will see that I dip the caramel up to the top, then just drizzle chocolate on top. I think I like the look. By dipping the bottom, it keeps the caramel from spreading.

Another experiment

Today I tried some different molding techniques. I made the shells yesterday, today I filled them, not as full as usual. My thought was to close the molds with extra chocolate and then cover the wet chocolate with caramelized hazelnuts. It turned out ok, but not as spectacular as I had hoped.



My other experiment was with the wiping of cocoa butter in the molds. I first used aztec orange and came back with white. I think I like the look, but need to work some more on technique.

New chocolates

This is a new flavor I came up with yesterday---SMOKED SEA SALT. Save it Ryan, I know what you are thinking:-) It is a bit out there, but it isn't too bad--in fact, it is interesting. Ron actually likes it!



My new favorite--ROOTBEER FLOAT. You can try it out on Sunday.

Chocolate tiles

Today, I made some chocolate tiles out of a thin layer of tempered chocolate over a transfer sheet. I cut them with an expandable roller knife.
They are far from perfect, but they have possibilities. I dipped some strawberry-balsamic and placed the tile on top.



I have been having issues with my chocolate. I did a big "no-no" and mixed dark and milk chocolate together. I had milk in the melter and didn't want to clean it out, so just added dark to it. I have done it for years, but this time it messed up. I had to re-temper it several times. I took it to 45 C, dropped it to 32, added Mycryo and stirred until it crystallized, which took until it was 25c. I rewarmed to 27 and that is when I finally was able to get a good gloss. I have got to stop experimenting!! It should have been ready at around 30, but it wasn't. These are the rum briquets I learned in class in Montreal.