Chocolates

Afraid that it might taste too bitter, i bought dark chocolate cocoa powder that’s used for drinking. however, i heard that when making chocolate truffles, i have to use the actual cocoa powder that’s very bitter and rich with no sugar in it. does it really matter what cocoa powder i use?

Go to: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Chocolate-Truffles

My gf has always said she loves those Chocolate raspberries cordials. I am planning to give her a box of those for Christmas….
Is that OK? Or chocolates are for Valentines Day ONLY???

p.s. we both agreed to keep the gifts simple and nothing fancy…so, don’t think I’m cheap for doing this!

Thanks

Yeah, that would be good. Chocolate is always good
you should get them from a candy store, like See’s or Gertrude Hawk though, not like at walgreens… heh …

I want to make fancy dipped fruit where the chocolate actually hardens on the fruit. No crappy chocolate like Magic Shell. Please show me a website for gourmet hardening chocolate…good quality chocolate.

Thanks!

Magic Shell only works on things that are cold like ice cream anyway, so even if you froze some fruit and put Magic Shell on, it would melt as the fruit thawed.

There is chocolate sold for home chocolate "crafts" at many craft-supply stores. It looks sort of like giant flattened chocolate chips and comes in different flavors (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint, peanut butter etc.) and often in lots of different colors of "white" chocolate so people can pour the melted colors into molds and make a pink flower with a green leaf and stem, etc.

The good news is, you don’t need that stuff! It’s expensive and a pain to find and not the best-tasting chocolate either. Here is a website so you can see the stuff I’m talking about: http://buychocolatemolds.com/realchocolate.htm As you’ll notice $10/lb seems to be their cheapest chocolate and that doesn’t include shipping of course.

Any chocolate that’s hard when you buy it at room temperature can be melted and then will turn back hard (solid) once it cools! So you can probably use whatever "gourmet" brand is your favorite, so long as it’s a pure chocolate bar and doesn’t have nuts or a filling in it.

The trick is in getting the chocolate to melt without separating or burning. Some brands/varieties you can actually melt in the microwave, in a microwave-safe bowl or mug (a mug has a handle for safe handling) so long as you only microwave it for 20 seconds or so at a time in between checking and maybe stirring it.

Traditionally — before microwaves — chocolate was melted using the "double boiler" or "bain marie" (that’s French for double boiler) method. You heat plain water in a pan on the stove, then put either a bowl or another pan on top of the first pan so that the chocolate is heated indirectly and melts slowly.

Once you have your melted chocolate, just dip whatever fruits you like in it. It will take time for the chocolate to harden! You can either just lay the dipped fruit on waxed paper, or carefully prop each piece chocolate-side-up on a baking rack or something like an empty egg carton if you don’t want one side of the chocolate coating to get flattened.

You can do multi-layered dips if you want — dark and white or milk and dark or even three layers. You’ll have to experiment to see whether letting the first layer harden before dipping the next works better for you, or whether you want to do the second dip before letting the first harden, as there are proponents of both methods.

Here’s a video of one of Food Network’s chefs demonstrating the double-boiler method and making it look easy: http://www.hulu.com/watch/48781/food-network-originals-melting-chocolate
As you can see she also gets around the "what do I do with this thing covered in hot melted chocolate now?" problem by rolling her goodies in sprinkles. You could use fancier sprinkles, or something like chopped nuts or shredded coconut, if you wanted to do that.

Here’s a similar video on YouTube if you can’t use the first site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKCWgoRoyck

My favorite brands of chocolate, for eating and cooking, that come in a "plain" variety without filling or anything else in it, are Droste, Ghirardelli, Lindt and Perugina. You could also use something like Dove or Newman’s Own, or another organic brand like Green & Black, especially if you’re using organic fruit. Just remember it should be just chocolate in the bar (or chips, or bite-sized pieces). You can use as dark or as milky a chocolate as you want, and most of those brands do sell white chocolate also in case you want to use that.

Finally, here’s a video of a gutsy woman melting chocolate for dipping fruit on the stove without using a double boiler. Confession time: I have used this method myself (the non-stick pan is key) but don’t anymore because… sometimes it works and sometimes you just ruin your chocolate. Which is why I don’t recommend it.

(PS Don’t let Culinary Skeptic scare you. You don’t have to temper chocolate for what you want to do, so long as you use the right kind of chocolate and a slow-heating method, either a double boiler or the microwave method. Thousands of people with no culinary training do it every day. I did leave out two important points about the double-boiler method though, which other posters mentioned: don’t let the simmering water touch the bottom of the bowl the chocolate is in, and don’t let any water get in the chocolate as it’s melting or as you’re working with it. This means to be careful of escaping steam from the bottom of the double boiler, and also to make sure your fruit has been blotted dry before dipping.)

Sites where you can order Droste, Ghirardelli, Lindt and Perugina:
http://www.bluedelft.com/drostepastilles.html
http://shop.ghirardelli.com/
http://www.lindtusa.com/category-exec/category_id/21/landing/1/nm/Bars
http://usachocolate.com/perugina-chocolate-bars-c-8.html

After having been exposed to Belgian chocolate for many years, I must admit that it is the best I have tasted to date. Where do you think the best chocolate is manufactured?

Hershey’s. It’s so much better than Australian chocolate (Cadbury’s), because it has less milk and more cocoa.

the dark chocolate turned out fine but the white turned pastey.
do i add something?

That chocolate seized on you, add just a little whole milk, not lowfat, not skim, not 2% , whole milk over a very low heat and bring the temp back up to a minimum of 90 degrees. 90 degrees? my thermometer doesn’t go that low, stick you finger in it and if you feel a little heat you’ve made it to at least 98.6

I bought a chocolate pen thing at spencers gifts the other day and I got it home and it was all watered down and it expired 5/2009 and I don’t want to use it being its expired.

Can I return it?

If you have the receipt and the date is after May 31, 2009 then yes. They are not supposed to sell it if it is expired.

some with bows

most wholesale (restaurant/bakery supply) companies require that you buy a very large amount of boxes.
for example, you can get 250 for about $45.00…… this is a great buy, but only if you happen to be able to use 250 boxes!
try here…. you can get 5 boxes for $6.00… and they are very attractive for candy…
http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_BX0131_A_c2p_E_hp

Hello, im making homemade chocolates for people this christmas. I did a test run and they tasted good, at first, but after literally 2 days (some refrigerated and some not) they went crumbly and white. Can anyone tell me why this happened and if there is anything i can do to stop it happening?? ( they were just normal chocolates, no filling etc.)

Thanks

You shouldn’t need to add preservatives; most chocolate is full of them already, and even if you buy the top-notch stuff (which is not full of preservatives), it shouldn’t perish that quickly. I’m guessing you were sold a batch that had been mishandled at some point.

There are a few things that could cause your chocolate to perish like this. It could have been stored in a place that’s too hot (chocolate should never be stored anywhere where the temperature is likely to exceed 20°C); it could have been heated too quickly when you melted it; it could have gotten too hot when it was melted; it could have cooled too quickly; or it could simply be old stock (or it could be a combination of these things).

The main thing with chocolate is quality. There are many different grades, each for a different purpose (and some is just plain shoddy workmanship). For making home-moulded chocolates, you want the finest grain available. Buy it from a reputable supplier with air-conditioned facilities. Store it in a dark cupboard or fridge. Heat it slowly, work it quickly, and cool it slowly.

my heart is goin fast

Duration : 0:0:54

Read the rest of this entry »

Audition for Shark Tank

Duration : 0:8:20

Read the rest of this entry »