Salt !!!

I am crazy about salt in chocolate. As I sit and sample a large assortment of chocolate and spice combinations, I find myself drawn toward the savory chocolates more and more these days. I have loved regular old white table salt my whole life. I have had a salt fetish for a few years now. Of course, Salt Works has had a lot to do with this craze in my recent life. But, check this out! Who would have thought of salt as being a collectable? I adore the Salt Works website. I would love to buy this salt sampler,  just for the packaging! Genius presentation! I don’t think that ALL of the flavors would be good in chocolate, but many of them would bring something special to the adventurous palette. Look at the pretty colors!

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More on Earl Grey & My Sour Cherry Zinfandel Fondant

I am getting way too impressed with myself.  I can’t believe I made these candies! In the front I have dipped some of the sour cherry zinfandel fondant I wrote about yesterday. I put a piece of the starburst transfer sheet on the top. These would be prettier if I worked the fondant at a colder temperature. I could have gotten a more crisp shape.  If I used a chocolate made specifically for enrobing, the foot on the bottom of the candy would be smaller. Alas, I am an amateur chocolatier. But, still quite pleased with so many of my experiments. The best thing is how good these taste.

The candy in the back was the remainder of the milk chocolate that I used to dip the fondant. I mixed Earl Grey and walnuts into it, and then poured it onto a plastic sheet with a flower texture. This time I ground the Earl Grey tea a little bit finer. I am really impressed with the way this tea goes so well with chocolate. I really like it a lot!

Earl Grey

I have to admit, this was a terrifying experiment with a pleasing result. Developing a perfected recipe will take some experimentation. However, round 1 has me excited for this adventure.

When I was at the supermarket, I picked out some loose leaf tea to introduce into my chocolates. I chose jasmine pearl balls and Earl Grey (decaf). I had never eaten or made any chocolates with tea stuff in them when I picked these out.  I was hoping to find lavender, but didn’t. Sometimes I get ingredients just to have them around for the special moment when I get inspired. That moment came on the very same day that I went to the supermarket.

I was making a white chocolate & almond mixture that I ended up putting in molds with sour cherry centers (VERY yummy sweet and sour contrast).  I had a bit of white chocolate with almond left over. I sprinkled the Earl Grey right into the melted chocolate and mixed it in.  I didn’t even grind the tea into a powder.  I was basically doing a taste test sampler. I ended up with 5 pieces of candy. Wow! I have to admit I was surprised. The white chocolate goes very well with the flavor of the Earl Grey. I have jealousy guarded my samples! I fully intend to perfect an Earl Grey recipe. In this photo, you see a still life with my very prized last piece of Earl Grey & Almond Chocolate!

What flavors would go well with Earl Grey? Lemon? Walnuts? Butter cookies? Or _________?

Sour Cherry Zinfandel Fondant

What the Heck is Fondant? I am making fondant.  Here’s the funny part:  I don’t even know what it is! Of course I have to go and change the recipe, too. I’m not even going to know if it turned out ok! It is a pretty simple recipe: water, sugar, cream of tartar, bring it to soft ball temperature. So, I figure I’m going to want it flavored. I use zinfandel instead of water. This ball of goop is soooo sticky. I’m not sure how I’ll be able to get it dipped. Also, it is so very sweet.  That shouldn’t be a surprise. Sugar is the main ingredient. I have added salt to the recipe to cut the sweetness a little bit.  Now as it has sat in the fridge for a while it has gotten stiffer.  I kneaded walnuts and diced sour cherries into the goop.  I still don’t know how the finished product will turn out. I’d like to have a flat top so that I can put a decorative transfer on the top. This could get pretty messy. Stay tuned!

OHhhhh… Perfect!

Oh!  Very Good!  Inspired by Vosges Haut Chocolat, I mixed bacon into my 60% dark chocolate.  I’d say there were about 2-3 slices of bacon which I cooked until completely crunchy. (95% Fat Free Turkey Bacon is my favorite!) Then I used my mini food processor to grind the bacon to a fine ground. I melted about 5 ounces of chocolate. I poured the melted concoction onto a sheet of textured plastic…  Look what happened! It is textured! It came out perfect! I was so excited!  This is by far the best bang for the buck chocolate tool I have gotten.  The texture sheet was under $2…  and look at how pretty my snapped slab chocolate is!  Yippie!  I had to take the picture right away.  I was thrilled! See Textured Sheets

This was my first time officially tempering chocolate. I used the Ghiradelli 60% Dark Chocolate.  I can get it at my supermarket.  I had to temper it twice because I brought the temperature up too high. It was more time consuming than I would have liked.  I am considering getting a dedicated piece of marble for faster tempering.  I have marble countertops,  but I like being able to wash the tempering board over the sink.  I may look into this a little farther. (You can read about tempering chocolate on my blogroll.  It isn’t too hard… but it is a bit of a pain. Chocolate is more complicated than people might think.)

I also have been using the Bada Bing Bada Boom chocolate melts which does not need tempering.  It tastes plenty good and it is a great pleasure to work with. Fast!  No nonsense! Melt it and pour, or dip! However, there is a certain appeal to using very good chocolate. But, it does cost more and needs to be tempered.  I’m sure I’ll get better at tempering the chocolate. And, I’ll keep using Bada Bing Bada Boom Chocolate, too. Depends on the recipe.

2 Recipe Jots Entered

I came up with my first 2 recipe entries in the Jots & Tittles book.

1) Coconut Curry & Caramel in milk chocolate.  It was pretty good. I’ll keep it in the line-up with some adaptations… maybe raisins instead of caramel.  The milk chocolate wasn’t perfectly tempered. That was a disappointment. It was hazy.

2) Strawberry & Walnut in white chocolate.  I used the freeze dried strawberries, which are slightly sour & crunchy, too. I was very pleased with this combo.

The Book of Chocolate Jots & Tittles

Last Tuesday I was telling my friends Colin & Rebecca that even though I am not a writer, and I’m not a chocolatier, I would like to write a book about making chocolates.  I am exploding with recipe ideas.  I told them I even have a name for the book: “The Amateur Chocolatier”. Rebecca very wisely stated, “Take a lot of careful notes.”  I knew I would have to be thinking of recipes in order to write this book. Rebecca’s suggestion immediately made me realize that even at this stage, every experiment is taking me closer to an accurate recipe.  So,  last night as I was getting ready to go to sleep,  I thought, “I am going to have to get myself a journal for my chocolatier adventures.”  Then I remembered a journal that my Aunt Carole gave me for Christmas 2 seasons back.  I liked the leathery chocolate warmth and texture of this journal. It sat on a shelf waiting for it’s destiny. Ha! The day has come!  Today I pronounce it “The Book of Chocolate Jots & Tittles”. I don’t want any of the awesome ideas, ingredients, and recipes to get away from me.  If a recipe needs more of this and less of the other thing, I will capture it all in this chocolate journal. I can clean up all those scraps of notes that are floating around my study room, and my mind.

Don’t forget that a notebook can be one of the most important kitchen tools.

Pop Rocks & a New Chocolate Mold

Oh, what Joy! Another box of chocolate supplies arrived today.  I got a new mold in the shape of a cocoa pod.  Very charming!  I bought it at Chef Rubber. I also got unflavored pop rocks from this website.  Holy Moly!  This is the most fun chocolate recipe.  I added a healthy dose of the pop rocks into dark chocolate,  and added cayenne pepper and alaea Hawaiian salt (course ground) into the mix.  I broke in the cocoa pod mold with this awesome recipe. I nailed it!  It was perfect.

I got to use my triangle mold from Chocoley for the 2nd time. In this recipe, I chopped up “Bold Jalapeno Smokehouse” Almonds (from Blue Diamond) & combined them with white chocolate. It is fabulous.  I am making some of the best chocolates I have ever tasted.  But then you have to figure,  I am making them exactly for my own taste buds. So, I had better nail it. It was a great day for the Amateur Chocolatier!

New Tools!

Some of the tools and supplies that I ordered have arrived.  Here are some photos of my first round of experiments. I was fairly pleased with the items in the top photo.  In the future I will try crushing the strawberry into powder. I think that will be more attractive. I was in a hurry.  I’d like to let the chocolate drip more next time so the foot of the nugget is smaller.  On the left is a 1/2 marshmallow dipped in dark chocolate, with a tart strawberry slice on top.  The strawberry is freeze dried & has a crunch.  The piece on the right exhibits my need to try using a “transfer sheet”.  The sheet has a pattern on it.  The pattern sticks to the chocolate once the chocolate is hardened.  The inside is walnut and caramel.  The caramel came from the supermarket.  It is too sweet.  I plan to learn to make my own caramels in the future.

I was more pleased with my adventures in molded chocolates.  The chocolate was perfectly shiny, and perfectly shaped, when it came out of the mold.  My 2nd try came out even better than my 1st try.  I learned that it IS important to fill the mold completely, and then scrape the top of the mold.  This way the bottoms are as perfect as the shape and the shine.  I was surprised that it made so much of a difference. It is worth the extra chocolate and the mess.

The white chocolate contains crunchy mango nuggets and cashew.  The dark dark chocolate triangles contain a healthy chunky of spicy ginger.

I was so very pleased with my first round of experiments. I can’t wait to keep playing. (And I have some more gadgets on the way!)


Fruit Crunchies

I’ll let you in on a secret ingredient:  Fruit Crunchies!  It is tricky using fruit in chocolate because of the water content. Ha! This fruit has been freeze-dried.  It is fabulously crunchy when fresh,  and gets softer as it absorbs moisture after being open for a few days.  Either way,  it has intense fruit flavor.

I’m not sure how I will use my fruit crunchies yet.  One idea that keeps popping up is to crush them on top of dipped, halved marshmallows.  Fruit powdered marshmallow bonbons in 3 colors!  Sounds pretty.  Sounds prettiest in white chocolate.  The sour of the raspberry, mango, and blueberries ought to go well with the sweetness of the white chocolate.

OR ~ Maybe I’ll stir some blueberries and walnut into a creamy milk chocolate… or… or….  OH!  So many ideas, so little time!

Shop Crunchies!

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