Search Results for '("C'

[Mike Nolan]

One of the things I've been doing since I retired is working on my French, primarily using the duolingo.com site. According to that site I'm 42% fluent in French now, though I'd say that's on the high side.

This afternoon, I've been doing some research online trying to figure out why references to the cookie are 'langues de chat' and not 'langues du chat' or 'langues des chat'. So far I haven't found the definitive explanation, except for perhaps 'That's just how it's done in French'. 🙂

I've misplaced the recipe I have used several times for langues de chat, but as I recall I made it with superfine baker's sugar, not powdered sugar. (Powdered sugar adds a 'cornstarch' flavor to foods.)

I'll keep looking for that recipe, it's a good one for me to do 'piping practice' with, and I haven't done much piping since Chocolate School.

[Mike Nolan]

Chef Russ seemed to think boiling cream produced an inferior ganache, he would heat it, but not to boiling.

I think most ganaches are too soft for Milano-like cookies, which is why I'd like to experiment with tempered chocolate. I should buy a package of Milanos and dissect them. (Yeah, that's my story for why I'm buying them.)

[cwcdesign]

Thanks Mike and Aaron. You're both right about the cookie. I went looking for recipes online - ironically, Martha Stewart had a recipe for homemade Milanos, but used a thicker cookie dough and had a recipe for langues du chat as well. The recipe I used only had egg whites as the langues du chat. The other recipes for homemade ones all had whole eggs.

The recipe I tried was definitely out of balance - 8 ounces butter, 2 cups powdered sugar (8 oz.), 4 egg whites, 1 tsp vanilla and 1 ½ cups flour. The other recipes vary but ¼ to ½ cup butter, ½ cup sugar and 1 to 1 ¼ cups flour. I'll have to play someday.

Mike, we all really liked the ganache
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate - I used dark
½ cup heavy cream
Break up the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream to boiling over medium heat. Pour over chocolate and let stand 30-45 seconds. Stir well to combine.

[Mike Nolan]

Chef Russ at chocolate school said it takes making about 100 of them for it to become effortless. (He would have them made and filled about as fast as he could talk about it.)

I spent two evenings practicing making parchment bags, enough to get the mechanics down but not enough to develop consistency or speed. I've made about a dozen of them since then, I probably need to practice some more. (I"m hoping to take Chocolate 2.0 some time in late 2017 or 2018, but I need to build up my skills and stamina first, losing some weight would help the latter.)

A trick I've seen online is to make a small tear through the layers at the top to 'lock' the shape of the bag. Folding the top down after it has been filled works well, too, and helps to keep things clean. (One thing Chef

We would store filled bags in a chocolate warmer so that they stayed tempered and didn't set.

We had large plastic piping bags available for things like piping large amounts of ganache into molds (since we were making about 16 dozen of everything), but when working with chocolate you often want smaller bags of a different type of chocolate or colored cocoa butter available for decoration or embellishments, and we had to make those ourselves, though they did have pre-cut triangles for us to use.

[Mike Nolan]

I recommend you look for 'langues de chat' recipes. (Yes, that means "cat's tongue".) That's basically what the cookie part of a Milano cookie is. I haven't found the right filling recipe yet, though. Next time I'm just going to try some tempered milk chocolate. (Or maybe a mix of milk and dark chocolate.)

When you say 'cut off a corner', it sounds like you were using a ziplock bag. I find it difficult to make precise shapes that way, the bag is clumsy to hold compared to a standard pastry bag. I went to the restaurant supply store and bought a roll of disposable pastry bags in two different sizes. I just looked online, a roll of a hundred Ateco 12" pastry bags is about $10, or a dime each.

Or you can do what I've been practicing since I went to chocolate school, make pastry bags out of parchment for less than a penny. It took me about a dozen tries to get the basics worked out, and I probably need to do a few dozen more to make it nearly effortless.

[KIDPIZZA]

BakerAunt wrote:

Update on my second baking of the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake to which Cwcdesign introduced us last year.

I used 3/4 cups of mini-chocolate chips this time and dredged them with flour. They still sank to the bottom, but it is less messy with the mini chips. I stacked the layers so that each had the chips on the top. I also used 1/2 tsp. salt in the cake rather than the specified 1 tsp. kosher salt. I omitted the kosher salt from the frosting, since it uses salted butter. I used just 2 Tbs. of the King Arthur Espresso powder (recipe calls for 2 Tbs. and 1 tsp.). I like the frosting much better this time, perhaps because I used less and because I had freshly opened espresso powder.

However, the cake does not slice nicely but crumbles a lot. I’m not sure if that is the chocolate chips or if the recipe could use some tweaking.

I have written to Cass/Kid Pizza to see if he has any suggestions about how to address that issue and the sinking chocolate chip issue. If he does, I’ll be sure to post his answer here.

BAKERAUNT:
Good afternoon Marliss. Sorry to learn you had a baking disappointment recently.
I did scrutinize this recipe you pointed me to & I just now finished doing so.
This recipe is just slightly out of balance. Which we can adjust as we go along.
Marliss first off & as you already know, we must employ "BLCD AP FLOUR"

Marliss, notice the the variance of the weight of the flour & the sugar. The sugar is about 1 3/4, oz more so. I would consider reducing this amount of sugar & adding same weight in honey. You will have a much moister baked product, & a mush less of a problem for the sugar to dissolve in your creaming operation.

Marliss, now I will address the reason your cake is somewhat crumbly, I believe the sugar is not fully dissolved during the creaming operation. this has an effect on the gluten development, thus the stunted gluten structure development.
Marliss, by all means place the sugar in your FP & give it a few twirls & reduce it's size. It will dissolve quicker & easier this way.

Marliss, as you know this type of sugar has some molasses in it also if you add honey we have a acidic condition here. Soooo, we need to add some baking soda. I would consider reducing the bkg powder to 1 3/4 tsp & adding in between 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of baking soda to neutralize this acidic condition.

Marliss I do believe what is contributing to the crumbly crumb condition is it is crying for more fat. ADD (1) yolk to this recipe.

Marliss, the other item is this. This is how I handle this item (My secret that is) Fill the pan just slightly higher than the mid section then sprinkle the chocolate around evenly on top....hopefully in one layer Then repeat on the top of the batter they will slightly sink in this way the 1st layer goes down slightly as the top layer will & then stops sinking when the batter begins developing the structure strength thanks to the leaveners.
Marliss my other secret is this, pre~heat your oven to about 375 / 385 degrees. bake your tins for about 4/5 minutes then reduce to 335 degrees due to the addition of the honey. The sudden blast of heat will stop the choco in it's tracks.

Marliss, now for the last correction. I believe there is too muck liquid in this recipe. I would suggest this use 6,oz of milk. then use your judgement add more if you think the batter consistency requires more liquid, if so, add 1/2 TBLS at a time. I do not think you will be adding any however,

When finished come back & let us know how well we have done to your recipe.

Good luck & happy St. Valentine day to you as well my dear friend.

~CASPAR/KIDPIZZA.

[BakerAunt]

Update on my second baking of the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake to which Cwcdesign introduced us last year.

I used 3/4 cups of mini-chocolate chips this time and dredged them with flour. They still sank to the bottom, but it is less messy with the mini chips. I stacked the layers so that each had the chips on the top. I also used 1/2 tsp. salt in the cake rather than the specified 1 tsp. kosher salt. I omitted the kosher salt from the frosting, since it uses salted butter. I used just 2 Tbs. of the King Arthur Espresso powder (recipe calls for 2 Tbs. and 1 tsp.). I like the frosting much better this time, perhaps because I used less and because I had freshly opened espresso powder.

However, the cake does not slice nicely but crumbles a lot. I'm not sure if that is the chocolate chips or if the recipe could use some tweaking.

I have written to Cass/Kid Pizza to see if he has any suggestions about how to address that issue and the sinking chocolate chip issue. If he does, I'll be sure to post his answer here.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[cwcdesign]

On Sunday I made Pain au Chocolate Bread Pudding from Gourmet (Epicurious.com) for a dinner party last night. I hadn't made it in years and I was amused to read the comments that, like me, a lot of people substituted raspberries for the cranberries. I used frozen raspberries figuring that it was baked so it wouldn't matter (it didn't. I followed some of the comments and added a little more liquid and wished I hadn't - I thought it made it soggy. I used 6 ounces of chocolate. Next time I will tent it at 30 minutes so the top doesn't get too brown and I will air dry the croissants. But I had forgotten how much I like this decadent bread pudding.

[BakerAunt]

I've had a busy Monday evening of baking. I baked that Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake to which Cwcdesign introduced us last year. When I baked it for work in the fall, another staff member liked it so much that she requested it for her birthday tomorrow. I used 3/4 cups of mini-chocolate chips this time and dredged them with flour. They still sank to the bottom, but it is less messy with the mini chips. I will stack the layers so that each has the chips on the top. I also used 1/2 tsp. salt in the cake rather than the specified 1 tsp. kosher salt. I omitted the kosher salt from the frosting, since it uses salted butter. I used just 2 Tbs. of the King Arthur Espresso powder (recipe calls for 2 Tbs. and 1 tsp.). I like the frosting much better this time, perhaps because I used less and because I had freshly opened espresso powder.

I tried a new recipe, Gluten-Free Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies, from the KAF site. One of our staff members has gluten intolerance issues, and I wanted her to have a dessert that she can eat along with us. The recipe is very simple.

I also baked Pumpkin Streusel muffins. The recipe came from Breads, Breads, and More Breads, a cook booklet from Pillsbury (#37) that I got a very long time ago. I baked them in two pans that have five flat hearts each. (The pans came from KAF years ago, and the 10 hearts work for a recipe for a dozen muffins.). I needed to have a special Valentine's treat in the house for tomorrow!

[Mike Nolan]

There are quite a few pages on the web that talk about how to temper chocolate. I had read several of them before going to chocolate school, it isn't that we did things differently there, but the hands-on experience was worth the time and cost.

The biggest trick on tempering chocolate is to be able to control and measure the temperature fairly precisely. In school we used infrared thermometers to test the temperature of the chocolate as we stirred it.

The temperatures below are for dark chocolate. For milk chocolate subtract 2-3 degrees (C) and for white chocolate subtract 6-8 degrees.

You need to get the chocolate warm enough to melt out all the existing fat crystals (45-50 degrees C) then cool it to the point where it can form new crystals. The crystals you want have the highest melting point of the five crystal structures, so you want the chocolate in the 28-32 degree range. (There is a sixth crystal structure, but it generally only forms when chocolate sits for a very long time.)

If you have some tempered chocolate on hand, you can use that to 'seed' the right crystals by stirring it into your un-tempered melted chocolate. You need to add about 10% by weight to seed it properly.

Otherwise you need to let the chocolate cool, working it to develop crystals (we did this on a marble surface), then reheat it to melt the 'wrong' crystal structures, which have a lower melting point and stir it some more to get the right crystals to spread.

We used strips of parchment paper to test how well tempered our chocolate was. Dip a strip in the chocolate then set it on a second strip of parchment to cool. If it is well-tempered, you won't get any streaks in the cooled chocolate and it will have a 'snap' to it.

I bought a small chocolate pot after spending a week at chocolate school. It gives me fairly precise temperature controls over a range of 20-50 degrees (C).

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm looking for powdered egg whites but I cannot seem to find them anymore. I may have to go to WalMart which is a bit out of the way considering I have three grocery stores within two miles of my house.

Mini chocolate chips (any kind of chocolate for that matter) will go over well.

Any suggestions to look for instructions on tempering chocolate? I may try that to dip some berries.

[RiversideLen]

I had my brother over today. I couldn't decide whether to have spaghetti and meatballs (I made meatballs a little while back and had them in the freezer), or to slice the meatballs and put them on pizza. Either way the meatballs are being served. So after much thought the obvious solution came to me, I made pizza and served the meatballs on the side. I like to keep the pizza simple. I made two smaller pizzas, one with roasted red pepper and the other with fresh chopped mushrooms. A little turkey pepperoni on each (pepperoni goes directly on the tomato sauce so the pepperoni spices can interact with the tomato).

[BevM]

I baked an Italian Creme Cake on Friday and we ate it today, but it was for an early Valentine celebration. This was a new recipe for me and it turned out pretty good; however, I will be looking for another recipe to experiment with. It was at my granddaughters' request because she had eaten one at a restaurant and fell in love with it. It was similar but not exact. Since I haven't tasted it, it was hit and miss. It was not the usual Italian Cream Cake with nuts and coconut (which I like and have a recipe for), but the family doesn't. So it was a fun adventure finding out if I could duplicate something I've never tried. My granddaughter was happy with it.

If anyone has a recipe, I would love to give it a try. Any and all suggestions welcomed.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi. Anyone ever had a Kitchen Aid bowl go bad? I have the 5 qt one that came with my mixer and it has started to come loose when I mix stiff doughs with it. I can brace the handle against the stand and that helps.

I have a second 5 qt bowl (both the KA 150) and it holds fast which is why I believe it to be the bowl and not the stand.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The English muffin dough is rising. I'll also make challah this week and perhaps cherry pie. I already made (and my kids have already consumed) a batch of shortbread cookies. I was going to make scones Tuesday but that's off until Thursday as my wife left on a last minute trip and will not return until late Wednesday. I am debating whether or not to make meringues Thursday. Any good recipes would be appreciated. They are usually too eggy for me. Would mixing some powdered egg whites with fresh egg whites help?