I've been trying to learn a little about chocolate, and playing around
with silly little chocolate candies. Anyway, I found out they are
having a Chocolatefest in town on Saturday, with chocolate vendors and
local restaurants and candy shops and bakeries with lots of samples.
Flat rate at the door and all you can stuff in your mouth.

And today I found out they are having a competition so I'm going to
make some coated chocolate orange truffles. I stirred up the centers
tonight and they are chilling in the fridge right now. The wife and
friends at work think they are good, but I don't really expect to win
anything. I use Nestle's semisweet chocolate as the major ingredient
in the centers, and everyone that really knows chocolate laughs (or
gasps in horror) at the idea of using lowly Nestle's chocolate chips
for making truffles.

Wish me luck!

Michael

In article .com>,
"Michael" > wrote:

> I've been trying to learn a little about chocolate, and playing around
> with silly little chocolate candies. Anyway, I found out they are
> having a Chocolatefest in town on Saturday, with chocolate vendors and
> local restaurants and candy shops and bakeries with lots of samples.
> Flat rate at the door and all you can stuff in your mouth.
>
> And today I found out they are having a competition so I'm going to
> make some coated chocolate orange truffles. I stirred up the centers
> tonight and they are chilling in the fridge right now. The wife and
> friends at work think they are good, but I don't really expect to win
> anything. I use Nestle's semisweet chocolate as the major ingredient
> in the centers, and everyone that really knows chocolate laughs (or
> gasps in horror) at the idea of using lowly Nestle's chocolate chips
> for making truffles.
>
> Wish me luck!
>
> Michael
>

Nestle's sometimes turns a bit gritty. :-)

Please consider using Dove, or if you can find it and afford it, Lindt.

I introduced Lindt Lindors and Lindt truffles to the girls at work one
day... and was henceforth called "the chocolate queen". <lol>

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

Katra wrote:

Please consider using Dove, or if you can find it and afford it, Lindt.


************
Thank you for the suggestions, Katra. I cannot find any of those
chocolates in the grocery stores in town, so I am out of luck this
time. Someone recommended buying from Chocosphere (I think that's
right) online and I've found some bulk Guittard (sp?) unsweetened and
white for about $5 a pound, which is cheaper than what I have to pay
for Baker's chocolate at the grocery store. I am planning on branching
out and trying some other chocolates. I will see if I can find the
ones you recommended.

Thanks again, Michael

In article .com>,
"Michael" > wrote:

> And today I found out they are having a competition so I'm going to
> make some coated chocolate orange truffles. I stirred up the centers
> tonight and they are chilling in the fridge right now. The wife and
> friends at work think they are good, but I don't really expect to win
> anything. I use Nestle's semisweet chocolate as the major ingredient
> in the centers, and everyone that really knows chocolate laughs (or
> gasps in horror) at the idea of using lowly Nestle's chocolate chips
> for making truffles.

How about Ghirardelli? Supermarkets commonly stock it.

--
to respond (OT only), change "spamless.invalid" to "optonline.net"

<http://www.thecoffeefaq.com/>

On 4 Feb 2005 04:13:23 -0800, Michael > wrote:

> ************
> Thank you for the suggestions, Katra. I cannot find any of those
> chocolates in the grocery stores in town, so I am out of luck this
> time. Someone recommended buying from Chocosphere (I think that's
> right) online and I've found some bulk Guittard (sp?) unsweetened and
> white for about $5 a pound, which is cheaper than what I have to pay
> for Baker's chocolate at the grocery store. I am planning on branching
> out and trying some other chocolates. I will see if I can find the
> ones you recommended.
>
> Thanks again, Michael


Hi Michael,

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here, but
Bloomingfoods and Sahara Mart are at most likely possibilities for
hunting down some of the fancier chocolates. I know Sahara Mart has
bars of Lindt, although I'm not sure what varieties and whether or not
they're appropriate for candy-making.

And I _thought_ Bloomingfoods carried Scharffenberger, but I'm not
positive. It's been too long since I was there, and I wasn't
specifically looking for chocolate.

Another possibility--don't know if you get up to Indianapolis much,
but they've got two Trader Joe locations up there, and they're bound
to carry Ghiradelli at the very least.

Ariane

Michael wrote:
> I've been trying to learn a little about chocolate, and playing around
> with silly little chocolate candies. Anyway, I found out they are
> having a Chocolatefest in town on Saturday, with chocolate vendors and
> local restaurants and candy shops and bakeries with lots of samples.
> Flat rate at the door and all you can stuff in your mouth.
(snip)
> Michael

First, good luck with your entry! Second, they must be doing this all over
the place. There's a Chocolate Fest as you describe in Memphis tomorrow,
too.

Jill

Thank you for reminding me, Ariane. I'm sorry for forgetting you
suggested Bloomingfoods and Sahara Mart. I picked up some
white and semisweet Ghirardelli today from Bloomingfoods. I
don't know, though. I'm suspicious of it. It's not very expensive
and it is called "baking" chocolate. I couldn't tell much difference
between the Nestle's semisweet and the Ghirardelli that I bought.
Neither could the wife.

I messed up the first batch and had to drive all the way back
into town late at night to buy cream to start all over again. I
was less than enchanted with that. Haha!

Michael

Katra wrote:

Nestle's sometimes turns a bit gritty.

******************
I've had that problem with it. These truffles are coated so
they can be very soft. I mix 1/3 cup cream per 8 liquid oz
chips, add butter, and then orange curacao and orange
extract. I'll admit it still doesn't come out smooth as a
baby's butt, but it's not bad.

I found Lindt's in town but it looked like candy bars and
truffles rather than something I could cook with.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Michael

Jill wrote:

First, good luck with your entry! Second, they must be doing this all
over
the place. There's a Chocolate Fest as you describe in Memphis
tomorrow,
too.

*****************
Thanks for the good luck wish. This chocolate fest is not a highbrow
sort of affair. Rather, I think it's organized as a charity vehicle
for
handicapped people. I like that. Although it costs $10 a piece
advance
for tickets, we get to sample lots of chocolate food, so I don't think
that's unreasonable. And it costs me zero to register my contest
entry.

Michael

On 4 Feb 2005 20:40:05 -0800, Michael > wrote:
> Thank you for reminding me, Ariane. I'm sorry for forgetting you
> suggested Bloomingfoods and Sahara Mart. I picked up some
> white and semisweet Ghirardelli today from Bloomingfoods. I
> don't know, though. I'm suspicious of it. It's not very expensive
> and it is called "baking" chocolate. I couldn't tell much difference
> between the Nestle's semisweet and the Ghirardelli that I bought.
> Neither could the wife.

Well, if we're talking chips, then the Ghiradelli double
chocolate chips taste more intensely chocolate to me. I haven't tried
the bars of baking chocolate, though. No Scharffenberger at
Bloomingfoods, though? Oh, well. I would've thought they'd have it,
but that place is quite eclectic, I'm often surprised by what they DO
have, it's a fun place to poke around.

> I messed up the first batch and had to drive all the way back
> into town late at night to buy cream to start all over again. I
> was less than enchanted with that. Haha!

Awww, sorry to hear that! But good luck with the contest, it
sounds like fun.

Ariane

In article . com>,
"Michael" > wrote:

> Katra wrote:
>
> Nestle's sometimes turns a bit gritty.
>
> ******************
> I've had that problem with it. These truffles are coated so
> they can be very soft. I mix 1/3 cup cream per 8 liquid oz
> chips, add butter, and then orange curacao and orange
> extract. I'll admit it still doesn't come out smooth as a
> baby's butt, but it's not bad.
>
> I found Lindt's in town but it looked like candy bars and
> truffles rather than something I could cook with.

I know it's too late now, but Central Market carries
the Lindt's in plain bars. :-) 'course that's in Austin.

Dove is usually quite smooth!
A good thing to do with those is to stock up
during the candy holidays! <G> I think tho'
that dove miniatures are available in some
grocery store candy sections?

>
> Thanks for the suggestions!

Welcome! And best of luck at the contest...

Nestle's is not really all THAT bad.
(I personally prefer it to Godiva and
I think Godiva chocolate is _seriously_
over-rated!!!).

Mom used to use the Nestle's chips melted on top
of her pecan toffee. She would then top the
melted chocolate with more ground pecans....

It's just that I eat so little chocolate anymore,
(chronic dieter that I am <sigh>) I go ahead
and spring for the more expensive stuff!

>
> Michael
>

--
K.

Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles
tend to get caught between the ears causing truth decay- so be sure
to use mental floss twice a day.

>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...user id=katra

at Fri, 04 Feb 2005 03:13:00 GMT in <KatraMungBean-4B28E2.21130003022005
@corp.supernews.com>, (Katra) wrote :

>In article .com>,
> "Michael" > wrote:
.... I use Nestle's semisweet chocolate as the major ingredient
>> in the centers, and everyone that really knows chocolate laughs (or
>> gasps in horror) at the idea of using lowly Nestle's chocolate chips
>> for making truffles.
>...
>Nestle's sometimes turns a bit gritty. :-)
>
>Please consider using Dove, or if you can find it and afford it, Lindt.

Dove is very smooth, but not exactly high-quality. Lindt is better, but
there a better chocolates still at any budget level.

If you want to stay reasonably cheap, try Guittard or Ghirardelli.

If you don't mind spending a little more and would like to experiment,
Michel Cluizel is better still.

Amedei and Domori aren't really any better than Cluizel, but in general
they aren't any worse, either (i.e. both are jaw-droppingly good), and give
you even more room to experiment if you're prepared to pay the big bucks.

It's worth noting that if texture is your priority, Hachez beats Dove on
texture.

All of these are available from http://www.chocosphere.com.

at Sat, 05 Feb 2005 04:40:05 GMT in <1107578405.751607.60080
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>, (Michael) wrote :

>Thank you for reminding me, Ariane. I'm sorry for forgetting you
>suggested Bloomingfoods and Sahara Mart. I picked up some
>white and semisweet Ghirardelli today from Bloomingfoods. I
>don't know, though. I'm suspicious of it. It's not very expensive
>and it is called "baking" chocolate. I couldn't tell much difference
>between the Nestle's semisweet and the Ghirardelli that I bought.

Did you get chips or the bars? Note that chips don't have the same
formulations because they have less cocoa butter (to minimise melting in th
oven) and thus don't produce as good a result in truffles. Also,
Ghirardelli white chips are "vegelate" - chocolate with vegetable fats
other than cocoa butter, which is pretty much a necessity for any white
baking chip because pure cocoa butter white chocolate is too heat-sensitive
to bake as chips. The Ghirardelli white chocolate bars, however, are pure
chocolate with no other fats than cocoa butter. Nonetheless, Ghirardelli's
white chocolate isn't the one to buy - the only choice worth considering is
El Rey (which is also available at Chocosphere and is fairly widely
distributed so you may find it in your local supermarket)

Meanwhile, Ghirardelli *bittersweet* chocolate is better than the
semisweet. The semisweet is OK, but the sweet dark chocolate isn't
particularly good. Bittersweet has brown sides to the wrapper, semisweet
gold sides, sweet dark red sides.

For use as chocolate chips - i.e. when you're actually going to incorporate
chips whole into a baked item in which you then hope to have the chips
emerge from the oven as whole chips - the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate
chocolate chips are unsurpassed. The regular Ghirardelli chips aren't
nearly as good. Double chocolate chips have dark-brown sides to the bag,
while the regular ones have gold sides.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

Thanks for the comments, Alex. I've got Guittard targeted for both
unsweetened and white chocolate. I can buy bulk (10 pounds) for
$5 US per pound. That's not bad! It's cheaper than the Baker's
they have at the grocery store.

The taste test I did was between Nestle's and Ghirardelli semisweet
chips. I also bought semisweet and white chocolate bars from
Ghirardelli, but they both said they were for baking.

The last batch of coated orange chocolates I made with the Nestle's
were really, really good. The centers were really soft. I used less
shortening in the coating to keep them from being too soft at room
temperature.

The wife and I went to the ChocolateFest but I did not enter the
contest. I decided that what I make is fine for home but just isn't
up to par for a contest. We were both disappointed by the Fest.
I expected something quaint and homey, but there were over 500
people there. Nothing available for sampling had a name attached
to it or who made it, and none of the cooks were available for
comment. There were absurdly long lines for some things. We
didn't stay long. Unorganized and uninformative.

Michael

at Mon, 07 Feb 2005 00:32:26 GMT in <1107736346.276957.207380
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>, (Michael) wrote :

>Thanks for the comments, Alex. I've got Guittard targeted for both
>unsweetened and white chocolate. I can buy bulk (10 pounds) for
>$5 US per pound. That's not bad! It's cheaper than the Baker's
>they have at the grocery store.

Guittard's big blocs are the best deal in chocolate going. However, I
recommend you *NOT* get the white bloc. Instead, buy El Rey Icoa white
chocolate. 3 kg is $54.95 from Chocosphere, and their white chocolate is so
much better than any of the other white chocolates that it's truly the only
one worth considering. But Guittard Gourmet Bittersweet is awe-inspiring.

>The taste test I did was between Nestle's and Ghirardelli semisweet
>chips. I also bought semisweet and white chocolate bars from
>Ghirardelli, but they both said they were for baking.

You should taste the semisweet chocolate bar. The semisweet chocolate chips
from Ghirardelli aren't anything to write home about, although the Double
Chocolate chocolate chips are *definitely* worth writing home about. But
the semisweet chocolate bars are good. And ignore the "baking" designation
on the bar. They're excellent for eating - all of the bars. Do try the
semisweet chocolate, eaten straight.

In fact, this goes both ways. Any chocolate that's good for eating is going
to be good for baking, and any chocolate that's any good for baking is good
for eating, too. This means that if a chocolate is so bad for eating that
the only use you can put it to is for baking, it's bad for baking, too.
Hence Baker's brand, which isn't just bad eating chocolate, it's bad
chocolate, period.

>The last batch of coated orange chocolates I made with the Nestle's
>were really, really good. The centers were really soft. I used less
>shortening in the coating to keep them from being too soft at room
>temperature.

Instead of "less" shortening, use *no* shortening. This will give
unequivocally the best flavour and texture. You do need to learn to temper,
but that's not hard, and once you've got the idea down it'll be like old
hat. See the many, many previous posts on tempering to see how that's done.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

Thanks for the recommendations on chocolate selections at
Chocosphere. I had picked out the ones I mentioned and was
hoping to get some direction from the group. I will get the white
you recommended and the dark bittersweet Guittard.

The reason I've been using shortening in the coating is that it
comes out fairly thick, maybe about an eighth of an inch, and
that thickness is hard to break through on most chocolate
without using molars. Haha!

Again, thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm getting really
close to exactly how I want my orange chocolates. Now is
a good time to experiment with better chocolate. I will have
to experiment some, though. I am used to using semisweet
chocolate, so I'll have to add some sweetening to the Guittard
bittersweet. I know I could probably buy Guittard semisweet
but I want to buy chocolate with a lesser amount of non-
chocolate additives. I'm tempted to buy just plain unsweetened
chocolate from Guittard's, but I haven't got any feedback on
it.

Thanks again, Michael

Ariane wrote:

No Scharffenberger at Bloomingfoods, though?

************
None back in the cooking aisle. Only Ghirardelli there. There might
have been some up towards the front on the shelves with chocolate
candy bars, which is where they had the Lindt's, but I'm spooked at
the thought of putting candy bars in my candy. In cooking there are
general mixtures such as semisweet, milk, bittersweet, and unsweet-
ened, which gives me a warm fuzzy for what I'm getting. All bets are
off with buying candy bar chocolate. I'm not saying I couldn't make
it work, but I think it would take a commitment to several experiments
with that type of chocolate, whereas going from one type of semi-
sweet to another, I can assume some amount of across-the-board
consistency.

Thank you for pointing me to Bloomingfoods and the Sahara, Ariane.
I have not been able to make it to Sahara again to check on their
chocolate selections. I have just about decided that my best bet in
the long run will be to order bulk online. I think I will try some
types
from Chocosphere. I still need to convince my that there is better
chocolate out there than the Nestle's I have grown up with. Haha!

Michael

"There might have been some up towards the front on the shelves with
chocolate candy bars, which is where they had the Lindt's, but I'm
spooked at the thought of putting candy bars in my candy."

The large bars (3.5 oz or 100g) are entirely suitable for cooking and
baking, especially if your other choice is chips.

If you're going to go gourmetgeek, the term for chocaltier chocolate is
coveture.

Greg Zywicki

On 7 Feb 2005 06:06:25 -0800, Michael > wrote:
>
> ************
> None back in the cooking aisle. Only Ghirardelli there. There might
> have been some up towards the front on the shelves with chocolate
> candy bars, which is where they had the Lindt's, but I'm spooked at
> the thought of putting candy bars in my candy. In cooking there are
> general mixtures such as semisweet, milk, bittersweet, and unsweet-
> ened, which gives me a warm fuzzy for what I'm getting. All bets are
> off with buying candy bar chocolate. I'm not saying I couldn't make
> it work, but I think it would take a commitment to several experiments
> with that type of chocolate, whereas going from one type of semi-
> sweet to another, I can assume some amount of across-the-board
> consistency.
>
> Thank you for pointing me to Bloomingfoods and the Sahara, Ariane.
> I have not been able to make it to Sahara again to check on their
> chocolate selections. I have just about decided that my best bet in
> the long run will be to order bulk online. I think I will try some
> types
> from Chocosphere. I still need to convince my that there is better
> chocolate out there than the Nestle's I have grown up with. Haha!

Well, it sounds like you're on your way! Good luck with your chocolate
experiments Michael, it's a great way to pass the winter...

Ariane