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Bake Fresh

Bake Fresh

August 27, 2011 · 6 Comments

Homemade Chocolates with Daring Bakers

Chocolate· Daring Bakers

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I have been missing from the Daring Bakers recently, well I have been missing from the blogging scene altogether. But this month’s Daring Baker challenge was something I could’nt resist at all. I have been wanting to try this for so long and infact tried to attempt also couple of times with not so much success. The Daring Bakers challenges are thorough, complete and detailed to the core. Inside out things are explained and pointers are provided. Missing this challenge was unthinkable. First things first, the blog checking lines.

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!



The challenge provided lot of recipes for chocolate and non-chocolate candies but being a chocolate lover, I had to try the chocolate ones. This involved tempering chocolate – a quite hi-tech word but in reality quite simple. Chocolate tempering is the process of melting chocolate in a special way such that the temperature of the chocolate remains under control. This as opposed to ‘just melting’ method results in a high quality chocolate that not only has a wonderful mouth feel but great snap when broken and shiny look simulating all three senses. Pure indulgence. The reason is quite complicated but in one simple word ‘chemical’. 

But my ambitions were melting away given the heat in Riyadh but I was determined. I could’nt find chocolate thermometer necessary for this process but I still wanted to give it a go. There are many methods of tempering methods but I will provide you with the simplest one that worked for me.

I had planned to make non-chocolate candies (peanut butter fudge and pate de fruits) but after I was done with chocolate ones, there were so many sweets in the house that I had to stop. Though there were plenty of giveaways and everyone loved them.

Tempering Chocolate through “Seeding” method:


Tempering Ranges:

Celsius
 Dark: 45°C-50°C > 27°C > 32°C
 Milk: 45°C > 27°C > 30°C
 White: 45°C > 27°C > 29°C

Fahrenheit
 Dark: 113°F-122°F > 80.6°F > 89.6°F
 Milk: 113°F > 80.6°F > 86°F
 White: 113°F > 80.6°F > 84.2°F

Chocolate is melted and heated until it reaches 45°C / 113°F. Tempered un-melted chocolate is then stirred and melted in until it brings the temperature down to 27°C/80.6°F. It is then put back over heat and brought up to its working temperature of 32°C/30°C/29°C /// 89.6°F/86°F/84.2°F depending on the chocolate you’re using. It is now ready for using in molds, dipping and coating.

• Finely chop chocolate if in bar/slab form (about the size of almonds).

• Place about ⅔ of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl

• Set aside ⅓ of the chocolate pieces

• Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water)

Tip: Make sure that your bowl fits snuggly into the saucepan so that there’s no chance of steam forming droplets that may fall into your chocolate. If water gets into your chocolate it will seize!

• Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate so that it melts evenly

• Once it’s melted, keep an eye on the thermometer, as soon as it reaches 45°C / 113°F remove from heat (between 45°C-50°C / 113°F-122°F for dark chocolate)

• Add small amounts of the remaining ⅓ un-melted chocolate (seeds) and stir in to melt

• Continue to add small additions of chocolate until you’ve brought the chocolate down to 27°C/80.6°F (You can bring the dark chocolate down to between 80°F and 82°F)

• Put it back on the double boiler and bring the temperature back up until it reaches its working temperature of the chocolate (milk, dark or white) as seen in the above chart. (32°C/89.6°F for dark, 30°C/86°F for milk and 29°C/84.2°F for white)

• If you still have a few un-melted bits of chocolate, put the bowl back over the simmering water, stirring gently and watching the thermometer constantly.

• IMPORTANT: You really need to keep an eye on the temperature so that it doesn’t go over its working temperature

It’s now tempered and ready to use.

Milk Chocolate Almond Praline Truffles

Servings: Makes +- 30 truffles, recipe easily doubled or halved

Adapted from the Cook’s Academy Curriculum, Dublin

Active Time: 1 – 2hrs

Ganache Setting Time: 2 – 4hrs or Overnight

Praline Ingredients:

½ cup (2 oz/60 gm) almonds
½ cup (4 oz/115 gm) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) water

Making the praline and ganache. Once set, making balls of the set ganache then rolling in crushed almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180°C / 160°C Fan Assisted (convection oven); 350°F / 320°F convection / Gas Mark 4
2. Place whole almonds on a non-stick baking tray and dry roast for 10mins
3. Allow to cool
4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon mat
5. Place the almonds onto the prepared tray
6. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved
7. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil (do not stir), brushing down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystals
8. Boil until the mixture turns amber (160°C – 170°C / 320°F- 340°F on a candy thermometer)
9. Remove from heat immediately and pour the syrup over the almonds
11. Allow to cool completely
12. Break into small pieces
13. Transfer pieces to a food processor and process until desired texture, either fine or rough
14. Set aside

Ganache Ingredients

1Âľ cup (9 oz. / 255 g) Milk chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup (4 oz. / 125 ml) Double/Heavy Cream (36% – 46% butterfat content)½ – 1 cup Crushed or Ground Roasted almonds for coating

Directions:

1. Finely chop the milk chocolate
2. Place into a heatproof medium sized bowl
3. Heat cream in a saucepan until just about to boil
4. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir gently until smooth and melted
5. Allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes
6. Stir in the praline
7. Leave to cool and set overnight or for a few hours in the fridge
8. Bring to room temperature to use

Forming the truffles:

1. Using teaspoons or a melon baller, scoop round balls of ganache
2. Roll them between the palms of your hands to round them off
Tip: Handle them as little as possible to avoid melting
Tip: I suggest wearing food safe latex gloves, less messy and slightly less heat from your hands
3. Finish off by rolling the truffle in the crushed roasted almonds
Tip: You can also roll them in almond praline
4. Place on parchment paper and leave to set
Tip: They look great when put into small petit four cases and boxed up as a gift!

                                     

Note: I tempered around 9 ounces of milk chocolate for the next two candies. 

Deluce le Leche Chocolates aka Bonbons

Ingredients
Dark or milk chocolate melted, preferably tempered, about 5 ounces
Home made deulce de leche (Source:
http://www.bakersroyale.com/basic-baking-series/baking-basics-how-to-make-homemade-dulce-de-leche/ )

Equipment
2 or 3 quart, heavy-bottomed pot
Candy thermometer
Whisk

Paint the moulds with lustre dust if you wish.
Directions:

1. Empty the contents of about 1/2 can (180gm) into an oven-proof dish; sprinkle with some salt and tightly cover it with foil.
2. Place the covered dish in a larger roasting or casserole pan and fill it up with water until it reaches three quarters of the up the covered dish to create a water bath.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F for 60-90 minutes checking every 30minutes on the water level and adding more as needed.
4. Dulce de leche is ready when it takes on a brown and caramel-like appearance. Remove from the oven and whisk to smoothness. Let cool before storing.
5. Coat the molds with chocolate using the method mentioned above. You can either paint the moulds with chocolate or pour the chocolate withe ladle and then empty the contents, cleaning the surface of the mould by rubber scraper such that only mould wells remain coated with chocolate.
6. Fill chocolate coated molds with prepared filling. You can use a spoon or through a squeeze bottle.
7. Finish off with a layer of chocolate.
8. Once fully set, carefully knock the chocolates out of the mold

Milk Chocolate dipped Coconut Squares – Bonbons

Ingredients
Tempered Chocolate
Coconut squares

For Coconut Squares

150 ml cream (25%)
50 gm butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups desiccated coconut

Method:
1. Place the cream, butter and sugar in a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. 

2. When it starts to boil (bubble up), take the pan off the heat. 
3. Add the coconut, salt and cardamom and mix well. If the mixture seems too wet add a little more desiccated coconut, but not too much. Remember that once it cools down the coconut mixture will thicken. Press into 8” by 8” tin lined with parchment paper and refrigerate overnight. 
4. Remove from the tin and turn the set coconut mixture onto a board and peel off the parchment paper. 
5. Cut with a sharp knife into 30 squares. Refrigerate till ready to coat with chocolate.
6. Dip each square in tempered chocolate and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Chill until set and cut the feet for finished look.

Chocolate Bark (Base Recipe)
Chocolate bark is really fun and easy to make (kids love making this stuff!). You can also decorate it with almost anything you like, nuts, dried fruits, seeds, crushed candies, honeycomb etc. The whole idea of chocolate bark is that it’s rough in texture and look, just like bark. You can cut it in neat squares, or my favorite, break it up in rough pieces. It’s also great to use up left over tempered chocolate, either plain or if you’ve mixed in crushed nuts to use for coating truffles.

Ingredients

Milk/Dark/White Chocolate, tempered (any amount)
Various nuts, seeds, candies, dried fruits or anything you like in any quantity you like, I used roasted pecans and raisins.

Directions:

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper
2. Temper your chocolate using your preferred method
3. Once tempered, spread the chocolate over the parchment paper
4. Sprinkle your ingredients over the chocolate
5. Leave to set
Tip: To help speed up the setting, you can put it in the fridge for about 15-30min. Don’t leave it in the fridge to avoid the chocolate from sweating (water droplets will form on the chocolate)
6. Either break or cut into pieces
7. Store at room temperature in an airtight container

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Previous Post: « Traditional Black Forest Cake – Pakistani Recipe
Next Post: Fudgy Brownies »

Comments

  1. MandyM says

    August 28, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Thanks for taking part in the challenge, it looks like you had a great time doing it 🙂

    Reply
  2. bakefresh says

    August 29, 2011 at 11:01 am

    thanks mandy for the challenge, it was the best challenge 🙂

    Reply
  3. Hannah G says

    August 29, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    Wow, you really worked hard on this challenge! I thought I was full of chocolate after mine, but I could go for some of those beautiful truffles of yours 🙂

    Reply
  4. Karin says

    August 29, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    I too have been missing from the Daring Bakers scene! Ever since I moved.. I must get back into the swing of it! These look great!

    Reply
  5. Val says

    August 30, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    Hi Nadia, Just wanted to say thank you for the cup cake recipe from 2009 that used egg yolks.
    Cheers,
    Val

    Reply
  6. bakefresh says

    September 1, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    THANKS everyone ":)

    Reply

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Hello, I’m Nadia. I am the cake decorator, blogger, a fanatic mom and a home maker, passionate about all things sweet and pretty.


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I first had chocolate truffles in USA which were I I first had chocolate truffles in USA which were I guess from Tiffany.

Since then I was always intrigued by how they were made.

The delish chocolate bites are easier to make than other varieties like bonbons.

A luscious chocolate ganache is prepared which is then divided into bite size pieces either by piping or scooping, dipped in tempered chocolate and rolled in cocoa powder.

Do you like truffles and have you ever tried making at home?

#truffles #Darkchocolate #karachifoodbloggers #riyadhbakers
#riyadhfoodbloggers
#riyadhfoodphotograpgers
#mashionpk #hautecuisines
Freshly pounded green cardamom infusing these mode Freshly pounded green cardamom infusing these moderately sweet Pakistani shortbread cookies made with pure clarified butter, flour and chickpea flour for that added nutty flavor, slight leavening agents for that open and melt in mouth crumb and powdery texture. The top is brushed with beaten egg and sprinkled with pistachios making the best tea time biscuits!

Let me know if I passed the test of describing our very own desi besan ki naan khatai, brought in for dearest friends who never let me make tea!

Detailed recipe on YouTube, dm for link or just search "bakefresh naan khatai"

Stories has direct link too.

#naankhatairecipe
#naankhatai
#pakistanicookies
Got cookie press? Make this foolproof recipe now t Got cookie press? Make this foolproof recipe now to fill a jar. These are any day better than store brought!

There wasn't any eid we didn't had jars full if these spritz cookies !

Sharing my family recipe that has been absolute favourite!

Full video tutorial on my YouTube channel!

Ingredients 
3/4 cup Butter (room temperature) 
2/3 cup Sugar (grinded) 
2 teaspoons vanilla essence 
1 egg 
2 cups flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
 
Method 
1. Cream butter and sugar 
2. Add in egg 
3. add in vanilla 
4. Sift in flour and baking powder 
5. Beat until combined 
6. Fill the dough in cookie press or just make balls by hand. 
7. Place on an ungreased tray and bake in a pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes at 350 F until golden brown. 

#cookies
#spritzcookies
#buttercookies
#riyadhbakers
#karachibloggers
If you want to make an impressive and indulgent ca If you want to make an impressive and indulgent cake for celebrating an important day at home,  do give this a try.

Flourless chocolate cake that is a cross between brownies, chocolate bar and mousse!

Topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream, and any seasonal.fruit, this is sure going to win hearts.

Detailed recipe on my YouTube channel.

Linked in stories. 

A quick version of coming up in reels today.

INGREDIENTS 

250 grams Dark Chocolate 
125 grams butter
2 tablespoon Cocoa Powder 
50 ml Cream

Heat all above on double boiler (or super slow heat stirring continuously) till melted and combined.

Separate 4 eggs.

Whisk egg yolks lightly and stir in cooled Chocolate mixture.

Make.meringue from.4 egg whites and 125 grams of sugar.

Fold in the chocolate mixture.

Pour in 9 inches spring foam pan (greased and dusted with cocoa powder)

Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes until set.

Cool and plate, serve with whipped cream lightly sweetened and fruits.

#bakefresh
#riyadhbloggers #riyadhbakers #chocolatecake
#flourlesschocolatecake
#mashion #foodphotography #f52grams #f52community
The brand I use the most is beryl's chocolate.(sw The brand I use the most is  beryl's chocolate.(swipe to see the packaging)

It's a Malaysian brand and I find it pretty easily here from @moltaqa.alkhabbazeen as well as in Pakistan from empress market karachi.(not sure about the current status,  will.update when I go in summers)

If you ask me one chocolate you should buy go for this brands 62% one either in coins or blocks. Coins are just easier to use. The 1.5 kg bag or 2 kg block is more than enough and has good price point. 

Therir 41% milk chocolate is great as well nut not recommended for baking. 

I use it for ganache, brownies, icecream, chocolate chip cookies, mousse and mousse cakes and in general great for dipping, coating etc.

I use milk chocolate 28% white one inky for white chocolate mousse or sometimes in cookies.

I use compound chocolate for chocolate decorations or making cake pops or cakesicles.
This also comes in block and small chocolate chips both are fine.

The other brands I have tried 
arabesque (belgium) 58%
@patissierchocolate (singapore) 61% ,41%

@callebautchocolate ( so popular, slightly overrated, difficult to get, available for bull orders)

dawn chocolate - good quality but i find it very sweet

All these brands are available in the above shops.

Let me know if you found this information helpful.

Come in stories to see more!

#chocolate #chocolateinformation
#bakefresh #riyadhbloggers
#karachibloggers #karachifoodbloggers
Homemade chocolate icecream - a keeper recipe I m Homemade chocolate icecream -  a keeper recipe I make so often in summers!

It's the real deal, chocolate, cream, milk, egg yolks, you can also adjust the sugar based on how dark or sweet your chocolate is.

I have never looked back to the packaged commercial icecream!

Step by step on YouTube channel!

RECIPE

Ingredients

21 grams/ 2.5 tablespoon Cocoa Powder

500 ml Cream

140 grams Dark Chocolate (chopped) (I used 62%)*

5 Egg yolks250 ml Milk

100 grams Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla essence

Method

1. Whisk half cream and cocoa powder and heat till completely dissolved and bubbles start to appear.

2. Add the cream and cocoa mixture to chopped chocolate/chocolte chips and stir.

3. Stir until chocolate is completely melted, add rest of the cream.

4. Whisk egg yolks in a bowl.

5. Heat milk, sugar and salt until just starts to boil.

6. Add heated milk mixture to egg yolks in steady stream.

7. Return the entire mixture to heat and cook stirring continuously till it starts to thickens.

8. Seive the mixture into the chocolate mixture.

9. Add vanilla and stir well.

10. Freeze covered for 3 hours, take out and beat well.

11. Return to freezer overnight in a rectangular pan covered twice.

12. Take out 10 minutes before serving and scoop out, serve with fudge sauce.

FUDGE SAUCE

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

4 tablespoons icing sugar

1 teaspoon butter

2 tablespoon milk

Mix all and cook on low heat, stirring till combined.

#chocolateicecream
#mashionpk
#hautecuisines #f52super #f52grams 
#summertreats
#icecreamsofinstagram

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