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Here we have our professor giving us a demo on how to make filled chocolate with lemon curd on the trays

A student has piped out the truffles on the try and is now rolling it up and is giving them their coating

The first batch of heart shaped dark chocolate truffle has been made and is placed in the tray

In this photo we have ganache  that has been dipped in dark and white chocolate being placed in paper cups

Packaging for the truffles has now begun and the last few chocolates are being made

On week 12, November 21^st, we learned about the dipping technique which means to coat items in chocolate by using a fork. We utilized this technique to make Mozart bonbons, or “Mozart kugel”, almond joy, grand Marnier and pistachio marzipan.

Team A made Mozart Balls

Mozart Balls are pistachio balls covered with nougat while coated in dark chocolate. The balls rest like this until the chocolate is cool and hardened.

Team B made Grand Marnier

Unfortunately, the Grand Marnier did not work as well as we hoped, as we did not follow the recipe thoroughly. Hopefully, this can be used as a filling for our next class.

Team C made Almond Joy

The recipe for Almond Joy consists of melted butter, milk and vanilla. After these ingredients are mixed well, we then add coconut and almonds.

As we can see in the image above, Almond Joys were quickly topped with Almonds. It is crucial to temper properly so we will end up with a shiny product.

Team D Marzipan Balls

After kneading ground nuts and alcohol into marzipan, we then dipped into chocolate and set on a parchment paper.

Prof. Hoffman is showing us the forking technique.

Care must be taken during dipping to avoid defects such as air bubbles on already dipped pieces. Maintaining the chocolate at its proper temperature and texture during dipping will help to prevent this problem.

In order to prevent the thinning of the chocolate, it is necessary to pull around the base of the center and placing the dipping centers on the receiving tray. We then proceeded to slide them forward using a fork, until there is no longer a trail of chocolate.

At the time of dipping, various finishing techniques may be used, including making confections with the dipping fork, or garnishing their tops.

Once dipped, the centers are placed on a receiving tray, beginning on the side farthest away from the confectioner. This will keep the confectioner from dripping chocolate on already- dipped pieces.

Reese Cups

Mostly these cups taste more like chocolate, then actually Peanut Butter and chocolate. However, Amber used an ample amount of peanut butter, and you were certainly able to taste the difference.

Final Products

These are candied grapefruit rinds, they were reduced in simple syrup and left to soak for two week prior to today. They were then removed from the syrup and left to dry out. After which they were tossed in sugar and then dipped in dark chocolate. 

these are candied orange rinds they went through the same reduction process as the grapefruit rinds. They were then tossed in sugar and dipped in dark chocolate. 

Some of the rinds after they were tossed in sugar and they dipped in chocolate. They were then left so that the chocolate could harden or set up and be ready to be boxed up. 

These are candied ginger they were reduced in simple syrup and left for the same two week period. After which they were left to air dry and then tossed in sugar to be dipped in milk chocolate.

These are candied pineapples they were also reduced in simple syrup. They were left over the same two week period to soak. Then they were removed left to air dry, tossed in sugar and dipped in dark chocolate. 

The candied pineapples after they were tossed in sugar an then dipped in dark chocolate then the were left to harden and set up. 

A student from the class tempering the milk chocolate using the tabling method. 

White chocolate mediantes piped using a cornet after the chocolate was tempered topped with pineapples, almonds and chocolate curls.

Milk chocolate mendiantes piped using a cornet after the chocolate was tempered. Then they were topped with cranberries, coffee grinds, pistachios and chocolate curls. 

Chocolate Covered strawberries that were dipped in tempered dark or milk chocolate. They were then drizzled with white chocolate using a cornet. A student tempering the dark chocolate stirring it constantly to ensure that it reaches the correct temperature in order to be used for dipping the fruits and piping the mendiantes. 

On October 10 we focused today on making candies using soft sugar syrups and whipping egg whites (not including the pate de fruit). So every team focused on 1 recipe each. Each team has to make a specific Nougat. A nougat involves making a sugar syrup and than whipping it into eggs whites and than nuts or chocolate is thrown in. These are than left to cool and set. 1 team focused on 2 recipes which was the pate de fruit. This simply involved cooking a fruit puree with sugar and pectin to a specific degree temperature and letting cool and set in metal bar molds. All these candles are than cut and finished. Overall for the day every team put out an amazing product and clean up was efficient

Today was week five of Candies and Bonbons where we focused on part two of hot sugars. As the chef of the day, I was excited for today’s production because we were making brittles, butter crunches, toffees, and other hard crack sugar candies. After my presentation, Professor Hoffman did an overview of all of the recipes and made adjustments to teams that were missing a partner. I mainly assisted the cocoa nib brittle and hazelnut butter crunch team while making sure that everyone was on track. Even though we were down a few classmates, everyone seemed happy and motivated. Mise en place for all stations were prepared and I noticed that everyone was well prepared and did not lose focus during the entire lab production.

Although there were a few mishaps in the kitchen, no one was discouraged. The golden honey comb had to be remade again. The first batch was a little too dark but it is a great learning experience to understand and be aware of the two different outcomes. Also, a part of the hazelnut butter crunch fell onto the ground which resulted in a loss of yield but it was not the end of the world. Lastly, the pecans of the English toffee had to be toasted again because the first batch was a little too dark. These small mistakes were not grave nor did it impact the overall atmosphere of the lab. Everyone did their best and that is all I can ask for! The end results came out delectable and I hope that everyone can agree that today was a great production day.

Final results of today (To enlarge photos, please click on the pictures!):

Majority of the processes was taken and shown below:

Thank you, Michelle Chen

I had an opportunity to serve as a Chef today. I was excited and slightly nervous. But the class went pretty well. I would like to first thank everybody for working attentively on their assignments. I would also like to thank my steward, Michelle for helping me out and the other team members. I noticed that all the students had read the recipes and were well- prepared for the class. students set up entire mise en place before we began class. I was happy to see that all the members of the team were eager to help one another whenever they had a chance to do so.

Although we made a variety of the products, I want to concentrate on praline, I know this recipe originated in Europe, but different variations and versions of it can be found all over the world and we were doing American cream based product today. I think everyone did great on the praline. However, salted butter caramel turned out a soft than the usual, also tamarind caramel team got wrong tamarind past and recipe did not work out well, but don’t look at that as a negative thing but more of a positive learning experience. On the other hands the Halvahs from the week prior truly did set up nice in the fridge and had a great texture. My team and I were enjoying the process of making candy. No matter how strange it may seem, I believe if a chef and his crew is not enjoying the process of creating whether foods, pastries, or candy the outcome cannot be great.

For today’s services, we made meltaways and Turkish delights and halvah. During this product, we had some problems, but as a group, our product came out nice and delicious. We did have one team that made a mistake in their product, where we had to re-do it. The orange halvah was much stickier thicken then what it should be. It had an artificial taste, due to the flavoring that the team picked. It was a nice lesson to learn and their team made a second batch. The second time it came out delicious. All the meltaways were nicely made, but everyone had an issue cutting it because it kept cracking. The meltaways were all smooth and melted away quickly in our mouth.