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Post by Brad on Feb 19, 2006 6:10:07 GMT -5
Hello All;
Now that I've gotten into the fine art of chocolate making, I've found myself trying to eliminate purchasing chocolate anything from a store. This includes chocolate chips for some cookie recipes I have.
How could I make chocolate chips? I don't want chunks, because they aren't uniform in size. I'm not really concerned about shape. I also understand that commercial chocolate chips have additives that help them hold their shape under high heat.
I would also be willing to make a batch of chocolate specific for this use.
Can someone provide me with a little guidance on this one?
Thanks in advance.
Brad.
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 19, 2006 7:27:56 GMT -5
Good ol' fashioned store bought chocolate drops aren't going to have anything special in them to hold their shape under high heat. In fact, they're essentially the exact same product as your eating chocolate, just at lower total fat - lower fat means higher viscosity - higher viscosity means less likely to flow when exposed to heat... which means theyre more likely to hold their shape. You can make them manually, although it's a bit of a tedious process. You're essentially going to need to squeeze the tempered chocolate out of something (pastry bag, aluminum tube fitted onto a caulking gun, etc). If you go the pastry bag route, you'll only be able to make a single drop at a time. You could concievably fit an aluminum tube with a multiholed nozzle to have it deposit multiple drops at a time, although you may have to machine the nozzle head yourself. Remember that the tube will be a pretty good conductor of heat, so your tempered chocolate isn't likely to last very long while in the tube (unless your ambient room temperature is 88-90F) - work quickly!
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Post by Brad on Feb 19, 2006 18:11:41 GMT -5
Sebastian;
Thank you very much for the reply. It's good to know that I can use the chocolate I make here at home without having to alter it.
Brad
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 19, 2006 20:41:12 GMT -5
Quite welcome. Key is to get the fat lower - probably a good 10% lower vs what you're making now. Otherwise they'll never retain their shape..
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Post by Alchemist on Feb 20, 2006 16:35:41 GMT -5
I have done it a few times, and use a 60ml syringe to deposit them on wax paper.
Very roughly, I used a 60% cocoa liqueur, 10% cocoa butter, 30% sugar recipe.
You could easily drop the extra cocoa butter to make them even harder.
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Post by Brad on Feb 21, 2006 2:46:16 GMT -5
Thanks John. It just so happens that I have 4 lbs of chocolate of about those percentages! My new toy is slated to arrive any day now, so I'll give it a try this week.
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Post by Alan on Mar 18, 2006 11:28:00 GMT -5
Thanks John. It just so happens that I have 4 lbs of chocolate of about those percentages! My new toy is slated to arrive any day now, so I'll give it a try this week. Dear Brad, How did it work out, and what exactly is your new toy? Thanks, Alan
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Post by Brad on Mar 18, 2006 13:01:25 GMT -5
Alan;
To be honest, when I weighed the pros (taste, purity, and pride of having my own chips in the cookies) with the cons (fiddly, time consuming, expensive and general P.I.T.A), I decided to dunk my cookies in the chocolate instead! It was an activity I passed on to my 7 year old daughter, and she had a blast.
The new toy was a tabletop tempering machine, which I'm crazy for paying as much as I did for, but are happy with nonetheless for the amount of chocolate I'm working with right now.
Cheers.
Brad.
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