Biscotti is done and ready for packaging. It's very time consuming but worth it. I had my car worked on by a local mechanic that is true to his trade. He is an artist!

He looked at my car for a noise that was not there at that time. Didn't charge me but mentioned that he likes almond biscotti and it was a deal. The bicsotti in the picture is the usual finished product but on his I wrote "Mark's" in chocolate instead of the stripe. His place is called Mark's garage. It was early and I had to get it out in time for 10 AM coffee so I did not get a picture of the Mark's biscotti.

Baking day

I'm baking a few things today.

Chocolate oatmeal cookies and almond biscotti.

I used about a pound of my chocolate in the cookies.

16 cookies. That's 1 oz of chocolate in each cookie.

The biscotti will get striped with chocolate this afternoon when it's cool.

White chocolate

The white chocolate is done and in the melter. It's the best batch so far.

Mothers day!

Easter is over and had a request for a few more bunnies and if you ever want a bunny/rabbit at any time I can do that!
The milk chocolate went fast. It's a dark milk. I have trouble distinguishing the two without really good lighting.

I'm grinding white chocolate today. It will grind for 34 hours. About an hour before I stop I'll scrape the Madagascar vanilla bean into it. I could grind it in from the beginning but I like the look of the little specs and also it would darken the color if it was ground in.

The salted caramels also use the white chocolate. It is a ganche so it's smooth and creamy not sweet and sticky like a traditional caramel. It also has the specks in it from the vanilla bean.

The peanut butter filling got good reviews. I used ground peanuts that are like the Spanish peanuts that come on Mexican Sundays. I mix that with some white chocolate to firm it up a bit and that's it. Way Yum! I'm a Reese's fan from long ago and I think it's time for a showdown!

A new flavor. The "White cloud" Real simple. I use the white chocolate shell and a white butter ganache with extra vanilla. That's a filling that could be spiked with just about anything. Just say'in....

We are going to look at a building Thursday. Very excited! Retail. City! Yes!

Another picture night!

From top to bottom. Peanut butter dark milk shell. "White cloud" White chocolate shell White vanilla butter ganache made with Madagascar vanilla and Kerry Irish butter.

Clockwise

From top left Espresso, if you like the falvor and smell of fresh coffee beans..., next is "white cloud", My own white chocolate shell with a Kerry Irish butter and Madagascar vanilla ganache, a salted caramel ganache, Saigon Cinnamon/Cayenne,( it was ground together here with my granite grinder). It has a dark 72% shell airbrushed. A mint in the square "book page mold with a dark shell. And the last is dark chocolate almond.

Mints ready to turn out.

Cinnamon/cayenne

Bunnies they're solid too!

Salted caramels

almost done for the day

This is the first time I have done this so the flavor combo is simple. Pistachio and black sesame seeds with a dark stripe and dark milk with a white stripe.Break it up in the morning and package it. This was an addition to the previous post with the toffee matzo.

Matzah

I practiced making toffee covered matzo/matzoh. I resumed today and found a process that works pretty good. From here they will get chocolate and stuff put on them. I haven't decided on the combinations of nuts/dried fruit/ seeds, but it should be colorful and fun.

wedding

The first round of wedding favors are almost done. These are salted caramels with a dark shell.

New name

After thinking quite a long time about the name change, we have decided to do it. The LLC has been changed to "tocoti" It means nothing in any language that we could find. It's hard to find a name that is not trademark-able. There is a free online database of searchable names if you think you have something unique.

Today I made some very dark milk chocolate and some confections with a dark 72% shell with cinnamon cayenne ganache. I made the ganache slightly more like a caramel. Just a touch. The Saigon cinnamon comes out very fast. The Chile comes out next in about 15 seconds. The chocolate comes in just after that to cool things off like rain on a hot day. The mix of chile's I used came were Arbol, Guajillo, Passilla, and New Mexico Red. I will always be adjusting the Chile mix. It's just fun. The shell was airbrushed. Since the outside is the inside of the shell I first sprayed a pearl red, then a solid red on one side, then an orange coat then a white coat. I would not recommend this if you do not have ventilation. The over spray is cocoa butter and I'm wondering if it could possibly be combustible at some point. If you know this answer please post.

Valentines day

I'm practicing for Valentines day. I got the airbrush out and started playing.

I used a new heart mold and sprayed it red and filled it with dark chocolate just to see if it would work.

I also have pearl colors that should really be fun.

Two other molds came in so I'll be using them soon.

One is a Aztec design in a dome mold and the other is a round hollow shell 2 piece.

I plan on using a Cayenne/cinnamon ganache in the Aztec and the hollow can be used to make many different soft fillings.

More fun!

Growing up in the 70's I got into using an airbrush with car paints. I'm still addicted to it so I got one to spray colored cocoa butter. I'm building a heating cabinet to keep it at the right temperature. I'm using a non programmable digital thermometer and a few light bulbs mounted in a small cabinet to keep a constant heat. The compressor is oil free and I'll be using double water traps to keep the air moisture free.

Valentines day is coming up soon so I ordered heart shape molds. They will be colored with the airbrush. The colors are really fun. I ordered some pearl colors to add to the solid colors I have. Egg molds will be ordered soon.
The next Valentines day adventure is chocolate covered cherries. It's a warm fondant that a cherry is dipped into then coated with chocolate or a shell filled with a cherry and fondant and capped. after 7-12 days the fondant liquefies.

Cherries

Practice starts soon. I'll be making chocolate covered cherries for Valentines day.

I made 3 jars of cherries. One has sweet cherries in brandy, one sweet cherries in cherry vodka, and on the far right is sour cherries in brandy. Each has a cup of sugar added.

I'm thinking until they are ready I would practice on some purchased candied fruit .

done for the night.

Ellen finished packaging at midnight.

They look really nice!

More pictures than text.

I made an order of Pretzels and potato chips from a request.

The potato chips messed with my cocoa butter but I got it done. I would rather not do that again because now I have some chocolate with a weird tempering degree. Eutectics is very important in chocolate and confections. It's the way fats respond to temperature when one fat is mixed with another. On with the order of the day. Pictures.

more new picts

Packaging night. These are the caramel boxes ready to go.

This is an order for chocolate covered pretzels and potato chips. It's the first time I've had this and it's pretty good! The small square ones are the peanut butter filled ones. I'll add stripes to the rods, bows, and chips tomorrow.

new flavor

I tried to replicate a childhood favorite. Cream sickle.
The white vanilla is on the outside and the orange is the center.
That's the piping bag with the leftover ganache. There is just a slight bit of alcohol in it it form the liqueur. The center is very soft right now. It should firm up slightly but not too much.

a few more picts

The "Espresso love" came out very nice!

The candy cane dark tondo's are popular so I made more

This is the shell for the mint. I'll fill it tomorrow.

leftovers!

I decided to use the leftover ganache used for the normal fillings. I have some pyramid molds I've been wanting to use. They are really big! Ellen put a penny next to them. They all have different fillings so I'm thinking of calling them the "mystery of the pyramids".

picture night

My feet are done. We got a good start on the Holiday orders. Ellen was in packaging and I was in production for 9 hrs. We both started getting the "dropsies" so we decided to call it a day. This is a new product. I roasted hazelnuts this morning and they smelled amazing during and after the roast.

This is Dark milk chocolate with a dark walnut center. Notice the color. Just the bit of white chocolate in the dark turns it a reddish color. It's very much like coffee. Some beans like a dark roast, some a light roast. A light roast on these beans leaves them a deep red.

This is the salted caramel. One of my favorites.

I'm thinking of putting a box together with a variety of caramels. I have a recipe for a pumpkin caramel that uses a ginger bread spice combination. I'm thinking that would named the Jacqs.

This is the smaller tempering machine with milk chocolate in it.

This is about 20 lbs. It just looked like a cool shot.

new grinder

I needed 10 lbs of chocolate really fast. I didn't plan on using the new grinder so soon but I'm very happy I have it. I took it apart and cleaned it, got it wired with 220. It has a 3 phase converter to adjust the speed. The picture is the beans after 5 hrs of grinding. After using the smaller grinder this one is kick'n! I can't wait to see it at max capacity. It will process 4 times this amount.