Meltaway Magic

Have you ever savoured a mint meltaway and wondered why it was such a magical experience? The answer is eutectics. 

A eutectic mixture is one in which the melting point of the mixture is lower than the melting point of its discrete parts. In the confectionary context, this usually refers to a mixture that combines two different fats (cocoa butter and coconut oil), which results in a melting point much lower than that of either cocoa butter or coconut oil. When the combined fat hits the palate, it quickly melts and disperses the flavour. 

Boom! The magical meltaway effect. 

Greweling observes: "The transition from a solid to a liquid state happens so quickly that it is possible to feel the heat being absorbed from the mouth. This is the reason that centers of this description actually leave a cool feeling on the palate as they rapidly melt" (Chocolates and Confections, page 411).

This cooling sensation can be amplified through flavouring, such as mint, which itself has a cooling sensation. I've also made wintergreen meltaways. However, the meltaway technique can also be used with nut pastes.

It's easy enough to make a meltaway from an online recipe like this one (which is based on a recipe in Greweling's book). While it is common to "slab" the meltaway and then cut it into pieces, I prefer to pour the mixture into candy cups and let it crystallize. For me, it's easier for handling and packaging.

These are one of the easiest things you could ever make and are perfect for gifting this time of year.

And, as an added benefit, you can discuss eutectics over a cocktail at your office Christmas party!

 

When I dip, you dip, we dip...

Dipping centres in chocolate is perhaps my least favourite task as a chocolatier -- and that's because it's tricky. If it can go wrong during enrobing, then I've experienced it. I've always struggled to avoid too much of a "foot" on the finished piece. I've also battled over-crystallized chocolate that clings to the dipping fork and leaves marks on the bottom of the chocolate. And as the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. 

The viscosity of the chocolate, the temper, and the working temperature are all important factors in getting this right. Unless of course you're using compound chocolate or you're adding something like shortening to the chocolate to change the fluidity and/or the set -- but we don't do that around here! On top of this, a good working set-up is crucial so that the movements feel natural. And this is where this week's study has paid off. 

In the Greweling book, there is a diagram of the appropriate set-up for a right-handed chocolatier when dipping centres: undipped centres on the left, tempered chocolate in the centre (tilted toward the chocolatier), and an empty tray on the right to receive the dipped centres (which is filled from right to left). I decided it was definitely worth trying one more time before switching to another method like hand-dipping to see if I would have greater success.

I set up on my dining room table, with caramels on a tray to my left, a thick book directly in front of me, and an empty tray lined with waxed paper to my right. I set a small bowl of coarse sea salt at the back of the tray and got my dipping forks out. Then I tempered my chocolate. It was a little warmer than I normally work with, but when I did the temper test it started to set within 3 minutes, so I proceeded. I placed the bowl of chocolate in the centre, propping the back of the bowl up on the book.

I held the dipping fork in my right hand. With my left hand, I picked up a caramel and dropped it into the chocolate. Then, with the dipping fork, I flipped the centre and then picked it up with the fork, "tapping" the centre on the pool of chocolate a few times before moving it to the empty tray. (This tapping motion uses the surface tension of the chocolate in the bowl to pull any excess chocolate off the centre.) After every four centres, I paused to sprinkle sea salt on the corner of the caramels. Then I stirred my chocolate to ensure even heat throughout the bowl. For a few centres, I tried an alternative method of submerging the centre and swiping the chocolate across the top of it before lifting it out of the chocolate with the fork. That seemed to work just as well, but I quickly reverted to the flip method. I continued in this way until I had the full batch coated. 

Throughout, I was surprised by how easy it seemed to be. First of all, the left to right action just felt smooth and there was no reaching required. Second of all, the tilted bowl made a huge difference, even just in the ability to see the centre without having to lean over the bowl. Finally, that slightly warmer chocolate meant there were no issues of over-crystallization and the chocolate was fluid enough that a huge foot didn't form around the chocolate. And the technique of letting the surface tension of the pool of chocolate pull the excess off of the dipped centre worked better as well because of the fluidity.

The result? This may be my best dipping experience ever!

And the first of four flavours for this year's assortment is now done and dusted (or, more appropriately, done and packaged in an airtight container while awaiting packing).  

Chocolate Percentages & Temperatures

After five years of chocolate study and practice, you might think that during my reading of the Greweling chocolate bible (Chocolates & Confections), I'd skip over the opening chapters on the bean-to-bar process, equipment, ingredients, and tempering. I didn't. This week, I reviewed the second and third chapters and, while I admittedly did skim some of the familiar content, I read the vast majority of it because it's a good reminder of details that I may have forgotten. As a result, I also found two nuggets of new information.

The first was regarding chocolate percentages. I think we all assume we understand those numbers -- the higher the number, the darker the chocolate and the lower the number, the lighter the chocolate. But Greweling notes, "surprisingly few professionals seem to understand the number, its significance, or what it does and does not tell us about the chocolate" (p.35). Well, okay, Peter, you've got my attention!" 

Greweling goes on to explain that the number tells you what portion of the chocolate came from the cacao tree, but it tells you nothing about the ratio of chocolate liquor to cocoa butter. Consequently, two bars of the same percentage "can be radically different from each other." One could have added cocoa butter that would result in a less intense flavour. Now, of course it's important to note that those two bars could be radically different for a number of other reasons, including the origin of the beans, but we're simplifying things here to focus on percentage. And if you subtract the percentage listed on the bar from 100, that will give you the percentage of all the other ingredients (sugar, milk products, flavourings like vanilla, etc). 

So, while that percentage can tell you how much of your chocolate bar came from a cacao tree and is "real" chocolate, and give you some indication of "relative sweetness," it can't tell you anything about the flavour or quality of the chocolate, or the ratio of chocolate liquor to cocoa butter. 

The other nugget in Greweling's introductory chapters was regarding the melting point of cocoa butter. During my chocolatier program, we were given guidelines to follow for tempering dark, milk, and white chocolate. These included maximum temperatures for melting before beginning the tempering process. I always wondered why the tempering curve on the bag of Callebaut callets didn't align with those guidelines (in fact, the maximum temperature is much higher than we were instructed). The answer may be in Greweling's explanation of the melting point of cocoa butter. 

Not all cocoa butter is created equal, it seems and they can have different melting points. He notes, "Cocoa butter from beans grown near the Equator, such as those from Malaysia, tends to have a slightly higher melting point than cocoa butter pressed from beans grown in more moderate climates, such as Brazil" (p. 27). This impacts the tempering curve, as well as the working and handling temperatures. It would be interesting to research the source of the Callebaut beans to see if this aligns. 

In any event, there's always something new to learn! And I'm looking forward to reading more next week!

Planning a Christmas Assortment Box

I've always made sweet treats to give to friends and family at Christmastime. It could be a s'mores chocolate bark with Teddy Grahams and mini marshmallows or Skor fudge, or some other confection. But after completing my professional chocolatier program in 2018, I began using Christmas as an opportunity to test new recipes and keep up my chocolate skills. First I would pick a few recipes to bring home to my parents, but this slowly transitioned into creating a small assortment for them. And since the smallest batch of chocolates I make tends to result in 20-25 pieces, I found myself filling about 20-24 boxes, reserving 6-7 to take home, and sharing what remained with friends and coworkers. Once I realized this was going to be "a thing," I ordered four-piece ballotin boxes and some personalized stickers to seal them. 

Last year's four-piece box included a cointreau dark chocolate truffle, a spiced molasses honeycomb toffee dipped in dark chocolate, a milk chocolate salted caramel, and a white chocolate fruit and nut cup with pistachios and dried cranberries. The assortment for 2021 featured a dark chocolate salted caramel, a milk chocolate orange truffle, a marzipan centre enrobed in dark chocolate, and a wintergreen meltaway. And the year before that, the boxes were filled with a sour cherry truffle, a fruit and nut cup with peanuts and raisins, a mint meltaway, and a dark chocolate salted caramel. 

You may see a pattern emerging here. There's always a truffle, because they are delicious and because I've been experimenting with efficient ways of forming, rolling, and enrobing. Sometimes I scoop and sometimes I pipe, but when it comes to enrobing them I've landed on hand rolling as my preferred method. Salted caramels are very popular and standard in most assortments, and they enable me to practice my skills using dipping forks. The remaining two pieces are more variable, but are usually designed to present variety in texture and/or type of chocolate (since my default tends to be dark chocolate). Importantly, across the four pieces, there are some with longer keeping limits, which allows me to produce some of the pieces throughout November, instead of having to produce everything over a day or two in December prior to packing. Some are less labour-intensive (like nut cups and meltaways) and some are more labour-intensive (like truffles and caramels). 

And so as I begin to plan for the 2023 assortment, I'm thinking about ideas for new flavours that have emerged from my chocolate study, as well as considerations of variety in chocolate, technique, shape, and finish, and practical concerns like keeping limits. I've been keeping notes throughout the year, which has led to more than four options, so decisions will have to be made -- like whether to maintain the traditional salted caramel or switch things up this year. And that decision will need to be made very soon, because production starts next week!

What is your favourite piece in a chocolate assortment?