Dessert-o-licious

Keeping your Chocolate Snappy and Shiny: 2 Ways to Temper at Home

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Maia

When making candies or decorations from chocolate – and I mean real chocolate, not candy wafers bought at a craft shop – the only way to achieve a shiny, snappy finish is by tempering. Professionals do it by smearing and working melted chocolate on a marble slab, but that’s generally too messy for a home kitchen. Here are two ways that home chocolatiers can get professional results, making small batches and avoiding the mess.

Why Temper?
Tempering makes chocolates glossy, preventing the frustrating, unprofessional, dull grey film that can form over improperly prepared candies or decorations. Tempered chocolate makes an audible snaps when you break it. You only need to temper chocolate that you want to set with a sheen, you do not need to temper chocolate if you are baking a chocolate cake.

The Chocolate Tempering Curve
Due to the different ingredient mixes of dark, milk, and white chocolate their melting and optimal reforming points vary.

Two Ways to Temper Chocolate at Home
The temperatures in the processes below are for dark chocolate and should be adapted based on the chocolate tempering curve for milk or white.

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A Decadent Dairy-Free Treat for Valentine’s Day: Dairy-Free Brownies

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Maia

When in doubt…chocolate.

Although chocolate on Valentine’s Day is a bit predictable, sometime predictability can be a good thing. Usually on Valentine’s Day, I try to think out-of-the-box and spend weeks coming up with the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert for my husband. However, this year, time seems to have gotten away from me, so I knew I was going to go for something much simpler.

I am a pastry chef and my husband recently became lactose intolerant…talk about bad luck! Could it be that my hubby would never be able to eat one of my desserts again? Yes, of course there are pills that can be taken, but I really wanted him to be able to have a Valentine’s Day dessert that would be no fuss. No pills needed. No issues. I’ve been experimenting with lots of dairy substitutes, coconut oil, nuts, etc and have been enjoying taking on the challenge of converting some of my favorite classic recipes into dairy-free equivalents. For Valentine’s Day, I decided to convert one my favorite brownie recipes and turn my self-proclaimed brownie-hating husband into a brownie lover.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 16

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Maia

It’s been 16 days since initially sowing my seeds and they have been growing like crazy. The zucchini sprouts are enormously tall and the yellow squash and sugar snap peas are not far behind.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 11

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Maia

Well, I was anxiously waiting for my cayenne pepper and lavender cells to sprout and they did not disappoint! Looking at them now, 1 lavender cell and 2 cayenne pepper cells have sprouted! This means that of all of the initial seeds I planted, at least 1 of each cell has sprouted!

Over in the newer seeds I planted, mint, cantaloupe, eggplant and cucumber, 4 cucumber cells sprouted! Their sprouts, unsurprisingly, look very similar to the zucchini and yellow squash, though the leaves are just a bit smaller.

A second yellow squash cell sprouted, with a beautiful, tall, straight stem.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 9

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Maia

The sprouts were very busy over the weekend! A second zucchini cell sprouted as well as a 4th snap pea. Even a sweet pepper cell sprouted!

The initial zucchini sprout is getting enormous! It is now the tallest plant in the bunch with two very large leaves and a thick stem.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 7

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Maia

My family think I’m a little bit nuts. Every morning I make my husband come down and check on my sprouts with me as well as send a photo to my mother. In December I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and I am now sending my mother photos of my sprouts rather than my son. Her response is always, “I’d rather watch your baby sprout…stop sending me these photos!” But alas, I get such a rush coming down each morning and checking on my sprouts that I can’t help but send a photo or two.

When I sowed these seeds I was told to do a bunch of each because all of the cells may not sprout. It seems as though I have the opposite problem now! I planted 5 cells of each veggie and herb, though I had 4 different varieties of tomato, meaning that in total, I had 20 tomato cells. I’m not sure if it’s fortunate or unfortunate, but at this point, all 20 cells have sprouted! The yellow pear tomato sprouts have gotten so tall that I may need to lose the greenhouse cover!

A second zucchini cell sprouted and looks so different from the first. The first one that sprouted was just a long white and green strand, however, the second one looks like a zucchini flower! It’s beautiful!

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 6

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Maia

I came down this morning and to my delight there were new sprouts. 4 of my yellow grape tomato cells have sprouted…only 1 to go! Additionally, 3 regular tomato cells sprouted overnight.

The snap pea tendrils are looking more and more devilish every day and a third snap pea cell sprouted.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 5

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Maia

Well, it’s been 5 days since I sowed my seeds and they’ve been growing like crazy! In addition to the herbs that sprouted yesterday, another 2 thyme cells have sprouted as well as another 2 cilantro cells! Also, we now have 2 snap pea shoots and 3 yellow grape tomato sprouts!

It’s been pretty amazing watching the seedlings grown. So far, all of the thyme, cilantro and tarragon sprouts look identical. They all have very short, skinny stalks with two green circles on the very end. I guess they have to still grow a bit to get their individual characteristics.

On the other hand, the snap pea shoots look distinctively like pea shoots. So different from the herbs with a thick, light green curly tendril.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 4

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Maia

This morning I came down to spray my seeds with some water when I was thrilled to notice that we have sprouts!

I’m so excited to announce that some of the plants have started sprouting! All 5 tarragon cells have sprouted as well as 2 thyme and 1 cilantro cells.

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Beginners Veggie and Herb Garden: Day 0

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Maia

I lived in New York City for 10 years and each year tried to grow a small herb garden on my fire escape. However, year after year my plants all died, mostly because I would forget about them. Out of sight, out of mind…

My husband and I moved to the suburbs in September and I am now determined to grow a veggie and herb garden in our beautiful backyard. A friend of mine, an avid farmer, convinced me to try and grow from seeds and so, I will give it a shot.

The process was actually surprisingly easy. All we did was place some potting soil into 2 50-cell growing kits and put a couple of seeds into each one. We labeled them, thoroughly watered them, brought them inside in a sunny spot, put the plastic tops on the kits and we were on our way!

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