This is my first holiday season as a mixer and I've really been enjoying turning some of my favorite holiday treats into flavors! Growing up, my mom used to make these decadent chocolate ganache candies. She'd start with a heavy cream, melt some chocolate into them, roll them into little balls and let them settle in the fridge overnight. Then, she'd melt a bunch of little caramel candies, dip the chocolates in that and coat them with a mixture of hazelnuts, peanuts, and cashews, but the hazelnut is what really made the candy stand out to me. She'd toss them back in the fridge to harden, take them out to wrap them individually, and we'd eat them for a few weeks at room temp.
- 3.00% Bavarian Cream (TPA)
- 1.50% Caramel (FA)
- 1.50% Milk Chocolate 10% (FLV) -.15% if undiluted-
- 1.00% Hazelnut (FW)
- 0.50% Butterscotch Ripple (FW)
- 0.25% Acetyl Pyrazine (TPA)
- Ok as a SNV. Better after 5 days.
The Ganache:
The ganache is comprised of FLV Milk Chocolate and Bavarian Cream. FLV's milk chocolate is the best I've worked with. INW's version was in my first couple of tests, but it's a little too...dry...for my liking. FLV's version isn't chalky at all so, it blends extremely well into creams without needing additional components to keep from drying your mouth out. Bavarian cream has this savory nuttiness that I pick up for anywhere from SnV to 10 days after mixing. I tend to avoid it unless I'm mixing something that can actually use that nuttiness. It brings a little vanilla along with it, but it's a bonafide background note in this mix. Together, they make a great heavy chocolate cream.
The Caramel:
Butterscotch Ripple is here to tone down the inherent dryness that FA Caramel delivers in a package deal with its sweetness. In tandem, you get a rich, almost syrup-like caramel. Perfect for dipping chocolate balls into!
The Nutmix:
The nut-mix is made up of Hazelnut and Acetyl Pyrazine. Hazelnut is here to take your soul in every draw. At 1%, it's smooth and almost creamy. Alone, it wouldn't be enough to give that true "bite" of a candy that's covered in nuts. AP not only adds that bite but carries additional nutty flavorings along with it. I suggest staying true to the recipe, but AP can be dropped as low as 1 drop per 10mL and still deliver a decent bite to round out the mix.
I like reading about these delicate candies and then noticing your username.
Welp, I'm going to assume this is good based on what's in here and mix 100ml's right away.
Don't let me down!
Go for it! Worst case, you lose $2 worth of materials. Worth the risk IMO!
Man this looks delicious. I can't wait to start mixing my own juices.
Have you placed your first concentrate order and just waiting for it to arrive or just scoping out the scene and doing some reading for now?
I have everything but the FLV Chocolate. You indicated you tried INW Milk Chocolate, what % did you use? I also have TPA Double Chocolate Clear. Thoughts on this as a substitute?
I tried it at .3 and .5%. It tasted fine at both percentages, but it was just too chalky for me. I've never used TPA Double Chocolate Clear, so I couldn't say how it'd work as a sub.
Just out of curiosity, the INW - Milk Chocolate you used, was it the old version before reformulation?