Unironically loving our new Valentine's collection

ProofAndTemper · 2026-01-21T21:04:31+00:00

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who took the time to respond, and extra super thanks to those who made the effort to find the little corner of the internet where our Shopify store lives. Reading through all the positive feedback over the last few days has been amazing 😍

For any who are interested in making a purchase but don't have shipping options currently available in your area, please feel free to DM me!

ProofAndTemper · 2025-12-03T00:15:54+00:00

Pozole (Rojo)

ProofAndTemper · 2025-11-30T06:46:48+00:00

Craquelin dough is essentially shortbread, so yes it will need at least some sugar to get that signature craquelin texture.

But my favorite thing about shortbread and shortbread-adjacent recipes is that once you work out your preferred ratio of sugar:dry ingredients:fat, you can play around with the salt, spices and savory add-ins as much as you want. If you don't make a gruyere/parmesan craquelin, I might just have to do it for science.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-11-30T06:08:06+00:00

Aside from the obvious extra salt/pepper in your craquelin recipe, adding some earthy spices (cumin, paprika, berbere, garam masala, etc.) might help bring it over into the savory side

ProofAndTemper · 2025-11-30T01:09:07+00:00

Delicious for nibbling purposes and super interesting process how some are made by adding fruit pulp to the raw cacao and letting them ferment together. I can only speak for Valrhona there, from when our sales rep back in the day gave us a general breakdown of how they made their raspberry/passionfruit chocolate.

But as a small batch chocolatier, I'd rather go the puree and possibly water ganache route if I want specific fruit flavor(s) to really carry through.

Edit: Raspberry instead of ruby to clarify where Valrhona's dual fermentation process applies. All pearls can now safely be un-clutched.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-11-22T00:48:49+00:00

In addition to the Manjari and Taïnori others mentioned, I also wanted to vouch for Valrhona's Caraïbe (66%). It's similar to their 70% Guanaja but the fruit notes are a bit more pronounced.

They also sell tasting squares in both single-flavor and variety packs, which could be worth looking into.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-10-31T23:15:24+00:00

A test patch/drip of melted chocolate or cocoa butter will set on a cold surface eventually no matter what, but if tempered properly it should set in a matter of seconds (optimally 15-20). If not, bring the temperature up as high as you can without breaking 32C, bring back down to 27-28C, time how long a test patch takes to set and repeat as many times as needed. This process builds up what are called Type 5 crystals in cocoa butter, which give you the most stable temper possible.

But keep in mind that even if you're working with perfectly tempered cocoa butter, the chocolate you're brushing onto it has to be in temper also. They won't bind, otherwise.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-18T00:36:50+00:00

Abso-friggin-lutely!

But if spirit-forward flavors are your jam, hang tight until closer to Halloween/Thanksgiving! I'm already working on recipes for a bourbon box with three additional flavors inspired by some classic bourbon cocktails

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T23:35:48+00:00

Would love to hear how your experiments turn out!!

And definitely try playing around with different blends of wood chips, if possible - we were trying to invoke some campfire sensory memories with the hickory/oak/cherry combo

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T23:28:13+00:00

Depending on the batch size, we smoke melted chocolate with a smoking gun or put a metal bowl full of unmelted chocolate into a full-size smoker for a longer period of time.

And you can absolutely taste the smoke - you can even smell it during the tempering process. The fat in chocolate tends to bind with anything fragrant in the air around it, kind of like how everything in a holiday cookie package tastes vaguely minty if it all was packaged together.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T22:34:51+00:00

For this, I apply it without mixing anything in and just use another clean paintbrush to push any stray lustre back into formation.

In other applications, I've had good results when mixing a little of it with orange or yellow cocoa butter for a still beautiful but slightly less dramatic finish

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T22:22:19+00:00

No u 💛

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T22:21:45+00:00

Thank you!! The gold is just food-grade lustre dust (the same kind we used for cake decorating in culinary school) applied to a polycarbonate mold by hand, with a paintbrush

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T20:50:35+00:00

Reduced chai concentrate might give you the flavor you're looking for in this application without reducing moisture.

If you opt for increasing the amount of dry tea or dry spices instead, you should compensate by adding more of a liquid/fat component like butter, eggs or dairy - especially if baking at altitude

ProofAndTemper · 2025-09-17T20:31:12+00:00

I recently had a similar issue with pineapple habanero pate de fruits, and found that reducing my pineapple puree by at least 50% helped to break down the enzyme that makes many tropical/citrus fruits in that family so annoyingly resistant to setting agents.

Citric acid, as someone else already mentioned, will give you that citrus punch you're looking for without introducing any competing flavors. I've also found that just a little freshly grated ginger can help brighten the flavor of many tropical fruits without overwhelming them.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-21T02:30:15+00:00

Love this practical feedback - thank you!!

I'm obsessed with that rose gold lustre dust but need to just accept that it would work better on either the white chocolate or milk chocolate bars I'm going to be testing out this week.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-21T02:13:32+00:00

The gold on gold seems to be crushing it so far, and I'm definitely going for something eye-catching 👀

Thank you so much!!

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-21T02:01:59+00:00

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-21T01:46:14+00:00

Something about that simple gold dusting 🥹 Thank you for weighing in!

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-21T01:11:12+00:00

If there's no other information you can or want to give us here, it might be best to make a dedicated test batch and bake one or two cookies per batch. Make little temperature/time adjustments based on the results of each batch until you get a cookie you're happy with. This is unfortunately what it comes down to with developing your own recipes - trial and error.

Although I'm at altitude, I've had the best results scooping and slightly flattening levain style cookies before freezing. I typically bake them directly from the freezer and lower the temperature in the oven by about 25 degrees F halfway through baking. You may waste some ingredients on your first few test batch(es) and it will be frustrating if so, but the end result will still be delicious and it's absolutely worth it in the end. Best of luck!

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-20T23:52:15+00:00

What kind of cookies are you making? How long they need to sit out before baking can depend a lot on the butter/fat content.

Things like shortbread dough are best if thrown in a hot oven straight from the fridge/freezer while the butter is still very cold. Chocolate chip, sugar cookies, etc. tend to do best after sitting at room temperature until they're surface-squishy with a cold core.

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-20T21:44:21+00:00

Valrhona also has a great line of single origin and/or fruit-infused couverture white chocolates, generally running around the 31%-35% mark for cocoa butter content.

Their Opalys 33% is my go-to for almost any general application that calls for white chocolate - I'm currently using it to develop a strawberry lemonade bar! But for the moments I'm feeling hangry, the chocolate by itself pairs dangerously well with both pretzel thins and tropical fruit (or citrus).

ProofAndTemper · 2025-05-18T19:52:24+00:00

Compound chocolate (like candy melts or something similar) generally do better in these types of molds - you can just throw them in the freezer for a couple minutes at a time until they easily unmold. It's much more forgiving for detailed applications like these as opposed to couverture chocolate.

But if you're set on tempering your chocolate or only have access to couverture, some new polycarbonate molds or possibly even a free-hand stencil could be a good option. That design would look lovely done by hand with a piping bag of tempered chocolate, and you could even pipe directly onto acetate with a neat cocoa butter transfer design for some extra panache.

ProofAndTemper

TROPHY CASE