I know that Jenny (miss_mess_maker) posted a thread about Gourmet PEARS just recently which I can bUmP uP for you. 

 

Now as for a thread on Gourmet APPLES, I don't recall anyone else (though I could be mistaken) but me who posted info on a Gourmet Dipped Apple Class that I held last year on the first weekend of November.  I'm pretty sure I posted a thread up here which showed a link to my MSN Space where I had posted a bunch of pics from that class.  But for the life of me I cannot seem to find it here to bump up for you (& believe me I've been looking for well over a half hour....has anyone got the link to this thread saved somewhere to help me out????). 

 

I've gotta scoot in a bit for a couple of hours, but I'm still determined to find it for you but it'll have to wait till I return.  In the meantime feel free to take a peak @ the pics I've got over on my MSN Space.  You'll have to scroll down the list of photo albumns to get my GOURMET APPLES NOVEMBER ~ 2005 albumn. 

 

If anybody else has an info to share to help Ann out then go for it!! Thanks.

 

ACK! sorry had to delet all the gobble de gook. Also I think I noted on the previous conversation that you can buy the white melting chocolates by Wilton, (I've tried some others and have found that the genaric brands taste more waxy than chocolaty so taste test before you serve to others) and if you want to color the melting chocolates you can do so with the paste food colorings, don't use liquid food coloring as it makes the chocolate seperate. If you want to flavor the chocolate then use a candy flavoring, usually oil based and sold with the Wilton products. I've seen some candy flavoring available around christmas at Walmart also near the Wilton section but it was a different brand.

So, here we go let's try this again:

 

Marions apple dipping class

Does the chocolate almond bark work better?

YES!! Chocolate or Vanillla flavored almond bark. Or you can use ANY kind of chocolate that is meant for molding candy like the melting discs from Wilton. (You can get these @ Wal-Mart, btw, in the craft section or at any craft store.) Btw, for your Valentine's theme you can use white &/or dark chocolate &/or red melting discs for a real splash of color. 

How many times do you dip the apple?

FIRST, YOU MUST DIP THE APPLE IN CARAMEL SO THAT THE CHOCOLATE WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO STICK TO.  Dipping FIRST into chocolate will most likely give you disastrous (sp?) results. SECOND, I dip my apple into the chocolate until it is well coated. Btw, if you go back to my original post on the topic, I believe I said that you had to allow for the caramel on the apple to set up in the fridge for 30 minutes or like what I did, I shortened the set up time by sticking my apples into the freezer for 15 minutes. The caramel HAS to be able to set up BEFORE you proceed with the chocolate layer or else you will have caramel & chocolate mixing & most likely it will ALL slough off the apple. NOT a good thing, unless you want to eat the mess up!! LOL  Btw, I test the caramel for readiness by looking at its sheen (has to be shiny) AND by gently pressing my finger on it & see if I get a fingerprint back once I retract it. If there's no fingerprint left behind then I know it's time to proceed. It's at this point that I go to my double boiler & dip my now coated caramel apple into the chocolate. THIRD, now you have to work quickly B4 the chocolate sets up, & have the toppings ready to go like chopped Oreos, so that they will adhere to the warm chocolate. I usually do the prep for the toppings while the caramel apples are setting up in the freezer. When I held my class, I let the students do ALL the prep of the chopping of Oreos, graham crackers for S'Mores, etc. As for the nuts, I already had those chopped up & ready to go in a Med. SA Bowl. FOURTH, once the toppings were in place, I took a sandwich size Ziploc bag that had melted vanilla almond bark (now you can use red melting discs at this point as well or have a combo of colors like white & red), & drizzled it all over the apple. For some apples, we even took some of the dark chocolate & intermixed the drizzling with that as well, but we used the V-Shaped Cutter for that since that chocolate was already in the double boiler.

How do you keep the apple from sticking in the container of melted caramel?

You REALLY need to make sure that the caramel is WELL-HEATED like to the point of bubbling. On the Betty Crocker Caramel Apple Making Kit that I used it called for the addition of 1 Tbsp of water to be added to the tub of caramel BEFORE heating in microwave. When I started to run out of the caramel in the tub, I began to add a few regular Kraft caramels (you know the cubical kind! LOL) & then added a smidgent of water to it & nuked the whole tub over again in the microwave. Btw, even B4 I ran out of caramel in the tub, whenever I noticed that the apples weren't getting coated right, I knew that it was time to re-nuke the tub, which always took care of that problem. 

Can you use any kind of apple ( red or green )?

I would say use what the pros use & that is green apples. They are the tart apples & with ALL the extra sweet goodies you're adding to the outside of the apples, you REALLY NEED some counter-balance for the taste buds, IYKWIM?? IMO, if you were to use a sweet apple, you'd put your taste buds into sweetness overload. LOL Also, the tart apples are hard apples & they are also hardier apples to withstand the heat of the melted caramel & chocolate. If you were to use soft, sweet apples, you'd probably begin to slightly cook them on the very exteriors, & they could go mushy in no time flat. So, in summary, I'd stick to what the pros use.....TART, FIRM, GREEN APPLES!! And besides, they're meant for baking anyways & can withstand alot of heat before they go to mush.

How do you get the chocolate melted enough to stream from the v-shaper cutter in order to drizzle over the apple?

I think I already answered this question in that I use my PC Double Boiler & keep it on the med-high side for heat. Btw, for about 8 med sized apples I used about 4/5 of a package of almond bark

 Again, is this a chocolate almond bark over baking chips issue?

Again, I think I've answered this question as well. You MUST use chocolate that is designed for molding candy, such as almond bark, & Wilton's candy melting discs. These are designed so that the chocolate hardens at room temperature & will not clump up when they are melted, like you oftentimes find with semi-sweet/baking chips. Semi-sweets & baking chips are more designed for use in such baked goods as cookies & breads & such, because of their ability to melt slightly yet hold their shape in the process.

Well, I hope I've helped to shed some light on all this for you, Beth. Let us know how it all goes for you. Oh! And btw, I think having a Gourmet Apple Dipping Class in February just in time for Valentines is a FABULOUS idea!!

Hey everyone!!

I just did a Gourmet Dipped Apple Making Class today in my home, & it went pretty well. Here's what I did: I just purchased a big bag of Granny Smith Apples @ Sams; bought Betty Crocker Caramel Apple Making Kits from Wal-Mart, which include 6 popsicle sticks & tub of microwavable caramel (if you can find them, you could just get Kraft Caramels & nuke them in a MicroCooker). I  had 2 different types of chocolate (actually 1 pkg each of chocolate & vanilla Almond Bark bought @ Wal-Mart, & melted in 2 separate Double Boilers used V-Shaped Cutter to drizzle vanilla chocolate), & a variety of toppings such as Oreos & graham crackers (students used Food Chopper as they went); prechopped nuts & Rice Kripies in med SA Bowls; Reeses peanut chips, chocolate chips, & M&Ms in small SA Bowls. You'll also need to cut out small squares of parchment paper to put onto 8" sturdy paper plates like Chinets to put the apples on to & place into freezer or a few minuted to allow caramel to set up B4 dipping into chocolate

After the 1st chocolate dipping they then took their apples to the work area to be covered with whatever topping they preferred

I charged a nominal fee of $2.50 per apple or 2 for $4. I talked it up about how these would make great homemade Christmas gifts to give out in lieu of the same old cookies & candy every year by just placing them into a clear cellophane bag & tying with a rafia bow or some sort of pretty bow. I also shared my research (pix & info) on the Net about how much similar Gourmet Apples cost like anywhere from $8.50 to upwards of $21.95!!

Now I did this Class as more of an outreach to fellow church members/friends & ended up inviting a couple of neighbors & such.... in all, they TOTALLY LOVED IT!! Now I'm thinking you could DEFINITELY transform this into a full on Show. (It definitey shows off our cookware, too, which is a higher priced item, btw.) As it turned out, I've got a couple of orders out of the 6 people that were invited, even thought I didn't have a single cattie out. With most of this crowd I have invited a couple of times to other classes I've had & have had NO takers on them in the past b/c they are the "I just don't cook/bake" kinda crowd. Well, I thought this would be more inticing to them. And besides I just wanted to try it out myself as a new sorta theme/class to offer.

What really caught me by surprise today was about 2/3 of the way into it I get a call from a neighbor of mine (a middle aged lady) up the street who wasn't even invited (I have a tiny house so space was very limited [my limit was 6 people] & actually hadn't even thought about asking her, sad to say, but I DID invite her to stop by if she could.... she said she had to scoot out the door, but if I ever did this around the holidays she'd be interested!!). Anyhooy, she wanted to place an order just OUT OF THE BLUE!! I didn't have the time to get what she wanted so she told me to call her back at my convenience tomorrow night. WOW!!! Like THAT RARELY happens to lil ole ME!! And I was like "thank You, Lord for this great lil surprise". And here I just got another order in earlier this week from an older lady from church who was doing a cattie show for me & then just declined & turned in her $60 order instead. And here I was wondering, HOPING, that I could get some extra sales to make this qualify as a show. And VOILA!! Praise the Lord, out of the blue, my neighbor calls. Yippeeeee!! And then I've got a couple of small, extra orders to gather that some church friends told me about that I will roll into this show & then with today's stuff.... I just might be able to pull this off... with the Lord's help, of course!! Sorry, to stray off topic a bit.... just HAD to share....

Well, whew!! After standing & talking all afternoon, & then the clean up, I am one happy pooped puppy

Love to all,

Marian

thanks Marian.  After I posted it I realized it was you who did them.

Thanks for all of your great tips!

 

Ann

Thanks Marian!  Now I'm drooling at my desk

 

That's definitely a nice idea b/c I know the gourmet apples sell for $22 at Bloomingdale's (my part-time job) during the holidays.  I always thought it was a total rip-off!