Hi there,

I noticed some manufacturers make a creamy ganache with coconut oil (not coconut milk or cream of coconut). Lindt is a good example of this. Does anyone have any type of recipe like this? I imagine the result will have a long shelf life.

Thanks for your input!

Daniel

updated by @daniel-herskovic: 03/18/16 14:19:02

Pretty easy, actually.  First, you need a low melting point coconut oil (there's many different kinds - i suggest a natural coconut oil with a MP of 72F).

Then, simpy mix it in with you melted chocolate, and any flavorings you want for your center.  The 'soft' liquid coconut oil will interfere with the cocoa butter's ability to crystallize, and as a result,  you'll get a softer texture.  I might suggest 8% add in to begin with.  Some folks swear that you first have to temper your chocolate before adding the oil, some swear you don't.  I'm in the second category.  Try both and see what you prefer.  Play with the levels of your oil addition until you achieve the texture you're after.

Since the Aw is very, very low, you'll essentially never have spoilage issues.  Shelf life will now be a function of oil rancidity.

There are other alternative oils you can use ... I've tasted some pretty fantasting olive oil ganaches made with truly excellent oils; you can taste the spice and grass and other notes with the right chocolate!

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
clay - http://www.thechocolatelife.com/clay/

Thanks Sebastian and Clay!

I have got a few follow up questions for both of you... I tried making the Meltaway by Greweling. It is ok. I find the texture to be a little hard (before it melts in you mouth). I notice in those Lindt truffles they have a creamy texture -- more like a ganache than a meltaway. Do you think they use a special mixer to achieve that?

For the Olive Oil Version, should one emulsify that just like a ganache -- I use a robot coupe. I thought putting olive in a food processor turned it bitter.

Thanks for all the insight! I have learned a lot from both of you!

So, the smaller the droplet size of your oil (remember, you're making a dispersion), the smoother your texture will be.  I'm n ot going to comment on precisely which equipment Lindt is using, but the more agitation (energy) you can put into your mixture, the better you'll like the results i wager.

Any oil that is liquid at room temperature will work for you for this.  Even some that aren't liquid at room temperature will work due to something calle eutectics (but that's another lesson for another time).  Note that the reason your oils are liquid at room temperature are because they are 'built' from fatty acids that are short.  The shorter they are, the lower the melting point of  your oil, and also the less stable they are (more likely to go rancid).  If you mix the mixture vigorously for a long time, you're incorporating air into your mixture as well.  This isn't a problem for a lot of oils, but if elect to use oils that are very unsaturated, and very short fatty acid chains - you'll end up with rancidity more quickly as a result.

The other noteworthy thing is this:  cocoa butter hardness varies.  A lot.  A tremendous amount.  Grewling likely doesn't know this, and when he writes his recipies, he's using standard chocolate, the vendors of which may or may not be controlling for hardness by DSC.  If you thought the recipe was ok, but not quite there, don't hesitate to modify it a bit to suit your tastes - your chocolate may have been a bit harder than the one he used, or simply your tastes are different than his.  Add another 1% liquid oil and see if that is more the texture you're after or not.  Trial and error here is your friend.  Also if the chocolate you're starting with has milk fat in it or not (and how much) will play a huge role in textural issues (milk fat will make it softer).

Interesting tidbit:  a huge amount of the virgin olive oil on the store shelves has been blended with other oils.  olive oil is very expensive, and frankly most people don't really know what virgin olive oil really is.  it's also difficult to analytically prove that the oil's been blended in - that said, some folks you know on this board have spent some time developing spectral methods that can determine the origin of oils, and if they're pure or not.  Those methods were used by the good ol' us of a to do a market basket assessment of olive oils - and lo and behold, i forget the numbers, but something like 70% of what was tested was deemed to be tainted.  Manufacturers were (are) doing this to realize cost savings.   Sneaky business, that is.  Oils of a more commoditized nature (coconut, palm, canola, soy, etc) aren't really affected because they're already so low in price, there's not much incentive to blend in less expensive oils to impact their cost structure.

I have been experimenting lately with meltaways.  I used Greweling's basic mint meltaway proportions (520g chocolate, 155g coconut oil) but made it into a coconut/banana filling for chocolates.  I used coconut oil that has a coconut taste (unrefined).  I was apprehensive that too many additives (banana purée, lemon juice, coconut rum, vanilla extract, coconut flakes) might interfere with the eutectics reaction that creates a meltaway.  They did not, and the resulting filling was somewhat softer than a meltaway, perhaps what you are seeking.  I should mention that I added 1% cocoa butter  (actually the cocoa butter "silk" produced by the EZtemper machine) to aid in the firming up of the mixture.  I stirred it over cold water for a short time until I could feel it thickening, then piped it into molds.  I am pleased with the result and plan to try it with other flavors (though in those cases using the refined coconut oil that has no taste).

Nice, Jim. That EZt is sure a useful device! I got one from Kerry recently, and its proven an invaluable resource in my kitchen.