Forum Activity for @Jennifer Arvan

New Here

Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Life is full of twists and turns and around every one of them, I find chocolate. Or it finds me! I am a mere consumer/novice with an open mind to learning.

This year I hope to educate myself much better on this thing called chocolate.

My preference: Dark chocolate, bordering on black.

I live in the midwest U.S. and dang, it's cold here!

My daytime occupation is staff nurse in a busy intensive care unit at a rather large teaching hospital. By night, I am stir crazy! I like to mix and make things, ranging from cross stitch to sewing, to andmade olf-fashioned soap, to shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. My most current challenge was making homemade marshmallows.

I am thankful to be in the midst of seasoned pros and I look forward to learning a few things!

updated by @Jennifer Arvan: 04/13/15 12:28:12PM

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

Hi. I am new here and by no means a chocolate maker. I am a chocolate melter.

By trade I am a nurse, but dabble in making various treats, soap, shampoo and the like. I am always wanting to learn something new.

I was hoping for a touch of sage advice on a project I wanted to try this winter. I would like to make hot chocolate on a stick and have the basic technique for assembling, but am having trouble figuring out which chocolate would be best to create the base out of. It has to melt readily and smoothly in warmed milk so that it turns into a creamy hot cocoa. The cheapo chocolate I had that I created my mock-ups out of is abominable. It doesn't melt into the milk, but rather looks like flecks of chocolate floating in the milk.

I'd like to make this into a "drop it in and stir it" type of treat. On a sort of related note, I'd like to dip my homemade marshmallows in a tad of chocolate and haven't found a decent type to make a smooth, shiney, not to brittle coating. Anybody with ideas? Thank you in advance!

updated by @Jennifer Arvan: 04/15/15 08:53:43AM