I've been having some fun tweaking Karla's (thanks so much Karla!) chocolate and I notice she (not sure if she still posts) uses Splenda as a sweetener.

I don't like the powdered Splenda, but do have a bottle of liquid Splenda that I like to use in recipes.

Does anybody know if liquid Splenda will cause the melted chocolate to seize?

Thanks! barefoot

how did you get liquid splenda?? That stuff isnt available anywhere that i know of, you are lucky.. that stuffs like gold.

Actually there are sites on the web (and mentioned in threads on this site) that sell "unflavoured syrup" made "with sucralose". The makers of Splenda will allow this as long as the syrup is not "made with Splenda". Dumb, isn't it?

Look in the products area or search the web. For instance: http://locarber.com/

There are sites in Canada (Toronto area) which sell this as well.
http://low-carbing.com/store/index.php?prodID=zcs-001 for "Zero Carb Syrup Concentrate"

It depends on the concentration of the liquid Splenda. If it's a minimal amount, I think you should be safe.

Karen

Small amounts of water and chocolate do not make nice.

In fact, the less water you add to melted chocolate, the more likely it will seize. I've read chocolatiers that say adding less than 25% water/liquid to melted chocolate is asking for trouble.

Because liquid splenda is so concentrated that one drop you use is guaranteed to seize your melted chocolate.

Here is a quote from Karla:


I make ganache with cream, unsweetened chocolate and liquid splenda. That works well. But not solid chocolate.

Oh, and could you point me to Karla's recipe (not the paraffin version). All I could find was a lengthy discussion on the subject.

Thank you so much for the information about liquid Splenda, Tofi. I had no idea you could buy it anywhere. Someone once told me that a product called Fiberfit was the same thing, so I ordered ten bottles of that that and found that it isn't the same - it's a liquid that sweetened with sucralose, all right, but it also contains a lot of fiber and it disagreed with my digestive system.

I ordered some of this (only one bottle this time - don't say I don't learn from my mistakes!) from the Canadian website you mentioned, and I'm quite sure this is the right thing this time.

I also passed your message on to the folks at Dr. Bernstein's own forum, who have been wishing they could buy liquid Splenda for some time. Thanks again.

Karen D.

True. It doesn't work with pure melted unsweetened chocolate. But it's fine when the chocolate is mixed with cocoa butter and with R & D liquid Splenda.

Karen

Hi Scott.

I don't think Karla ever really posted an actual recipe.

I gathered data from her various posts to try to emulate what she was doing.

I'm still working on my own recipe. As soon as I hit paydirt, I will post it.

As of now, I'm tinkering with Callebaut unsweetened choc, liquid Splenda, erythritol, cocoa butter and almond butter to "round out" the somewhat bitter flavor.

I feel I'm getting close! LOL

barefoot

That's funny you mention Callebaut. I just had a hunk of the unsweetened chocolate in my hand today at Whole Foods. I didn't buy it because the hunk was just too big. I will get some though.

I'm curious, are you tempering your chocolate? Do you think you'll be able to get it to snap?

And... how are you melting the erythritol?

I'm eventually hoping to find powdered cream so I can make milk chocolate. I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate.

I bought a bag of unsweetened Callebaut *small pieces* from a website, Chocoworld or something like that - if you google, you should find it, if not, let me know and I can find it for you.

I was not successful at getting the "snap" through manual tempering, (maybe Karla had more patience than I do! LOL) but interestingly enough, I accidentally achieved a result that does "snap" through slightly modifying the ingredients, pouring them into a shallow candy mold and freezing.

I also prefer to pour the melted chocolate over whole almonds - both to lower the overall carb count and because that's how I prefer chocolate - with nuts !

After much trial and error, I've ended up adding the erythritol at the beginning of the melting process, with the chocolate pieces in the top of the double boiler - otherwise, the end result is very grainy (IMO).

I find the almond butter mellows out the "fruitiness" of the polyol and the bitterness of the chocolate. I like dark chocolate, but I do have my limits on bitterness! LOL.

I like your idea of powdered cream. Expert Foods sells small bags of it online, if you are familiar with their low carb products?.

Right now, my focus is on the correct amounts and ratios of sweeteners - liquid Splenda, a couple drops of white powder stevia, a couple teaspoons of erythritol, etc. Another lowcarb friend has suggested I blend in xylitol.

I just need to avoid maltitol. It is the only SA that truly gives me problems.

A couple small pieces of my "chocolate mistakes" are enough to soothe the savage soul and do not trigger cravings.

My desire for starches and sweets continues to ebb and I expect over time, it will completely fall away. It's just that now, for the time being, a little bit of something good keeps me from falling completely off the wagon.

I suppose this is an addiction like smoking, and like a smoker, this is "my patch" that helps me reduce gradually.

On the bright side, it would be nice to have a tried and true recipe for special occasions.

I hope I haven't bored you too much!

barefoot

You haven't bored me at all. I'm fascinated.

I've gotten chocolate to snap by freezing it as well. From what I hear from my chocolate making friends, there just is no substitute for tempering. It takes a lot of patience and work, but if you can temper your chocolate properly, it will make a world of difference in quality. Here are a few good links on tempering:

http://www.vantagehouse.com/custome...ring_how_to.htm
http://www.scharffenberger.com/library/tempering.htm
http://www.chocolatier-electro.com/english/whatis2.htm
http://www.grenadachocolate.com/tour/temper.html

How are you with Isomalt? I had heard from someone that although most polyols gave them problems, they were okay with isomalt. It could be just this one person, though. I've also been reading posts from members that suggested that maltitol tolerance can be built up by consuming a very small amount on a daily basis. I've also noticed that if I eat something with maltitol on an empty stomach, I'm in big trouble but if I eat it after a meal, I'm okay.

Callebaut is an excellent choice. Out of all the high end chocolates I've tasted, it's my favorite. I find that because you are dealing with a roasted product, there is a great deal of variation between what each company puts out. Scharfenberger is popular, but I find their chocolate to be too fruity/acidic for me.

The addition of almond butter is not unlike adding hazelnut butter - chocolate and halzenut butter is pure bliss for me. Nutella is a classic hazelnut/chocolate combo, although it's not my favorite. Is your almond butter perfectly creamy? The almond butter I buy is supposed to be creamy but would be way too grainy for chocolate.

Stevia is a good idea. Does white powder stevia have that licorice aftertaste? I have heard of some brands of Stevia that don't have that. Hopefully the addition of Stevia will give you a synergistic effect and allow you to use less of everything.

I took a look at expert foods. Although I could do without the nonfat milk in it, that dry cream is what I'm looking for, thanks.

I too love my chocolate with almonds. The more almonds the better

Hi again ~

I just realized that as soon as the weather got warmer, I set aside my chocolate project and picked up an ice cream project. I've had much better luck with the ice cream than the chocolate though!

I buy my almond butter at Trader Joes and it seems pretty smooth to me, not as smooth as regular commercial peanut butter, but I still like it.

The only stevia I've found that doesn't have a negative aftertaste is the one made by NuNaturals and I purchased it online, as I couldn't find it anywhere around here.

The hazelnut butter sounds wonderful and very mild. I recently purchased a jar of macadamia nut butter after reading so many wonderful things about it - so I think I'll try that next.

Barefoot