My most recent bonbon recipes have brought some exciting discoveries.
Although I’ve had a dehydrator for a long time, I’ve been using it to experiment a lot recently.
With it, I have developed two flavors that I’m proud of: my fruit cake and banana bread bonbons.
Making Fillings with Pastry Products Using a Dehydrator
In chocolate, we avoid pastry products as fillings because they have a short shelf life and too much free water.
That’s precisely where the dehydrator comes in. It removes moisture from your pastry products at a very low temperature, making them a great alternative to feuilletine and other crunchy elements.
To dehydrate the cake, slice it very thinly and put it in the dehydrator for 8 hours (the brand I use is Excalibur).
Then, grind it with any nut paste to make flavored pralinés, or chop it to add texture to your recipes.
Can You Get the Same Results With an Oven?
You could also use your oven set at the lowest temperature to achieve similar results.
But this leads me to the second reason why I think dehydrators are amazing.
When I tried to use the oven for my banana bread bonbons, the flavor turned out too eggy, and the banana notes were gone.
With the dehydrator, though? The banana flavor really came through.
I hope you get curious and start intertwining these two worlds by bringing some exciting pastry products to chocolate.
If you have any other tips for your dehydrator, share them!
I’d love to read them.