I used to make all my chocolates by hand, but wanted to try out one of the polycarbonate molds. I'm now forever going to be lazy since this thing is so easy to use for making chocolates. I haven't used these for cherry cordials, but I have used them for just a normal truffle, and they come out so easily that it's not worth hand making them any more. A few minutes in the freezer and a quick tap on the counter and they come out cleanly.The 4 star rating is for the cleaning. It's hard to dry the underside since a towel doesn't fit into all the little nooks and crannies very easily.
Very happy with these molds, I have two at the moment and will be purchasing more in the future. I find the best way to release the chocolate is to pop them in the freezer for fifteen minutes, take it out and gently twist the ends to loosen the chocolates, upend it above the kitchen surface then give each indention a sharp tap with the handle of a kitchen knife or similar tool and they will come out easily.As long as you use good quality chocolate, sticking to the mold isn't a problem and the end result is spectacular, I've had to take photos when I've made them to prove I actually did make them! Fantastic product and as long as you take good care of them they should last a lifetime.
I decided to get into making "Magic Cherries" for parties and such when everyone is asked to bring snacks. These are simply drained maraschino cherries, marinated in some strong alcohol like Everclear, Bacardi 151, etc, then embedded in chocolate in a "cherry cordial" mold. After perusing some YouTube videos on how to make these, the recommendations mostly called for a good quality polycarbonate mold. An Amazon search turned up this Martellato mold.I find this mold to be of high quality, and it makes very nicely formed cordials. It is quite heavy in both thickness of plastic and weight. It seems like it will last a lifetime. It is dishwasher safe, and can withstand hot melted/molten candy and subsequent freezing.There are 28 molds in the tray, in a 7 x 4 array.Here is where I have a complaint with the Amazon listing. The seller has provided dimension text of, "Individual mold measures 1-1/4 by 1 inches (LxWxH); 10-7/8 by 5-3/8 inch mold dimensions", while Amazon or the manufacturer have provided specifications of, "Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 3 inches". Well, my mold measures 10-13/16" long (almost agrees with seller's stated dimension of 10-7/8") and 6-7/8" wide (NOT the 5-3/8" mentioned by the seller), and 1" deep (agrees with seller's stated dimension). So the seller is off by 1" in one of the dimensions. The seller also gives only two dimensions but follows that with the "LxWxH" text which implies three dimensions. Well the molds are round so the 1-1/4" dimension given applies to both the "LxW" dimensions. Note that the dimensions given by Amazon or the manufacturer of 12x9x3 are totally inaccurate. The box the mold comes in is only slightly larger than the mold (by the thickness of the thin cardboard). The individual molds are 1-3/16" diameter at the top of the molds, and taper to a smaller diameter at the bottom, so the seller's stated 1-1/4" dimension is close. Each mold is 15/16" deep at the extremes of the swirl on the top. The main mold shape, not counting the swirl on top, is about 3/4" deep.I tried a couple different brands of maraschino cherry, and all were really too large for this mold. The diameter was marginal but workable (leaves a thin chocolate wall on each cordial), but in all instances the mold is too shallow to fit an ordinary cherry. Even with the cherry pressed down hard against the swirl part of the mold (which means that the cherry is exposed in spots in the swirl area of the cordial), the cherry extends slightly above the top of the mold. In order to cover the cherry with chocolate, I needed to pour a little mound of chocolate at the top of each mold, making for a domed shape where it should be flat. This also complicates extracting the cordials from the mold when complete, since I cannot bang the mold down flat.I notice that this mold is made in Italy, and perhaps maraschino cherries there are somewhat smaller on the average than those commonly found in the States?What to do? I ended up slicing a bit off each cherry before putting them into the molds. You might want to look elsewhere for a deeper mold if you plan to do lots of cherry cordials.Some others have commented that they had trouble getting the cordials out of the mold when done. I have been using Wilton brand 'candy melts', which are a candy filler material (palm kernel oil & whole milk solids) flavored by cocoa powder, and which is easily microwave melted, does not need careful temperature control, and has a final color/flavor/texture like a Hershey chocolate bar (however there appears to be no wax in the ingredients list). I did the following: I pre-warmed the mold by running it upside down (to keep the molds dry) under hot water for about 30 seconds, then immediately poured in the melted chocolate until each mold was about 1/3 full. I used the end of a chop stick to swirl the chocolate back and forth in each mold to make sure there were no gaps or bubbles in the curly pattern at the bottom of the mold. Then I pressed a marinated maraschino cherry (removed from the marination jar, drained in a colander, and dried for a couple minutes on paper towel) into each mold, followed by pouring in enough melted chocolate to cover the cherries and fill the molds. I again swirled around the top edges of each mold with the end of the chop stick to make sure there were no gaps or bubbles there. Then into the freezer for 10 minutes. Then I turned the mold upside down over paper towel and firmly banged the mold down, almost flat but really only letting one edge hit the paper towel, to avoid crushing the cordials that extended up from the top of the molds. On each bang, a few cordials would fall out. After a few bangs, they would all be out. Be careful, because after some bangs some cordials would loosen but would not immediately fall out, and I dropped a few on the floor because I did not wait for the loose ones to fall out before moving the mold up for another bang.
Once you've had a bench scraper, you'd never cook without one. This one really is worth the money, including shipping. Whether loading cut veggies into a pan, cleaning a cutting board or countertop off, or working with pizza and pastry dough, this tool will be in you hand almost as much as a sharp knife. I've had cheaper scrapers. The grade and gauge of this steel makes it feel good in your hand, just like a quality knife would.
This bench scraper works fairly well. Think I would have liked it better without the hand hole, it would have had a bigger pick up space.
When I bought the Ateco Bench Scraper with Plastic Handle I already owned and seldom used the OXO Good Grips Multi-Purpose Pastry Scraper/Chopper . I was looking for a bench scraper that would help me smooth icing on the sides of cakes. I felt the OXO was too bulky for that purpose. I love Ateco products. They are aimed at the professional as well as the homemaker. So when I came across the Ateco Bench Scraper I decided to try it. The price was very reasonable. I'm very glad I ordered this product. The plastic handle is about half the width of the OXO. The Ateco handle is textured. This helps make it slip-resistant when wet. The OXO handle feels like hard rubber. They both have stainless steel blades but the Ateco is much more shiny. The OXO blade is dulled like a satin finish. The Ateco blade is 5 7/8" x 3" which makes it a little smaller than the OXO's 6" x 3 1/8" size. The blades on both brands seem very sharp. The OXO has inch markings on the bottom of the blade, like a ruler. The Ateco does not have this feature. I prefer the Ateco. The slimmer handle makes it less bulky to use. I feel the Ateco would be better for icing cakes because I want something that will act more like an extension of my hand. Both are dishwasher safe. I usually cut stick butter still in the wrapper. For me, this is not an easy task with the OXO. The OXO merely pushed the wrapper down pushing the butter apart until it finally cut through the paper. The Ateco sliced right through the wrapper and hard butter. I hardly ever used the OXO but since I received the Ateco, I have been using it every chance I get.