Adventures With The Sage

Collect needed items:

Recipe:
8 ounces Baking Chocolate
2 sticks of Butter, 4 ounces each
2-1/2 cups Sugar plus 2 tablespoon
6 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, I generally add 1 Tablespoon
1 teaspoon Salt
1-1/2 cup Flour
1 cup Walnuts plus 4 tablespoons (if desired) I don’t add nuts often.

Preheat the oven to 325 ° F. Lightly grease the baking pan and set aside.

Gently melt the baking chocolate in the microwave using short bursts of time, unless you just made your baking chocolate. Set aside and melt your butter. Stir the butter into the melted chocolate and allow to cool to room temperature.

Once the baking chocolate and butter mixture has cooled to room temperature, add the sugar and stir until the sugar has been completely incorporated. Add the beaten eggs and gently stir until the eggs have been mixed into the batter. Stir the vanilla extract and salt into the mixture.

Now, add the flour and gently fold the flour into the batter. We don’t want to mix the batter too much, otherwise we will have a very tough brownie because the gluten in the flour has been developed. If desired, you can fold the nuts into the batter, leaving the 4 tablespoons to sprinkle on the top before baking.

Evenly spread the batter in the pan. Bake for approximately 35 minutes. There should be a light crust on the top of the brownies and a toothpick, inserted in the center, should come out clean. Allow the brownies to cool before serving. If you are like me and impatient, feel free to eat the brownies after they have cooled sufficiently to slice, about 2 hours. If you can wait, these brownies really taste great if they have had 24 hours to “age”. This allows the flavors to mellow.

Sit down with a glass of milk or a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy!

Collect needed supplies:
Cocoa Butter
Hershey’s Cocoa: Special Dark
Hershey’s Cocoa: Natural Unsweetened
SACO Premium Cocoa: A Special Blend of natural & Dutched Cocoa
Mixing bowl
Microwave safe container (I’m using a Pyrex liquid 2 cup measure)
Spoons
Rubber Scraper
Scale

Recipe in percentages:
40% Cocoa Butter
60% Cocoa Powder

We have 3 cocoas we will blend. Since we will make brownies next, I’m going to blend these like this:

40% Hershey’s Cocoa: Natural Unsweetened
40% SACO Premium Cocoa: A Special Blend of natural & Dutched Cocoa
20% Hershey’s Cocoa: Special Dark

This will give use a unique blend of flavors to round out our brownies. If you happen to have black cocoa (think Oreos) then limit this cocoa to 10-15% of your blend. Black cocoa is very single sided in flavor. Go ahead and use what ever cocoas you have available and that you like the flavor of.

We need 8 ounces for brownies. 40% of 8 ounces is 3.2 ounces, this is the cocoa butter. 60% of 8 ounces is 4.8 ounces, this is the cocoa. We now need to figure the amounts of cocoa by variety.

4.8 X 40% = 1.92 ounces
4.8 X 20% = 0.96 ounces

1.92 ounces Hershey’s Cocoa: Natural Unsweetened
1.92 ounces SACO Premium Cocoa: A Special Blend of natural & Dutched Cocoa
0.96 ounces Hershey’s Cocoa: Special Dark

Weigh all of the Cocoa Powders into the mixing bowl, stir together and then set aside. Weigh the Cocoa Butter into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until the Cocoa Butter is melted. Now that the Cocoa Butter is melted, gently pour it over the mixed Cocoa Powder and stir to combine all the ingredients thoroughly. Check and make sure there are no more lumps of powder that need to be broken up.

Cool, stirring periodically. When this mixture is cool to the touch on the upper lip, the baking chocolate is ready to use in baking.

Otherwise, pour into storage containers and label for use on another day.

Enjoy!

Collect needed items:

Weigh your fragrance oils and set aside.

Measure oils on your scale. Warm on the stove or in the microwave. Bring temperature to near 120 °F. Exact temperature is not critical. Add sodium hydroxide to the water. Mix well. Allow to cool to near 120 °F. Once again, exact temperature is not critical.

Combine oils and lye solution. Stir until thin trace. Upon trace add the fragrance oil blend and color. Stir well. Pour soap into molds. Allow to sit until soap is firm.

Cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar.

Notes: I haven’t cut this soap yet. I expect to release pictures of this soap once it has been cut this afternoon. I love how yummy this soap is smelling right now! Most of the staff have found various reasons to wander by the test kitchen and tell me that this smells just like a bar of soap!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Grind oatmeal to a fine flour. Measure 4 ounces. Set aside.

Measure oils on your scale. Warm on the stove or in the microwave. Bring temperature to near 120 °F. Exact temperature is not critical. Add sodium hydroxide to the water. Mix well. Allow to cool to near 120 °F. Once again, exact temperature is not critical. It is a good idea to record your temperatures so refinements can be made. Since this particular batch of soap was poured into one deep mold, the temperatures do not have to be as high as when pouring the same batch size into a shallow mold.

Combine oils and lye solution. Stir until thin trace. Add finely ground oatmeal and ground cinnamon. Adding the oatmeal slowly while continuously stirring will help prevent lumping. Stir out any lumps. Upon trace add the Gingerbread & Spice Fragrance Oil. Stir well. Pour soap into molds. Allow to sit until soap is firm.

Cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar.

Notes & Comments:
Please note that some individuals can have an allergic reaction to cinnamon. Please label your soap. We think the color is gorgeous! Try it if your family doesn’t have a cinnamon allergy.

Ground cinnamon will accelerate the trace, so be prepared to see your soap turn from very fluid to mashed potatoes in 2 minutes flat! You may add the cinnamon to the soap when you add your fragrance to minimize the acceleration. Before adding make sure your molds are ready for the soap!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II, Peppermint Essential Oil and Spearmint Essential Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II, Peppermint Essential Oil and Spearmint Essential Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 8 fl oz of cream.

While I was making this batch for the pictures, I was told by our photographer, Mitch, that he really doesn’t like the smell of Lanolin. After I added the Peppermint Essential Oil and Spearmint Essential Oil to the cream, Mitch said that he couldn’t smell the Lanolin anymore and it smelled really good. After the cream cooled, I gave him a small test jar to try on his hands. Guess what? He fell in love with the cream and said that it was an amazing hand or foot cream and the Lanolin gave it an excellent massage quality.

Enjoy!

Would you like to join a swap? We are hosting another swap on The Sage Forum. The theme is Spring Dreams. If you would like product evaluations, we can help you get those valuable testing opinions from others in the swap. We look forward to the various products.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II and Orange Valencia Essential Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II and Orange Valencia Essential Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 10 fl oz of cream.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II and Mango Sorbet Fragrance Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II and Mango Sorbet Fragrance Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 4 fl oz of cream.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients into your microwave safe container. Microwave using shorts bursts of time until all of the ingredients are melted. It took me about 2-1/2 minutes, stirring about every 30 seconds. Once all the ingredients have been melted, pour into your lotion bar tubes or molds. Allow to cool completely before capping or removing from molds.

Notes:This recipe will fill approximately 10 Lotion Bar Tubes and each tube will contain approximately 0.63 ounces of product.

If you would like to add a fragrance, use our Fragrance Calculator to calculate the amount of fragrance you want. Simply choose the “Lotion, Cream and Body Butter” product option and the weight of the complete recipe for the first step, then choose the fragrance or essential oil of your choice and click on the “Calculate” button on the bottom of the screen.

Enjoy! Next week, we will make more lotion and some fun batches of soap, so stay tuned!

Would you like to join a swap? We are hosting another swap on The Sage Forum. The theme is Spring Dreams. If you would like product evaluations, we can help you get those valuable testing opinions from others in the swap. We look forward to the various products.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.