Making cherry stengeli yourself — cherry stengeli Zurich

Mix the wheat starch with the corn starch and pass it through a sieve — or sift both directly into the powder box. The only thing that matters is the ratio: two thirds wheat starch, one third corn starch. And the box needs to be well filled.

It's best to prepare two or three boxes at once, so you only have the effort once. Stack them on top of each other and place them in the oven for at least eight hours at 50 °C fan. That way the powder gets properly dry.

Take the boxes out of the oven and loosen up the starch mixture with a whisk — just run it through. Then smooth it out again: ideally with the back of the wooden stick to which the plaster stamps are attached. Run over it several times until the surface is really even.

Press the plaster stamps into the smooth starch. Make sure there's always 1 to 2 cm of space between the moulds — if you leave less, they'll collapse.

We used the classic plaster mould in the long version: 6.3 cm long, 0.9 cm wide. Eleven moulds on a wooden board, stamped four times in the box — that gives 88 cherry stengeli for two boxes. It's worth buying several moulds, as it goes much faster.

Put the granulated sugar and water into a pan and boil the mixture to exactly 108 °C. Brush the sides of the pan generously with water — this way the sugar crystals flow back down and dissolve completely. Use a silicone brush for this.

Once the syrup has reached 108 °C, remove it from the heat immediately, cover it with a cloth or a metal plate and let it cool for about two minutes.

Now add the kirsch — at least 40 % vol. Simply pour it into the syrup and let the mixture stand for half a minute. Then pour it into a new bowl, cover it again, wait another half a minute and pour again. Repeat this about four times.

Carefully pouring back and forth lets the syrup and alcohol combine very gently. If you were to stir the alcohol in with a ladle or whisk, sugar crystals could form — and that is the last thing we want.

Pour the combined syrup into a tall container or a syrup vessel and measure the sugar density with the Hydrometer for sugar syrup. Hold the device in the liquid and briefly push it down once — it will rise back up. Where the line sits once it comes to rest is the Baumé degree.

In our case that is 31 °Bé, and that is exactly where it should be.

Once the Bé degree is right, fill the syrup into the professional funnel and fill the prepared moulds. Bring the funnel down as far as possible so the stream does not destroy the mould. Fill to just below the edge.

Let the filled moulds stand for about 40 minutes at room temperature. Only then do you very lightly dust the surface with the lukewarm starch mixture — really just a wafer-thin layer. Let stand for another 30 minutes.

Then sift a second layer over the top until the stengeli are completely covered. Now let the boxes rest at room temperature for at least 12, ideally 24 hours.

Brush the powder off the surface with a fine brush until you can clearly see the stengeli. Lift them carefully out of the mould, hold them over a separate bowl and free them from the excess starch mixture.

This really must be done over a separate bowl, not over the Powder box: the sugar layer is wafer-thin, and with too much pressure it breaks — then the syrup pours into the box. Better to clean up more afterwards.

Place the dusted stengeli on a Cake rack — if one breaks, the liquid drains away downwards and does not attack the others.

Carefully lower the stengeli into the tempered Dark couverture, push it under and lift it out with the dipping fork. Tap it gently against the edge of the tempering device so excess chocolate drains off, and set the stengeli down on baking paper. Let it set there.

Coat the stengeli with a second layer of couverture. Optionally you can then set them onto Cocoa powder and dust them with it.

The second layer is optional too — but highly recommended. Especially for gifting or longer storage, the stengeli are better protected with it. In return the delicate alcohol flavour recedes a little, because the chocolate becomes thicker. Everything has its pros and cons.

Individually wrapped in our wrapping paper for caramels, they make gifts that everyone is guaranteed to enjoy.