Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
I've continued to think about this topic and I'm wondering if I understand your question at all. I've focused on your idea to use cocoa butter... But what really is the question?
I've read enough of your posts to believe you make perfect pie crusts. Most people would be happy enough to reach that level of expertise.
You've mentioned health concerns. You never said what fats you use in your perfect pie crust. Are you trying to make the same perfect pie crust but replace an unhealthy fat with a healthier fat?
You mentioned a desire to not have to chill water etc. Are you simply looking for a way to make a perfect crust without needing to take temperature into account?
I don't understand what we're trying to accomplish here.
I'm trying to blend lard and another solid fat in order to create both a higher temperature stable fat, and reduce the negative affects of cholesterol producing fat per volume. So the end result would be to be able to use the fat without the fuss about chilling all of the ingredients, and have a healthier fat to work with.
I find lard far superior to butter as a baking fat where tender, flaky pastry is the goal. Lard will allow pastry to set its shape better than butter, and has no water content, where butter does. Butter melts at a lower temperature than does lard, which is why products like puff pastry require constant chilling to create the layers of the end product. In addition, lard produces less cholesterol than does butter, per unit volume.
I have also heard that palm oil has similar propeties to cocal butter. It might be a less expensive product to achieve the results that I hope to get in the blended fat experiment. I have no experience using either cocao butter, or palm oil.
Looking into fats is a new item of research for me. I am admittedly, in fat 101 class. I greatly appreciate your input. It has already given me much to think about, and a lot more information than I had.
Oh, and I chose the name - Chief Longwind of the North - as a way of poking a little fun at myself. It helps remind me to cut back on the verbage (yes i can get longwinded), and helps keep me humble, and not take myself too seriously. I've occasionally let my ego get in my own way at some points in my life (I was the skinny kid who tried to overcompensate for being small by bragging and other counter-productive behaviors as a child). Though successes in my adult life have eliminated the need to overcompensate (I am very comfortable with who I am now), old habits never really go away. Rather, they are simply controlled. So I don't mind being called Longwind. Besides, the name was given to me by a friend, and that gives it value.
Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North