Darienne

Don't pass it on, but I have been known simply to throw some instant coffee into the blender to make iced coffee if there is no cold coffee on hand.

I would ask the same question as paulraphael: how much invert sugar to how much sugar. I have used invert sugar in making ice cream, and it has performed very well...no crystals at all. I made the invert sugar using Chef Eddy's recipe, given earlier in this thread. ps. the invert sugar was clear.

Just weighed the finished batch: 2 lbs, 13 oz. Interesting: at $20 per pound, that's close to $60 worth.

And if it isn't, some other poison is sure to be. What a story!!!!

An old plastic milk crate, large clamps, a couple of metal rods and some plastic clothes pegs for our first attempt at dipping pretzels in caramel and chocolate.

I think a first post like this requires a recipe! I especially like that "queso" comes before "pork". And I think that I would like very much to have this queso with pork recipe. Please.

Back in Moab in the land of second hand store bargains. Nothing spectacular this time around but I did get a lovely huge stainless steel colander today for $1.50. Nicer than any I have back home, so home it will go. Oh, and a black 8-sided Arcopal glass mug, Novoctine patter for 50 cents, which for some unknown reason I am now collecting, although preferably in white.

Andie, my dear, you are one clever lady!!! I don't have a big roaster, but I do have the largest crockpot made (I think). Our daughter gave it to me a couple of years ago and mostly it sits there, unused...just TOO big. There was an old electric roaster in a second hand store in Moab a couple of weeks ago. Could have bought it for a song... I'll keep an eye out.

Thinking about the three-in-one crockpot and yearning slightly... Naked greed is so what?...human. If you don't have the space...then the 3-in-1 is great. However, if you do have the space...and we do..although no crockpot is stored in the kitchen proper...but then lots of kitchen stuff is not stored in the kitchen...then three crockpots (or more) are better for multi-cooking, entertaining large crowds, etc. So...shoved my buying urge behind me and concentrated on thinking about the things I actually want to get in the States.

Naturally.

Right. They are simply corn chips, in this case a bite-sized, light variety. I have taken them before to the local GourdFest and they sit on the 'admission' table (admission is free) and they are gone so quickly. I print out dozens of little slips with the recipe on it and all the slips were taken a couple of years ago and I had to send the recipe to a few people who insisted. THe confection is 'wickedlly' good.

For tomorrow's GourdFest: Tostitos Kaki Mochi...addictive little critters. Just googled to see if there was a recipe online in case someone wanted one...only to find that I had posted the recipe to eGullet some time back. I have no idea of how I accomplished that curious error. Here is the recipe

I have been working out the cost of making the stuff. Enstrom's in Grand Junction sells their stuff $20 a lb online. Depending upon what I can buy at what price, it costs me about $15 to make one batch. Oops. I have no idea of what one batch weighs. OK. I'll weigh it next time: 1 1/4 lbs sugar, 1 pound butter, 12 oz chocolate, 7 1/2 oz of almonds. Total of 3.75 lbs. I guess the finished product should weigh 3lbs? 2.75? I'll weigh it this time around. Had to learn how to make confections at 4000'. I have a few orders from the condo management company to make some. (And the plumber who just fixed the toilet has ordered a Spirit Elk gourd for his Father! ) Life is interesting...

Hello RobertM, Do you dip each piece individually in the tempered chocolate and then drop it into a bowl of nut bits? And then place it to dry? I have done my the other way. Dust one entire unbroken side lightly with cocoa, then brush with chocolate and then sprinkle with nuts. Then when that side is hardened, turn the entire slab over and follow the same procedure on the second side. Then when hardened, break into pieces. These were made on Tuesday. (The silly text was for envious friends back home.)

Why not make and use your own invert sugar solution? What are you using it for?

Wonderful work and welcome to the list, prospectbake.

Thanks. I needed that piece of information.

In other words, you are saying that the quality of butter has nothing to do with my earlier problem. The mixture did not separate while I was cooking it. And it went down into the pan just fine. It was only upon hardening that I found this layer of oily stuff on top of the toffee. Once it was removed, the toffee was fine. I shall try to find the section referred to.

We had grilled (pan done) cheese sandwiches for lunch and I gave the subject more thought. The bread is not of greatest importance as long as I like it. However, the cheese - Cheddar - must be medium Canadian variety or newly old. No three-year old cheese and especially not 5-year old Supreme...which I love, but not in a sandwich. As it was, we had American medium Cheddar, Tillamook, nice but as nippy as Canadian mild (sorry guys ). Just too mild for me. My friend Tobe (Ontario) comes over for lunch sometimes for grilled cheese. She wants crispy bacon and tomato in hers. Nope. I want just plain cheese. No new-fangled additions. And at home we have an old metal (remember when stuff was made out of metal?) waffle maker/ griller which we bought in Moab two years ago for $5 at a second hand store. I love it. Best of all, Ed makes the sandwiches, not yours truly. Who could ask for anything more?

We have a Village Market (Western Family) and a City Market (Kroger). The next place with a grocery store is two hours away. I'll look in the organic section in the City Market and see what they have.

In Canada, confectionery partner, Barbara, and I have made an Enstrom Copycat toffee many times. Toffee full of almond slivers, coated on both sides with chocolate, sprinkled with finely chopped almonds. Yummm... We always wipe the toffee with a paper towel and sprinkle it with cocoa (thanks Kerry) before pouring on the chocolate. Good job. No problems. Now I am in Moab making toffee again. The first batch I used City Market butter, $2,79, a Kroger product. The pan of toffee was SWIMMING in oil. I actually poured some of it off before finishing the chocolate part. So I thought. Have I done something wrong this time? Unfamiliar stove, 4,000 feet elevation, American cane sugar, etc, etc. Today I made the toffee again, this time using Challenger butter which costs much more, $4.49, with NO problems at all. Almost no oil surface at all. Lovely toffee. So...there is a difference in butters which makes a difference in toffee. Am I correct?

Grilled, grilled and grilled. No explanations. No justification. Just plain greedy childlike love on my part. And, surprisingly enough, exactly what we are having for lunch tomorrow.

Deliciously horrible!!!

Lovely, Marmish.

And so the Cajeta was 'made'. Perhaps it was my crockpot...perhaps it was me. I don't know. After baby-sitting the stuff for about 12 hours I finally gave up and put it in the fridge. Yummy says the DH, but even as it evaporated with the long, long cooking...it never got all that thick. I used half cow's and half goat's milk. My crockpot is an old Rival, 8 cups, two heat settings only:low & high. That's it. Non-removable liner. ????? (After the fridge time, the syrup is much thicker, but still not thick enough to put on ice cream happily. What if I cook it again slightly with some corn starch? ????)