Darienne
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Posts posted by Darienne
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Hello Scott. All good points.
I think your limb just broke underneath you...I was born and raised in Montreal. That's where my Mother's family lived. (The long story is, of course, very long.) Montreal bagels. Yumm.
Can't get them around here...only Toronto bagels.I have a recipe, amongst the many, which calls for egg whites. I was going to try the simple sugar and lemon juice recipe next, but maybe I'll go for the egg white version.
Although our nearby town is not big, the turnover in tahini is rapi in our health food/bulk food store. We spoon it out of a large pail. I must ask the owner why he thinks this is so. He also carries blocks of halvah, but I don't know where they come from.
The syrup stage is soft ball in several recipes: 240 degrees F/115 degrees C.
I'll get back to the halvah in a day or two when I decide what to do with the last failed experiment. Tastes good, but is crumbly. I was thinking about stirring it into melted dark chocolate and using it as a ganache. Maybe. Or just tossing it. The DH likes it, so I guess I won't.
Thanks again.
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Who else can I tell? Christmas in October.
Confectionery partner Barbara and I were just given 4...that's right...4 cardboard boxes by a friend who bought them for us as a gift at a yard sale for $5. $5.00!!!
Two full boxes of chocolate molds, mostly the hobby variety, but a lot of them very strong (many Canadian made and probably quite old), and even some tin 3D molds. Every season, every theme you could think of, including some which would be considered...'adult'.
The other two boxes were full of unopened stuff: LorAnn flavorings, candy colorings, dusts, plastic bags...dozens of different size unopened boxes...lollie sticks, 2 plastic cases of Wilton icing tips. I think that about covers it.I would love to have the name of the lady who gave away...yes, in my mind, they were given away...all her precious things, her former life. I would love that she would know that they are being given a good home.
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You can buy a box of 100 for about $2.99 at beauty supply stores. I have a box I bought at Sally's a couple of years ago. However this size is not always convenient.
I also buy the sets of various sizes, 50 in a pack, at Home Marketplace
where you can also get the larger ones that fit over baking pans and etc.
Brilliant! Never even thought of that. You used to be able to buy a package of thingies in the grocery store. Then I never saw them again and had been saving motel shower caps and even buying some dollarama shower caps for that purpose.
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I would add a small change to Kerry's excellent advice, bearing in mind that I am adding the words of the novice to those of the master.
Rather than scooping up the centers from the slabbed ganache, I would turn out the ganache, cut it into squares, and then roll each square in your hands quickly to make the balls. This I think is faster and less trouble. Oh well, it's what I do.
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Sometimes a large bottle of vodka will have two teensy bottles, either of vodka or something else, hanging around its neck. DH will buy this. The little bottles are just big enough to store little bits of other liquids.
(Remember that in Ontario, a bottle of vodka, cheapest kind, starts at $52.00 I can hear the American gasps.
You cannot get single distilled vodka in Ontario, only triple.) -
from Wikipedia
IsraelHeavily sesame-flavoured tahini halvah (חלבה) is very popular in Israel and among people of Jewish background all over the world.[12][13] Spelled "halvah" in English, it usually comes in slabs or small packages and is available in a wide variety of flavours, chocolate and vanilla being very common. The halvah is almost always parve, meaning it does not contain any meat or dairy ingredients, ensuring that it can be eaten with/after either milk or meat dishes according to the laws of Kashrut. Israeli halvah will usually not contain wheat flour or semolina but will contain sesame tahini, glucose, sugar, vanilla and saponaria root extracts (soapwort) which are not always found in other recipes.[14]
Question: if the halvah contains dairy, then it can be eaten with dairy dishes but not meat according to dietary laws. Well, yes.
But Israeli halvah...the kind we are trying to make...does not contain any milk, but does contain saponaria. Can't yet get any ingredient equivalent for this. It makes me wonder if the recipe for halvah with egg white is aiming at this.
OK. From Eclectic Recipes website:
Halva from Tadjikistan includes both soft and solid varieties, with eggwhites in the soft version. Some of the Tadjiki Halva (or Khalva) recipes also include soap root. This is not normally the European soapwort—Bouncing Betty—Saponaria officinalis, but a variety of different roots all translated as ''soaproot''. These include a root, or perhaps roots, known in arabic as 'erq al halaweh (halawa root), and in Turkish as Çöven Kökü, probably these are the plants known as Levantine Soapwort or Turkish Baby's Breath—they are varieties of Gipsophila, perhaps G. pilosa or G. rokejeka, but G. paniculata L. G. effusa, and G. acutiflia fisch, are all mentioned by various sources. Acanthophyllum sp. is also sold, from Teheran, as white soaproot , expressly for the manufacture of halva. Eggwhites and the various soap roots all serve to lighten the halva. They are added to the sugar syrup so that it can be whipped to a foam (technically, they are used as a frappe), before incorporating the tahini. The bark of the soap tree,Quillaja saponaria—a central American native, also called bois de Panama—has similar properties. All of these—soapwort, soap tree, and the various soap roots—contain saponins, and can reportedly be used to produce halva.For domestic production, eggwhites are easier to obtain. The method is like that for nougat or italian meringue; the resulting halva is light and soft.
(I trust that I have done the above quotes and provenance correctly.)
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Ilana. Thanks. I already have the Eclectic recipe and thanks for it and the other one. As noted in last post, I'll do a water and sugar recipe next.
And I'll search around again about the milk recipe to see what I can find. It must be that I cooked it on too high a heat. Also that I am probably too lazy to make something on low heat when I can do the sugar and water instead.
Or as the DH pointed out...they didn't have condensed milk in the 'olden' days. Hmmm...they didn't have sugar either...but they had honey. But then honey is such an iffy thing. So much variety.
I asked at our health food/bulk food store a couple of days ago and they keep only clover and buckwheat honey. This is a small town and there isn't the wide range of stuff you could get in Toronto. (I'd rather do without than go to Toronto any more than I have to.
)Onwards and upwards...
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Stu first. OK. Thanks. Bits & Bobs:
Caramel: I have made wonderful caramel a number of times. Use Kerry Beal's recipe which is adapted from L'Ecole Lenotre, Vol.2, posted in her 101 eG course. Caramel recipes don't start out with milk, do they?
Halvah: Never thought of halvah in terms of caramel. Halvah is so flaky...but you could be right. Never thought about the "not starting the crystallization process too soon". Will think about it some...later in the day.
Big Problem: cooking milk for such a long time and not over a very low heat. If I had not stirred it, the browned/aka slightly burnt part on the bottom of the pot would have simply gotten thicker and more burnt.
Tahini: it was warm...50 degrees...not actually hot.
Lord, it is all so confusing when you are the in middle of the muddle. What I shall do is try one or more of the sugar & water recipes and see what happens. I can't burn it the same way.
I'll be baaaack.
and thanks again -
Thanks for the added advice.
Freezing the half-baked biscotti might well be the answer.
And I do store my nuts in the freezer normally...it's the mix of nuts and liquids I guess.
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As noted above, first try at Halvah ended up in the trash (garbage for Canadians), Recipe called for flour base.
Second try, base of condensed milk, now sealed, in the fridge for 36 hours to 'allow sugar crystals time to grow'. This recipe is one of the four passed on above by stuartlikesstrudel.
As I began to make the halvah, in my usual half-informed way, I realized that the instructions called for boiling sugar, condensed milk and flavorings until the soft ball stage, but gave no directions as to heat, no stir or don't stir, no pot size...very little. So I stirred, as the milk browned heavily and merrily on the bottom of the pot. On and on. I had no idea of what to do. Perhaps I should have used a very low heat? I used medium. Perhaps I should not have stirred? It was too late for second thoughts.
Then I heated the tahini to 50 degrees Celsius while it too browned quickly on the bottom. Mixed the two together as noted, beating as directed. Turned it out onto a silpat to 'knead until the mixture begins to set'. It was HOT. HOT!!! Who could knead such a hot mass? And it was setting like crazy. Tasted good.
So I kneaded it as much as my hands would bear. Now it's in the fridge and I'll be back in 36 hours to report. Anyone care to comment on my errors? Etc?
Next try will be the sugar based recipe with lemon juice, etc. I can't burn it at least.
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Thanks Rena. Our weather is cool and always near 100% humidity. Thanks for the information. I will google freeze dried fruit powders...
And Jaymes. Thanks again. Rum balls will be on the list this year. I am working with an experienced confection maker and she will no doubt have made rum balls before.
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While looking for answers, I came upon the following: According to Natalie Haughton Food Editor of COOKIE CONFIDENTIAL. December 2006
You can make and freeze formed unbaked individual cookies months in advance if they are well-wrapped in plastic wrap. But be aware that some doughs -- such as meringue and biscotti cannot be frozen.Too bad.
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I was just thinking about nuts in ice cream. Some of them seem to get softer in the frozen mixture. Would freezing the nuts in unbaked cookie and biscotti dough have the same effect? Or would the nut crisp up again when baked? Sorry I didn't think of this earlier.
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Biscotti keep so well - if no one eats them
- that I wouldn't bother freezing them.Thanks, but what I meant is freezing the unbaked biscotti dough...
And what I need most to know is how the freezing would affect the nut, if at all.
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It appears that unbaked cookie dough freezes well and for quite a long time.
No one spoke specifically about doughs with nuts in them, so I am wondering if you can freeze both cookie and biscotti batters with nuts in them.
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Rum balls, in a tightly-sealed tin, keep practically forever.
Thanks Jaymes. I've never made a rum ball. Truth be told, I'm not even sure what a rum ball is, but I'll look up a recipe right away.
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In the bad old days, before I took up my late life of cooking, I used to order muffins each August for our Dog Weekend. They came in these plastic flats which originally held cheap margarine by the 2-pounds. Oh, these are WONDERFUL storage containers, coveted by all. And shared with only a hand-picked few.
Oops, I did not use the margarine.
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Caramels, brittles and toffee may become rancid after 3-4 weeks, depends on the butter content.
Thanks Lisa. I think I'll make a chart of often made confections.
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Thanks, Beanie.
Now I know more than I did in the beginning, but I don't see myself using this product in the near future. But you never know...
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Thanks, gap. That's a good start for me.
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I know, I know, it's very early to mention the word "Christmas" or whatever holiday one celebrates at the end of December. I am partial to the Solstice myself, and we always have a Solstice celebration, and so far it has worked.
Still, confectionery partner, Barbara, and I have to make goodies for a Christmas festival which is held in mid-November. Presumably folks are not buying for gifts, but rather for immediate consumption, but with a Christmas theme.
So, I know from previous posts that hard tack lollies are good for a month and that chocolate covered (but not immersed) turtles are two weeks. I tried to find the earlier posts, but gave up after a while. Immersed in chocolate turtles are good for, if I recall, a bit longer than just coated.
I need a bit of a chart. Answers to any or all of the following will be gratefully received. And I am sure others might well add other confections. I have hardly scratched the surface.
How long ahead of time for presentation/selling/donation/etc can the following be made:
* marshmallows, undipped
* marshmallows, dipped in chocolate
* candied ginger, dipped in chocolate
* peanut/nut brittle
* chocolate-coated toffee
* chocolate-coated pretzels
* candied nuts
* candied nuts, dipped in chocolate
* nougat, undipped
* nougat, dipped in chocolate
* caramels dipped in chocolate
Thanks.
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A new and stupid mistake. Using the Kevlar oven mitts when the fingers were wet. Guess what? They don't work when they are wet.
I was taking out of the oven something wet and sloppy...mind, and so I held on and wailed and got it up onto the stove top before rushing over to the cold water tap.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
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I couldn't decide whether to post this here or in the Ad Hoc at Home topic. In the opening pages of , Keller lists what he considers to be four essential counter top appliances:
- vita-mix
- stand mixer
- scale
- food processor
I need a bigger counter space to take all that plus work on it. Both my food processor and stand mixer are in a large armoire type thingy in our breezeway. The scale is inside a kitchen cupboard and the vita-mix, which DH picked up at our local transfer station (aka dump) is in the garage awaiting our attention...
- vita-mix
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We save the plastic caps that come on dairy products...but only the ones which fit nicely onto our hummingbird feeders. And we have well over a dozen. Oh, the caps are for cleaning and storage purposes. Ed has take on the job of chief hummingbird caretaker and he takes it very seriously. We use more sugar in the spring, summer and fall than seems seemly.
We have more hummingbirds each year that you could ever imagine in this northern clime and considering that our flower garden is laughable and almost-non-existent after 15 years of benign neglect, I can't figure out why we have been 'picked' for home base. Sitting outside almost anywhere in the 'back yard'is an amazing experience, and can be unnerving for those who are not at home with being constantly whizzed past by many little feathery bodies. I think the ultimate experience is catching and taking one of the little guys out of the sun room in your hands. They go limp when you touch them and you can feel NOTHING in your cupped hands.
And all this from a few dairy container caps.
Halvah, a favorite confection
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Hi prasantrin,
No problem with your reasoning. As a Canadian and a Montrealer by birth, I am simply trying to assert Montreal's independence.
Who wants to be only an arm of something else? But, truth told, you are no doubt correct. My forebears came to Montreal from the States as scab labor before the turn of the 20th and no doubt their pockets were stuffed with NY style halvah and bagels. 
But then where did the Toronto-style bagel come from?