Darienne

Today I made my very first ice cream ever in one of those Cuisinart Ice Cream makers which I came into just yesterday: Vanilla Bean, on the same page as the chocolate one made by Wannabechef. The ice cream was a great success although I feared it would not be. I used previously frozen whipping cream and the cooking custard separated in the pot. I used the hand mixer on it and hoped for the best. And the best it was. I am so grateful to have found this thread BEFORE I attempted the chocolate. I am going to enjoy this little machine and so will my DH.

Good one, but I have to tell you that my informant gets ksl.com in Utah!

I have never tried Amano chocolate although I have now read good things about them. They are based in Orem UT...we are now in Moab, UT...and speak of the great low humidity as a factor in their success. The humidity is terrific for confection making! A friend just sent me an article about Amano, that they have recently won awards for every bar they make at the Academy of Chocolate Awards in London! Good going, Amano and congratulations! (I have tried for the last few days, over and over , to post this news on 'Members News', but it will NOT recognize me.)

I have not only the Cake Bible but also the Pie and Pastry Bible, ordered in a greedy 'throw caution to the winds moment' last month. This morning, while waiting at the dentist's...FOR OVER AN HOUR...I dipped into the Cake book. It is wonderful! It explains so many things. I have fallen in love and shall wallow around in this book for months to come. Thanks for writing.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. There is much in it for a novice to ponder. Thanks.

I haven't tried to 'desalt' nuts, but I have skinned hazelnuts now in hot water and then recrisped them in the oven and it worked perfectly.

Thanks. Just received that book last week and have scarcely opened the cover yet. I will look up the information.

I think I will order the Corriher on ILL. Cookwise. Thanks for the information.

Good point, but I think that they are getting at something else which I don't understand. Thanks.

Good point!!!!

Am I correct in assuming that it would be a mistake to use caramelized cacao nibs in a brittle because they are already cooked and would therefore burn in the process? Greweling's Peanut Brittle calls for raw peanuts, with a variation of 'cocoa nibs' with no mention of raw, cooked or otherwise. Thanks edited for typos

It was serendipity. I recently halved a recipe and was not pleased with the resulting creation and wondered why. The very next day, I read in a fairly recent Bon Appetit (sorry, I did not note the date) in answer to a question re making a particular cake and halving the recipe, and then having it not work out properly: ‘...but it's not all that unusual. According to food scientist Shirley O. Corriher, you should technically be able to halve a cake recipe that is "balanced"- -one in which the weights of the components (flour, milk, fat, and so forth) are in a standard ratio.... ...a large cake needs a smaller proportion of leavening and a larger amount of liquid than a small cake. Using different sizes of cake pans with the same ratio of ingredients might produce different results. Dividing a recipe that isn't perfectly balanced can magnify any irregularities--even if they are intentional variations in the standard ratio.’ OK. First of all please, what is a ‘balanced’ or ‘standard’ ratio? What kind of cake would work that is not perfectly balanced? Are recipes often ‘unbalanced”? Any and all comments gratefully received in the quest.

Congratulations, KristenLea, and welcome to the wonderful world of candying everything you can lay your hands on .

Thanks for the supplier answers.

I was looking at the transfer sheets in the Tomric catalog. $40.00 for one set. Is there anywhere where you can buy a lesser amount to try them out? Or the same amount...$40...but a mixed package? I am such a novice that I can't bring myself to pay that much for something which I may not be able to use at all.

I love it! You gave me the first good laugh of the day. Thanks.

all this syrup talk got me interested ...is it hard to candy orange peel? does anyone have a great recipe/technique? i think it would be hard to get slices of peel? and then what do you do with the leftover oranges? ← Take a look at the following: Candied Citrus Peel - The Topic candied kumquats ← Andiesenji is the Ginger Lady and the best at candying everything. She has a recipe on Recipe Gullet which I have used.

There may well be complications if you have pop-up protection on your computer. I have to do a couple of extra steps to get my photos onto eGullet. Wish I could spell them out, but I can't. I have to relearn it each time. I WILL write the steps down next time.

Thank you all for the recipes and information. I have downloaded and printed them out. This group of folks is really something else!!! Tonight's supper will be pecan waffles...on our new-to-us-second-hand waffle iron...with a variety of toppings: whipped cream, sour cream, chocolate, Bailey's Irish Cream ice cream, toasted extra pecans, and syrup in which Meyer lemon peels were candied. Yes, we are having company. And yes, we are quite popular!!

I am ordering a mold of little flat discs from Tomric to make Gianduja sandwiches. Yummm...

do do do do...do do do do...(musical accompaniment) We ARE having waffles for supper, for our once a week dessert supper. Now I'll add Meyer lemon syrup to the possible toppings. Thanks.

You are quite correct about that. Plastic lollipop molds are usually white and heavier than the hobby chocolate molds...and I don't know exactly what they are made of. I have some very nice lollipops molds now, purchased originally by accident, made of aluminum strips and clips. They come from Sweet Creations in Bountiful, UT. They have a limited number of shapes...all the usual ones: hearts, rounds, bunnies, etc. My current foray, which is meeting with no success in Moab, is to find a source for the aluminum strips to make my own shapes. My DH and I are gourd artisans and I would like to make some gourd shapes. Then I could sell the resulting pops, made either from hard candy or chocolate, at the gourdfests to raise money for the local organization. My next-door-neighbor/landlady/friend in Moab suggested making saguaro and other cactus shapes which I thought was a great idea. I'm going to call Sweet Creations and beg for their source.... Good luck! But I am NOT going into business so maybe they'll help. I made dozens of hard candy lollipops for our local Ontario library to sell to raise funds before we left and they say that the pops are faring well.

I've used some of the syrups a second time for candying another peel. I think the orange went for lemons. I did not keep the kumquat syrup at all. Too full of specific and pungent taste. I have also made little hard candies, like those Reisen tidbits. One time I started to make actual lollipops using the apricot syrup, but it would not harden sufficiently even at the top temperature. I think it had too much of something in it to harden. (Never got an answer to that question.) I'll try the lollipops again with the Meyer lemon syrup.

Dear Ginger Lady, Can you store candied kumquats (orange peel, lemon peel, etc) in plastic containers? Any why are plastic bags forbidden? Thanks. BTW, the candied Meyer peels are outstanding.