Darienne
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Posts posted by Darienne
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Who else can I tell?
Yesterday I made Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream, as cited on Cookbooks for Ice Cream & Sorbets (not exact name) and it is incredible!!!
Today it is still soft enough to scoop...set the freezer at -4 degrees F as instructed. This recipe is lower in whipping cream than many and has no eggs! Good-O for caloric intake which is already high enough.
Of course, I substituted my glace kumquats...what on earth could I really do with them?
...for his peach preserves, and added chopped pecans. Yummm 
(means 'yum')I am so excited!
A terrific success!!! -
Love this topic!
My DH and I have his and her digital scales. Of course. And his and her pots and pans and knives.
As for measuring cups and spoons, I thought I could get away with only one set of this and that while in Moab, but soon was off to the local stores to buy seconds. And then still needed to borrow second 4 and 8 cup pyrex measures for candying stuff and making lollies for the kids.
Miss all the endless small stainless steel bowls I have at home. Am using ugly green plastic things.
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Why not have Amazon send you the KitchenAid? Here's a link that will get you the mixer for 60 bucks, and garner a few pennies for the eGullet Society (at no extra charge to you): KA 9-speed. At that price, I'm pretty sure they ship for free.
OK. I followed your "Do ten things to help eGullet" and the information there still doesn't tell me what to do to get them to attach my order to eGullet. I am not very computer savvy.
Edited many minutes later: I see now that you gave me the 'eGullet' link to get the mixer. After much frustration, many errors on my part, I finally concluded business by ordering one KA machine. Oh my.
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Thank you all for all that incredible information...especially for the reviewing organizations I had never heard of before...very new to this area of endeavor.Ed bought me the Hamilton Beach 62695 a couple of days ago, and we still haven't used it. But after all the reading and investigation, I think we'll just keep it. I need a hand mixer daily. Back to making ice cream today.
We are two hours away from the nearest shopping area (and $50) and all the other handmixers which we have found in Moab are of the discontinued and lower quality nature, for instance, there is only the KA 5 speed which gives no more value than the HB. And there is no Cuisinart, no Braun, no Oster. You pay for the red rocks in the lack of shopping. Tourists don't buy handmixers.
This is not worth driving myself crazy any longer. I'll get a KA top quality when this one gives it up.
Again, my grateful thanks to you all.
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The 6-speed Hamilton Beach mixer received a "not recommended" in Cook's Illustrated's equipment test, as did Dualit Professional and Farberware Preferred.
KitchenAid 7-speed, Braun Multimix 4-in-1, and Cuisinart 7-speed all received "highly recommended".
Black and Decker PowerPro and Oster 6-speed were "recommended".
I'd return your HB and get the B&D or Oster--both should be in the same price range.
Any chance you could give me the year or even issue of Cook's Illustrated? The Moab library lists the periodical in its holdings and I'll go tomorrow to see if I can locate the equipment test.
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Before running out and getting the KA, just remember that there are 4 different models to KA hand mixers...CI didn't compare the differences between these models, and as far as I can tell, they only tested the 7 speed (Ultra Power Plus)
Thanks for steering me to the comparison table. Unfortunately the information was all pretty superficial as one would expect when KA is trying to sell them all.
I remain in hand mixer confusion for now...am still pondering it all.
The problem remains that although Moab appears to have a fairly large number of different hand mixers, they are all older models. Furthermore the CR listings are only up to 2005. Tomorrow I go to the library which says it holds Cook's Illustrated.
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I really wanted a KA based on research but cheaped out and bought a very nice Oster (I think that is a Sunbeam?) I've kicked myself ever since. The biggest problem is the lowest speed is way too fast. I was used to having the ability to incorporate dry ingredients without them flying out of the bowl - almost impossible with this speed demon.
Go KA!
Thanks tsquare. One more piece of information. My last two (burnt-out) hand mixers have been B&D and the lowest setting on them was the same as the one you describe on your Oster/Sunbeam/?. Live and Learn.
I'm going to have to convince my DH that numbers of watts and amperage is not the only thing to go by. It seems that EVERYONE says...go forth and purchase the KA. OK.
(I need more smiley faces available for my moods ) -
I'm in love! Dig this custom painted 20qt Hobart mixer. It's worth the price as a conversation piece alone.
Chad
Thanks for that link. Laurie, the new baker at the local Village Market, will love to see that photo!
What a hoot! -
The 6-speed Hamilton Beach mixer received a "not recommended" in Cook's Illustrated's equipment test, as did Dualit Professional and Farberware Preferred.
KitchenAid 7-speed, Braun Multimix 4-in-1, and Cuisinart 7-speed all received "highly recommended".
Black and Decker PowerPro and Oster 6-speed were "recommended".
I'd return your HB and get the B&D or Oster--both should be in the same price range.
Thank you so much for that information. The mixer has not been used yet and I'll tell my DH what you said. We had only Consumer Reports to go by and that information was not in it.
We can't get Braun, Cuisinart or Oster in Moab, and I am not sure which B&D model it is which is available. (That's the one which just burnt out after one year. I think I was not aware of just how restricted in use these hand mixers are)
Price is not the problem with the KA...if it is the 7 speed one...DH does not like the amperage thing.
However it plays out, thanks so much for the information.
I'll note the "Cooks Illustrated" from now on. CR is not the best for kitchen stuff. Its ratings criteria are not always really applicable. -
Any thrift stores in town? The old GE hand mixers will last forever!!
True, at least in my case. My GE is at least 25 years old. I'd like something less homely, but it just won't break.
.6 amps @ 110 volts = 66 watts, such a small number (in comparison the the competition) that it's no wonder that KA wants to disguise it. On the other hand, these are all describing power consumption, not power output, which, as a cook, is what should concern you. Much depends on the efficiency of the mechanical design. It's very possible that a KA could outperform any of the others, for the same reasons that a 189 hp Lotus can beat the pants off a 300 hp Mustang GT.
If there is one thing Moab has that is wonderful, it's the thrift stores
... However, in all the years visiting Moab...or our home town in Ontario, I have never seen even one second hand hand mixer. Stand mixers...a few ancient ones...but nary a hand mixer. I think hand mixers just die a lonely unmourned death.I did as much research on this one as I felt it deserved, and then the DH went out and bought me a Hamilton Beach hand mixer for $24.99. 6 speeds...more than sufficient. 275 watts...who knows? A pig in a poke.
Waiting for me at home is new 1000 watt 7-quart Cuisinart. DH likes big.
Not much point in fighting it. ps. as noted earlier, we also have a very ancient hand mixer at home which also refuses to die.
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If you weren't in such a hurry, I'd suggest the KitchenAid factory outlet: www.shopkitchenaid.com and click on the "outlet" tab.
Amazingly enough we found more handmixers than we thought possible
: KA, Proctor Silex, Black & Decker, Farberware, Hamilton Beach, West Bend, and a couple of basically no-namers.All the mixers were $15 - $27 ...except for the KA which was $70. HOWEVER while all the inexpensive mixers listed their wattage from 125 at the bottom end to 275 at the top, the KA did not, but listed .6 Amperage which my DH says is nada. A West Bend stand mixer on sale for $70 listed its amperage at 3 amps. Now, says my DH, that might be worth buying.
I borrowed my next-door-neighbor's ancient Sunbeam for last night's dessert=dinner, and she offered to lend it to me the entire time we are here. Funny how the ancient ones just keep plugging along and the new fandangled ones burn out over mixing water it seems.
I don't know what to do...
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All I can say in defence of my Black & Decker is that it is the most powerful of the cheapies...but then I have to add that I have burnt out two of them in the last year. Whereas our very old...can't remember what it is...one is ugly and unloved but it keeps on going. It's at home...
So I shall look for a Kitchen Aid mixer. Today. Need it for tonight's dinner=dessert. Cheese Blintz Souffle.
Thanks to you both.
And if I can't find a KA, will buy one when we get home again.
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I am in deepest Utah in a town without too many shopping options...that's why we love Moab...and my Black & Decker handmixer just gave up the ghost.
I have a 7-quart Cuisinart standmixer at home. This is my traveling mixer.Within a day or two at most I must buy another hand mixer. Any suggestions? Keeping in mind that there are not many brands of kitchen appliances to be found here. No Wal-Mart, just an Alco and an idependent called Walker Drugs.
Thanks for any help.
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Thank you both. In the meantime I found a recipe for the same thing called Semiya Payasam which is very popular in the Kerala area. It has long been a favorite of my DH and we used to make it at home long ago. Now we do it again.
Thanks again.
Darienne -
Different kinds of baked goods have different ratios: get Corriher's Cookwise to begin or her subsequent Bakewise if you really want to learn about the topic. Depending on the leavening (chemical, yeast) and the fats (oil, butter, shortening), and even the kind of sugar (corn syrup, granulated sugar, honey), the results will be different. You can generalize about pound cakes, butter/genoise, sponge cakes, angel food--in other words, within certain cake/baked good types.
Many recipes work as written, but may contain excess leavening, or sugar, or water, etc. When the recipe is halved or doubled, a small excess or insufficiency is magnified. It takes quite a bit of baking chemistry knowledge to eyeball a recipe and figure out whether it is efficiently written--you have to know all sorts of stuff about acidity (pH), temperature of ingredients, temp of baking, kind of leavening, kind of flour, how the fat is incorporated into the flour, and so on and so forth.
I did. I did.
I got Corriher's Cookwise and every second page I am declaring...'I didn't know that'. Amazing book. I am really going to have to earn some money soon to pay for all the Amazon purchases I am making. Oh, I didn't know about books on Amazon either until January. -
I looked back over several years in this sub-Forum and found little about desserts.
I am looking for a recipe for a wonderful dessert noodle pudding. The noodles are the size of angel hair and I recall sugar and milk being the other two main ingredients. We had a house fire in 1995 and I lost all my notes, this pudding being in it.
Thanks.
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"Crunchy Hazelnut Praline" is one of my most popular truffle flavors:
6 1/2 ounces blanched hazelnuts, Toasted
6 1/2 ounces sugar
8 ounces butter, Room temperature
16 ounces Milk chocolate, Tempered
I carmalize the sugar, pour it out on a Silpat, then break it up and run it through a burr grinder on a coarse setting (rather than a whirly grinder). This gives me uniform cruncy bits and no sugar dust.
Recently I've started using Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut meal/flour instead of grinding whole nuts. Either way give it a nice toasting in the oven to bring out the flavor.
Then temper the chocolate, wisk in the butter, add hazelnuts and crunchy bits and pipe into molds. This recipie will fill about three trays of the standard Geodesic mold.
I like to call this "micro-crunch" as you get lots of little crunches in each bite, but no jaw breakers. I haven't done a scientific test to determine how long the crunch lasts, but so far it all the truffles have been consumed well before failure.
If I understand correctly, you caramelize the sugar only, with no hazelnuts in it. The crunch is sugar only. I'll look in the grocery store for the Hazelnut meal next.
Thanks.
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Darienne, I would really consider chocolate with praline (caramelized nut paste) with feulletine. It is great. I make dark choc with hazelnut praline and feulletine, mikl choco with hazelnut praline with bres(caramelized hazelnuts tiney pieces) and white choc with almond praline with nibs. They are one of my favs. You slab it, cut it and dip. If you want like in Kerry's picture, whip up gianduja and then add the crunchy things and then pipe onto your discs. I need to get piping tips and learn how to pipe like in that picture!!! I put coffee grains into my gianduja in my picture on that thread with cocoa covered nuts on the top.
It all sounds and looks delicious
(this little face does not mean 'raz'; it mean 'yumm')Thank you for the information and the inspiration. Oh my, one more thing to put on the list of things to make!!!
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Thanks Lisa and Lior for further posts on this tricky subject.
No, I have not tried the butter ganache yet, but will today if I can. I will also try just plain tempered chocolate.
What I am trying to do is two-fold.
- an experiment, more or less, with each ingredient or pair of ingredients to work out the 'crunch factor' not only theoretically, but also for my own satisfaction.
- want to make a gianduja ganache with crunchy praline bits in it to use as a filling for a pair of dark chocolate discs. Kerry Beal posted a photo of this confection on Lior's thread on 'Using Gianduja'. (I don't know how to bring something from one post to another.)
Mostly I just crawl/lurch along trying this, trying that, having a series of minor failures as I try each thing, repeat it with better success, etc. I have so little context in which to put any of this, never having spent any time baking in the decades of my marriage. Did not grow up knowing any of this at my Mother's knee. This is all new and exciting to me. So I learn, learn, learn... I had little idea that this world existed.
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The butter factor still outweighs the chocolate factor in the ganache because the water is still present, and, depending on the recipe, the water still represents 3% - 10% of the mass of the finished product.
But if the butter is still an important factor and crunch is not supported by the presence of butter, then why is it that the crunch of fueilletine is preserved in a butter ganache?
Am I missing some point here?
Thanks.
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You're trying to make a barrier against moisture, which can come from two sources: other items in your products, or, the environment.
Butter doesn't work, unless it's clarified, or anhydrous, because butter is approximately 20% water. Cream cheese is full of water, so is cream.
Cocoa butter and chocolate make good barriers, as long as your item isn't stored above their melting point. Some ice cream makers use this as a barrier -Breyer's has a flavor with chocolate covered toasted almonds. (although I gave up on eating Breyer's since they started using gums in the formula, so my info may be old)
Commercial ice cream makers may be using waxes, alternate sugars like isomalt, and oils to coat their product. Some of these work longer than others.
Good luck with the chocolate, it should hold up for a while if it's tempered.
Thank you for the information.
Now this is too funny. Just now I googled 'barrier substance crunch' and guess what I got? This thread and your answer.
Added: but what about the butter ganache? Does the chocolate factor overrule the butter factor?
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You can coat the crunchy bits in barrier substance.
I dipped carmalized bits of sugar in cocoa butter when I made a "Creme Brulee" truffle and it preserved them. Next time though I would just use a very thin dark chocolate as pure cocoa butter isn't needed and doesn't taste all that great if it is thick.
Thank you. I like that...a barrier substance.
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I have been going back looking through every post I can find about putting crunchy bits: praline, feuilletine, etc, into other ingredients and retaining the crunch factor. The answer has been that only a butter ganache will do this.
So, I have been experimenting with crushed pecan praline in cream...sog (as expected) cream cheese...sog
; and now the latest, butter...sog. I did not expect sog in butter. A butter ganache is supposed to preserve the crunch factor.My next step is to put the praline into chocolate only. It should stay crunchy? Yes?
Also my next-door neighbor/landlady/friend says to me...'well, how do they keep the crunch in speciality ice creams?' I sure don't know.
All comments and advice gratefully accepted.
(Oh, I am working up to making a gianduja butter ganache and sandwiching it in between chocolate wafers, but in the meantime am fully occupied with playing Ice Cream Lady with my new Cuisinart toy.)
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Two more for me. O Amazon! Where have you been all my life?
Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop by Gail Damerow (just got a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker)
La Dolce Vita: Enjoy life's sweet pleasures with 170 recipe for torte, biscotti, etc, etc, by Michele Sciciolone
Both oldies, but goodies.
Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Post number two...busy lady.
Especially for those of you with grandchildren. I just received a thank you note from the kids at the MultiCultural Center in Moab. Makes it all worthwhile and fun. I get to be a kid again.
Using a recipe from by Elizabeth LaBau for 'Conversation Hearts' at About Candy.com, I made the candy dough, colored and flavored it, rolled & cut it into assorted largish shapes (not hearts) and then made Royal icing in six different colors, divided into 12 separate little plastic bags and turned it over to the Center staff. Added some premade bitsies and eyes. The kids had a ball decorating and eating the candies. No, I forgot about photos.
After these candies and the Valentine's red heart hard candy lollipops...not to mention the Christmas candies...my stock is running very high.!! The mystery candy lady, indeed.
I do love the magic of making confections for kids. They are not sophisticated nor difficult, but they are fun and the kids here are ecstatic. Just think what I can make for them for Easter.