Darienne

An 'astuce' is a clever way of doing something or solving a problem. ← Thank you.

Hello all, No one has mentioned Astuces in their answers. I googled it and almost all of the listings were in French...or pointed me back to this topic. OK. Please. What is an Astuce(s)? Thanks. Always learning...learning....learning....

Hi Rena, I read your message and smiled broadly. I can't help you at all, but I can identify closely with your problem. My lovely Pecan Brittle is now sauce for ice cream or frozen yoghurt. Best of luck to you and Happy Holidays.

There are a number of brittles with cream as an ingredient.

Somehow I missed the ice cream sauce post from Kerry, but I think that's the one. It is so delicious and we have folks coming for lunch tomorrow. Thanks Kerry. I think that you and Fern may well have some excellent ideas about the altitude and the obvious lack of water in the mixture as the thermometer climbs. I will try the drop in ice cold water next time for sure. So much to learn always and so many folks out there to teach it. I am so grateful.

Interesting point. Out of my league at present seeing as my stay in this altitude is so recent and I am mathematically challenged. To return to an earlier point....I did put a piece of the chewy stuff in the microwave for 2 30 second periods. It melted completely but that was all. I could retry the stuff for additional periods to see what happens. You can make brittle in a microwave very easily. However, following an earlier thread in which I managed to cook caramels too long and they ended up crunchy and following instructions I managed to return them to caramel stage...could I do this with the chewy 'brittle' which, while chewy, is really just too tough to coat with chocolate. I should stop all of this and follow some recipes properly.

Ditto here. Couldn't resist posting. You can leave pretty much anything out and available to me...except for good potato chips. Big downfall.

Here is an interesting situation: Ruth's recipe as printed on eG, thread 'Gobs of Pecans', gives the first temperature as 285*; the second after the addition of the butter is 270*. Her original recipe in Candymaking gives the two temperatures as 295* and then after the butter, 280*. I followed the 'Gobs of Pecan's temperatures. (Hey Ruth! We still adore you. ) So perhaps the first set would have been more appropriate. I still don't have those warning signals in my head. That will come with time. I hope. Question: what about my idea of putting some in the microwave or oven or pot, reheating it? Is it too late because the pecans will burn? Or what? I guess I'll try it come hell or high water, even if I have to throw it all out. Thanks. (The editing was my trying and finally succeeding in using the italics mode)

I thought I mixed it well enough, but then...who knows. Something I did was incorrect. As I said to Kerry, I need a basic course. My partner, Barb, knows all the stuff but she is 2,500 miles away. Thanks.

I followed the recipe religiously. "Cook to 285 degrees (minus 8 degrees for being up at 4000' which makes it 277 degrees)" Both thermometers were in agreement. In fact, the glass thermometer was new...the old one being now in disgrace for inaccurate readings. Both perfect in the boiling water test. What I really wanted to know was if the stuff is redeemable. Ruth suggested not. However, in true pig-headed amateur fashion, I am going to try reheating a bit in the microwave to see if I can turn it into brittle. As it is it is not useful to me in this state. It can't really be given away and that was the purpose behind making it. We can't keep the entire thing. Too dangerous. I could just heat it to warm and rip it apart and form it into some shape and dip it in chocolate.... I am torn. What I REALLY need is a course in basic candymaking. I have printed out the 101 course. I mean a course WITH someone who can say...no, don't do that. Etc. Thanks for the help.

O that is so good. So clever. I just love unexpected bargains like that. Good going. ...think my DH could put together something like that...

Thanks for all the answers. I'll print them out and try at least one of them soon. You really are an incredible bunch of helpful folks.

Thanks for all the information. I did go to the website. Very nice, indeed. I could try it in one of the ways you talk about. Thanks again.

Now that is a distinct possibility, that the thermometer touched the bottom or side of the pot. I had taken out the metal probe, but perhaps I jarred the glass one. I hope Santa brings you an infrared thermometer.

I thought the temperature should have dropped, but it didn't. I will try it all again and perhaps this time, it will be apparent what I did wrong. And I will use all correct ingredients...no ginger syrup stuff. My thermometers are just a simple glass candy one and one of those $25 metal probe attached to a little unit one. Nothing complicated. My problem seems to be that I have no real idea of what I am aiming for, never having made any of this stuff before. My confectionary partner, back in Ontario, grew up cooking at her Mother's knee and I rely on her for that part of the learning experience. Thanks for your thoughts.

Yes, I was using two thermometers, one glass and one metal probe and they both were working. Yes, the nuts were warm out of the oven. I was very careful. When I said toffee...I meant chewy and pully. Soft. Not brittle. "Pecan Chews". There. Thanks.

I had two cups of leftover syrup from candying ginger (Andie's recipe). Last time I had leftover syrup, I made little hard candies. No problem. This time I decided to make a pecan brittle. Started to look in the books I have with me: Time-Life 1981, Ruth Kendrick's Candymaking, Candymaking for Dummies, Candy.com printouts, etc. Suddenly I was drowning in recipes. Butter: no butter. Whipping cream: no cream. 1/4 teaspoon soda: 1 whole teaspoon soda. And so on. I decided to use Ruth's Pecan Brittle, keeping in mind that I was starting with a sugar syrup. All went well until I added the butter and the temperature did NOT drop. (It was supposed to drop and then you heated it back up.) I didn't know what to do. So I went to the 'add the nuts' step. Perhaps I should have cooled it and then put it back on the stove instead. Unlike many of you, I did not grow up learning to do anything at my Mother's knee and carried on from there in similar fashion until recently. This is all new to me. The resulting confection is delicious in the extreme, but it is not brittle. It is still quite toffee like. - can I somehow by reheating it in the oven or stove take it to brittle even with the pecans in it? - should I soften it in the oven and roll it into balls and dip them in chocolate? - would it have been more 'peanut brittle' like if I had added more soda? Ruth calls for 1/2 teaspoon. Less peanut brittle like with 1/4 teaspoon? .....right. I did make sponge toffee and it called for more soda.... Sorry, with no experience to fall back on, it can be very confusing to know what to do. Just why are there SO MANY nut brittle/ crunch recipes? Is it on a par with so many, say, spaghetti sauce recipes? Thanks

I think you are right about the grounds problem and the more I think about it, the more I suspect that there are no recipes for coffee butter ganache because it is a no go. Thanks for trying. Greweling's raspberry bites are terrific with the nibs in it so I'll just stick to it and use a cream coffee ganache which works well...without nibs. Thanks. Oops. Did not see Kerry's reply. Right. No Lorann. Thanks.

Chocolot, as noted in this forum, is starting a new chocolatier business and I have posted photos of her wonderful presentation boxes and ideas on another thread. Plus she has been so helpful to me in my efforts to master all this new 'stuff'. Now the very good news is that Ruth has won 8 out of 10 medals presented this week at the Utah Chocolate Festival. That should boost her visibility as a new player in the chocolate field. Congratulations, Chocolot!!!!!!! You go, girl.

I would like to include some of my caramelized cacao nibs (thanks Kerry) in a butter ganache which has a coffee flavor and don't know how to go about it without a recipe. To keep the nibs crunchy, you need a butter ganache. Would I simply put the coffee grounds straight into a butter ganache? Or make some sort of liquidless...or essential liquidless?... paste of the coffee grounds? Greweling has no coffee butter ganache and Wybauw has had to go back to where he came from, so I am asking for some aid. Thanks.

A: Ms. Chocolot won 8 out of 10 medals! That's who. Congratulations Chocolot!!!

I think I should have had more hands. Thanks for the explanation.

I don't find that with the one I have. I stir well before measuring. ← How expensive...ballpark...is expensive? And just how do you use this thermometer? Hold it just above the bubbling syrup? Does it have some kind of grip on it? Thanks.

Just made my very first butter ganache...Greweling's Raspberry Bites...except that I skipped the milk chocolate and also added caramelized chocolate nibs. The exercise was mainly to use the nibs. All seemed to go well. It's sitting waiting for me to temper some more chocolate for pre-coating, etc. (Remember this time not to temper the precoating chocolate) My question is: what does Greweling mean exactly when he says 'stream' the one ingredient into another. How does one 'stream' a little bit of Framboise into a bowl of chocolate, butter and jam? Thanks.

Thanks.