minas6907

Haha, no, I'm in California. Hmmm, if I were to estimate by volume, I wouldn't say its more then 3 cups. Ok, well I'll keep experimenting, thanks a lot!

Hey, thanks for the answers. I figured about the recrystallization, but wasn't sure, I had never seen it. Also, I will do what you suggested, adding the flavor while it is cooling, after boiling. Out of curiosity, how large is the batch of candy that you make? I'm going to make a licorice candy soon with black stripes, I want to practice before my friends wedding, they are going to have a candy bar, and everything is going to be black and white to go along with the color scheme.

Hey all! Yesterday I made these peppermint candies, and I'm actually really happy with how they came out! I made a thread about the best way (at home) to keep the sugar warm, and actually what I found is that having an oven 200f with a silpat lined sheet pan worked the best. The griddle idea worked ok, but it was all too easy to heat the griddle up too hot, and it was constant fiddling with the temp, turning it off and on, trying to keep it at a constant temp. But the oven worked great! When I need to warm the sugar slightly, I would just put it inside the oven for 30-45 sec or so and keep working, so that was by far the easiest to do. But I did have a few questions, perhaps someone can help me. I ordered some flavors from LorAnn Oils, and I was wondering how much I should put in a batch of candy. The recipe I've been using is from Chocolates ans Confections, its a 1/2 batch, so measuring 32oz. The Candy below has peppermint oil for a flavor, which I put in 4 'squeezes' with a dropper, which I would estimate mabye added up to 1 teaspoon. Now, I do understand that an oil is stonger flavor then the other flavors carried by LorAnn, so for an artificial flavor, like licorice, how much more should I add? I know I'll be doing some trial and error, but could someone give me a starting point? I was thinking of doing mabye a teaspoon and a half, I havent done it, but we'll see. Also, what would be the correct time be for adding one of the flavors? On the LorAnn website, they say that they can withstand heat, so I took this to mean I should add the flavoring while the sugar is in the pot, right before I pour it out, but in Grewelings book, he says on page 183, paragraph 2 that the flavors should be added after the cooking process, one the sugar has begun to cool. I havent tried it that way yet, but can someone provide some advice in this area? Did I lose flavor from the oil by adding it while the sugar was in the pot, right before I poured it out? Also, in Greweling's book, under the defects page on 194, under 'hard candy,' when it says "Candy crystallized during storage," what does that exactly mean? I've dont my best to understand it, but really, what would the candy look like if it recrystallized? Thanks a bunch everyone!

I seem to be the only one everywhere that likes this stuff, and I'm sure its my childhood, but I LOOOOOVE a bowl of menudo, the fastastic mexican tripe soup. That is something I would never think of even bothering to make at home, I just go to the hole in the wall Mexican joint for a bowl of the stuff. Yum.

Thanks for the tip, I do appreciate it. Still, though, its not something I'm interested in using. Its kind of funny with all this candy stuff, before two months ago, I had never touched a single drop of corn syrup. I was taught to cook in a local french restaurant, so I was used to all fresh ingredients, but recently when I started to think about candy, I realized I had to get over using corn syrup, so I bought a jug of the stuff, and I have been able to enjoy what I do with it in various candies. It also took some courage on my part to purchase the sweetened condensed milk to make the taffy, I think it may be that I was just never exposed to the stuff, when I opened the can I was a little puzzled by the thick yellowish fluid that oozed out. Concerning the frappe, remember while I was looking through a digital edition of the Chocolates and Confections at Home book on Amazon, I saw that you can use the marshmallow fluff, but its still not something I want to buy, to me its more like "processed mystery fluff." I'm generally suspicious of things that last forever. Maybe I'm being a bit to extreme, but I guess I'm weird like that, I know it may seem like a small stupid thing, but it may be again, its not something I knew existed until like 2 years ago, and when I saw it I was a bit weirded out by it. Anyways, I did make a second batch of taffy's, which I did cook mabye 5 or 6F lower then the recipe specified, and I also pulled this batch of candy more then my first batch, and it came out waaay better then the first, I now dont feel like I'm going to pull my teeth out when I try a piece, and I can offer it to friends without feeling bad, haha. Anyways, thanks for the tip lebowits, I dont want my determination not to use frappe sound like I didnt care for your advice. Anyways, I also have some colors coming in the mail (something else I had to get over...but eh) so I'll be making some cool flavors soon. :-) Hey, also, concerning the flavored oils, I have some fruit flavors on order, but has anyone ever tried making their own? I used to do it all the time with different herbs and spices, I was thinking of making a cinnamon oil and using it for a hard candy after I strained it, or perhaps an anise oil. Anyways, just a thought on some homemade flavors. :-)

I saw that, but I really doubt they are

Sorry for the double post, but I was looking at my first attempt, and my second try looks about 1000% better, haha.

Hey Everyone. Heres a quick update. Today I made some striped pulled sugar, and it was much easier then I thought! I made the sugar properly this time, washing down the side of the pan and adding the cream of tartar, and it was SO much easier to handle! I got some very thick gloves, and put a pair of latex on over those (the texture of the thick gloves was not smooth, so I put the latex on just as a precaution) Pulling the sugar went so much smoother, and was very enjoyable. I didnt flavor the candy, I just made it to try it out. As for a warming table, I just used my griddle on an extremely low heat with a silpat over it, and it worked fine. I did have to turn the burner off and on every now and then, but I think it worked pretty well considering I didnt have to purchase any additional equipment. So I just made a lollipop and some candies using the shears. If you do notice, the little pile of candies to the left, I made by making a rope, letting it harden, and with my chefs knife on the edge of the butcher block, I cut them, like this video: So that way of cutting candy opens up the door for designs inside each piece. Anyway, just a small update, I'll post again with I make something else.

Can this be substituted in all recipes? Could I do this for pulled sugar?

Whats the recipe? I would also recommend as a general rule not making caramel (or anything else for that matter) in a aluminum pot, those things are useless. But like pastrygirl said, leave the cream of tartar out and see how it comes out. But also if youve been making it for some time now, the next step I would take is carefully check all your ingredients.

Hey, glad you both liked them. I used the recipe in Chocolates and Confections for Saltwater Taffy, and I also left out the frappe. I'm quite pleased with the result (I got some peppermint extract and red color for hard candy, but I realized they both were not the best for use in hard candy, so I'll have to get the right products) I just wanted to give this a quick try after work, and it took no time at all. The first candies I made were toffee drops and soft caramels, as well as shell molded chocolates, then I played around just once so far with pulled sugar, so after doing those things, the taffy was soooooo easy! I was pleased to see that it didnt require stirring for an hour and a half like the caramels, but the solution reaches the temperature pretty quickly. What I'm going to do different next time is firstly not pour the taffy on a stone slab like instructed (I think I didnt oil the stone enough, the pool just stuck there and I had to scrape it off and put it on a silpat, I couldn't fold it over to cool) I'm just going to pour directly onto a silpat over the granite, and fold it onto itself using the mat. Also, because I didnt include the frappe (I have absolutely no desire to make or purchase frappe because this would be the only recipe I would use it in) I think they may not be as soft as they could be, I also may have go just a touch over temp (not much though) so I was planning on also cooking the mixture to just under 240F. But over all, they were very very easy, much more simple then I was expecting. Also, the thing I do like about the taffy, is not just that it can be made quickly, but dividing up portions for different flavors and colors is very simple, doesn't require the candy to be kept warm and mailable under a heat lamp or anything. Anyway, so thats my one experience with taffy. When I'm done having fun with this, I'll move back to hard candy, haha.

Heres some peppermint taffy I made today. I had some extra time after work, so I just made a small little batch to try it out, and I loved it! I cant wait to get some real flavors, for these I just used some peppermint extract, but I'm looking forward to making licorice, peach, blackberry, strawberry, etc. After playing around with pulled sugar, these were easy.

Hmmm, I like that idea with the square cake pan, I do have a half sized hotel pan which should work perfect and this way I wont get rust on the silpat from the back of the griddle. I've only done this once, and I know there's a few things I see I need to improve on. Firstly, I will include the cream of tartar next time, but also I was looking in Chocolates and Confections, and in the problems and remedies section on hard candy, I saw a problem I was having, which was the sugar was crystallizing during work. So next time I guess I should clean the sides of the pan (I really wasn't worried about it this time, I was just playing around trying to get a feel) Anyways, hopefully next time it will go a bit better. cteavin, when you were working with the double boilers, would you have to like turn the pieces every now and then to prevent uneven heating? I think I was having a problem with the top of the sugar lump hardening, while the bottom was getting a little too warm, because I didnt clean the sides of the pot or anything. Anywho, I did enjoy it, and I look forward to doing it again. Hopefully I will update with beautiful candies! Also, I have been doing some searching around, but is there any guides anyone can recommend for beginners?

Hey Everyone So I actually had some time today to make a small batch of candy. I tried my ingenious griddle idea to find out that it didn't really work very smoothly, haha. I didn't have any coloring/peppermint flavor (While I'm here, can I ask someone, to flavor with peppermint, I assume I would have to use a peppermint oil, is this found in common grocery stores? If not, what are some other flavoring agent I could use in hard candy? Thanks :-) ) so I just tried to get a feel for working with the sugar (which I did on my thumb, hehe). I tried microwaving a small piece of sugar to maintain its temp, but that turned out to too well, I seemed to over heat the candy. Anyways, back to the griddle, I think I may have had the heat on a little too high, the bottom started melting, it just didn't seem to do very well on maintaining an even temperature. What worked best for me was putting the candy in and out of a 300 degree oven (which may have still been too hot) and at least then I was able to kinda get somewhere. I didn't know what to do with the sugar, but after I tasted it I got an idea. The candy tasted just like a bag of sugar candy I got from an Arabic market, it was just a sugar candy with cardamom seeds mixed into it. So I remembered I had a bag of whole anise seeds, I just tossed some on top and started pulling to distribute them and rolled and cut, so I got a lovely (sorta) anise flavored hard candy. I'll have to play more with it definitely. Can someone tell me though, I used the formula in Chocolates and Confections, but I did not include any cream of tartar (which was listed as optional) Is there a big difference in including it? Thanks for all the help everyone.

Really? Hmmm, I've been shopping there for like the last three years, I'll look around more closely the next time I'm in, thanks.

Hey, thanks for all the replies! A griddle was my original idea. At home I use these black steel pans ( http://www.amazon.com/Matfer-Bourgeat-Black-Steel-Frying/dp/B000KEJQRO/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1300048863&sr=8-7 ) and while I was speaking to a friend, I remembered that the restaurant supply place down town San Diego carries a large griddle made to fit over burners made out of the same material, so originally I wanted to pick one of those up and cover it with a silpat (I dont know if anyone has ever seen Food Networks "Kid in a Candy Store" but they showed a candy show in Manhattan that pretty much had a large flat warming plate covered with a silicone mat that they would use for all their sugar work, so I'm trying to emulate that, but only much more crude!) I dont think the purchase of the heavy plate would be worth it for me, so I was trying to see if the back of any of my pans would do the trick. Anyways, when I get some time, I'll give it a shot, hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of wonderful peppermint candies soon! Otherwise, for me I think the light bulb would be the next step. Can you tell me, Beth Wilson, what kind of bulb would I purchase?

Hey Everyone. I had a thought when I was talking to a friend about making pulled sugar candies. My hang up for never attempting this is basically not having a method for keeping the candy warm. But I was thinking, what if I used the back of my griddle (which looks alot like this: http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-L9OG3-Pre-Seasoned-2-Inch-Griddle/dp/B00008GKDN/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1299991286&sr=8-3 ) with a silpat, and kept it over a very very low flame? Like I've said, I've never done anything with pulled sugar, I'm only looking to make simple striped candies, like peppermints, that really is it, no spectacular show pieces, just some candy. I figured the thick metal would be enough to warm the log while I'm working from it. Any comments?

I remember when I was a line cook at a local french restaurant, when we had an excess of duck fat from making the confit, we would combine a whole bunch of the fat with a whole bunch of flour, and stick it in the oven and forget about it for a few hours, it would turn this beautiful nutty brown, smelled wonderful.

That sure does look like a butterfinger! I also found this EG post (which didnt come up in the forums search function) Reply from lebowits "The confection "center" of a Butterfinger is actually a "laminated" product in the style of croissant dough. Greweling has a good formula and description of the technique on p.198 for "leaf croquant". It's not the easiest technique as you need to keep the "dough" warm enough to roll and fold seveal times in order to get the proper lamination. It's definitely delicious and if you have the space, worth the effort."

Hello everyone. In a few of my books, I have recipes for leaf croquant, and for the life of me, I cant seem to find a picture of it. So, it appears to be a hard candy with a filling. One google search yielded a recipe (which is the exact same one in Chocolates and Confections) for leaf croquant, and it called it butterfingers. Is the butter fingers candy a leaf croquant? I normally dont have trouble finding out what specific candies look like, a simple google image search solves that quickly, but when I do an image search, I just get a whole bunch of pictures of very different types of food and desserts. Can anyone tell me what this candy is? Also, anyone have a picture of what it should look like? This is not something I'd make, it apparently needs a heated slab to keep the caramel warm (which I presently and forever will lack in my home kitchen). Thanks!

I saved all the sites for the polycarbonate molds I found in my favorites. I know I saw somewhere in there a mold that resembled the little peanut butter cups, and I'm talking about the small tall ones, not the large round flat peanut butter cups. And sorry, I dont know which site it was. http://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/ http://www.pastrychef.com/ http://www.chocoley.com/polycarbonatemolds.htm http://www.jbprince.com/ http://www.bakedeco.com/

Heres a cheesecake I made a while ago for a group of friends my sister was having over-turns out the gathering never happened (long story) so I started cutting the cake into quarters and giving it to friends. This is the "west coast cheesecake" from "The Professional Pastry Chef." The colors on top are apricot and raspberry jam.

Yes, but we wont judge you. :-) JK.

Ooooo! My turn! I made these "Three Sister" cookies from Bo Friberg's book "The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef," I thought the cookies looked beautiful, so I gave them a try and they came out decent enough. The fillings are apricot and raspberry jam.

Yeah, that is true. Some soaps will etch a marble, and certainly if it was washed in a dishwasher on a regular basis, it would definitly lose its polish. When using marble like this for tabling or slabbing, you would ideally want it to be polished so the surface is not porous and thus the surface doesn't trap and food in it and stain. Cleaning a polished piece of marble would mean using a cleaner meant for natural stone, as well as not scrubbing it, marble scratches very easily, as opposed to a piece of granite.