Confections! What did we make? (2012 – 2014)

[Chris Hennes]

This is a continuation of the original Confections! topic, which was so popular it grew too large for our servers to load! Carry on...

[Baselerd]

Just finished this, several components:

-Almond gelato (using the pistachio gelato recipe from MCaH, but with almond oil/butter)

-Almond Microwave Sponge Cake (once again, using the MC recipe for pistachio sponge)

-Pear Panna Cotta (using the raspberry panna cotta recipe from MCaH, but with pear puree)

-Pear fluid gel

-Poached pears

-Almond crumble

-Caramel Tuile

-Butterscotch

Edited November 28, 2012 by Baselerd (log)

[rajoress]

Emily_R - thanks for the compliments! Just a tip on the cider caramels. She says it took her about 40 minutes to reduce the quart of cider down to a 1/2 cup. Both times I made these it took me more than an hour and I never did get it boiled down to less than a cup. But I used a 1/2 cup and it worked out fine (kept the rest for salad dressing!). Also, mine were too thin in an 8 inch pan so I poured it into my rulers sized to about a 7 inch square. Everyone agreed the taste was amazing!

Ruth

[tikidoc]

I use this stuff for cider caramels. The reduction is already done.

http://woodscidermill.com/PRODUCTS/CiderJelly.html

Edited November 28, 2012 by tikidoc (log)

[Emily_R]

Good to know rajoress -- and I figured I would use a smaller pan -- I hate when caramels are too thin. Tikidoc -- that apple jelly looks fantastic -- I just wish the shipping wasn't so pricey!

[patti_h]

I have reduced passion fruit juice down from a quart to about half a cup, just keeping it low and slow on the cooktop. Easy peasy! I would like to do the same with cider too!

[tikidoc]

Good to know rajoress -- and I figured I would use a smaller pan -- I hate when caramels are too thin. Tikidoc -- that apple jelly looks fantastic -- I just wish the shipping wasn't so pricey!

I usually order a couple of the larger jars, and the shipping is not so bad. I use it in a lot more than just caramels. It's wonderful on toast or pancakes, and also in pork marinades (I mix with a little maple and soy) and dipping sauces. It's really yummy stuff.

[minas6907]

I'm sure by now everyone's sick of seeing my taffy pictures, but here's another one I did today. It's a Strawberry Lemon Taffy. I've been trying a few different things regarding taffies. I pretty much gave up on taffy close to a year ago, no matter what I did, it would always stick to the wrapper. I tried wax paper and cellophane, and consistently it would stick noticeably after a few hours. Anyways, after doing some searching, I ordered some cello wrap squares, and this is apparently different then cellophane, I'm not sure how, but there was a sheet of paper from the company I ordered from saying there was a difference. Anyways, with my last test, the taffies unwrapped fine from the cello squares, and this is after modifiying the recipe about six or seven different ways, I did find what texture I like, and with the help of the wrappers, the candies unwrap fine.

This latest batch was a test to see if I can boil a batch of taffy one day, and pull another. I would like to start selling various pulled and boiled candies at farmers markets here, and It thought it would be cool to have a small batch of taffy to pull, color, and flavor for samples. I also was looking at how the colors would look on a candy with two different shades of stripes for each color.

[Kerry Beal]

Never get sick of the taffy pictures - they make me want to taste it!

[pastrygirl]

Minas, those are so pretty!

[pastrygirl]

Holiday 2012 assortment. From top left clockwise, 70% vanilla, passion fruit, salted caramel, coconut, black currant-chambord, rosemary caramel, armagnac-orange.

I also made two varieties of bars: milk chocolate with a filling of pretzels, brown butter, and milk chocolate, and dark with a filling of toasted coconut, coconut milk powder, coconut oil, and white chocolate. I think they are going to be good.

Edited December 2, 2012 by pastrygirl (log)

[Baselerd]

Berry Salad from Eleven Madison Park Cookbook:

Blackberry sorbet

Buttermilk Olive Oil Sorbet

Black Pepper Crumble

Olive Oil Powder

Strawberry Meringue

Rasberry and Lemon Yogurts

[Kerry Beal]

Rabitos and John and Kira have nothing to fear in the way of competition from me! Cause I'm not going to be making these puppies again until the day after hell freezes over. A colossal pain in the ass to make.

Grand Marnier Truffle stuffed dried figs, dipped in a dark milk chocolate.

If I'd been able to steam the dried figs a bit it would have made them considerably easier to work with - but I think that would have a rather negative effect on the shelf life.

[Creola]

Rabitos and John and Kira have nothing to fear in the way of competition from me! Cause I'm not going to be making these puppies again until the day after hell freezes over. A colossal pain in the ass to make.

Grand Marnier Truffle stuffed dried figs, dipped in a dark milk chocolate.

If I'd been able to steam the dried figs a bit it would have made them considerably easier to work with - but I think that would have a rather negative effect on the shelf life.

I hope they weren't as tough as the figs I worked with today. We were making Italian Fig Cookies at my shop and I tried one of the figs because they were lighter in color than previously and it was tough and beyond chewy.I told my husband we should have soaked them but in the end it didn't effect the recipe because we grind them up with flavorings and nuts.I did think later if what I would have put them in the microwave to soften, next time I will try this.

Edited December 5, 2012 by heidih
Fix quote tags (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Rabitos and John and Kira have nothing to fear in the way of competition from me! Cause I'm not going to be making these puppies again until the day after hell freezes over. A colossal pain in the ass to make.

Grand Marnier Truffle stuffed dried figs, dipped in a dark milk chocolate.

If I'd been able to steam the dried figs a bit it would have made them considerably easier to work with - but I think that would have a rather negative effect on the shelf life.

I hope they weren't as tough as the figs I worked with today. We were making Italian Fig Cookies at my shop and I tried one of the figs because they were lighter in color than previously and it was tough and beyond chewy.I told my husband we should have soaked them but in the end it didn't effect the recipe because we grind them up with flavorings and nuts.I did think later if what I would have put them in the microwave to soften, next time I will try this.

I've noticed the lighter coloured ones in the box seem to be tougher. I didn't fill those or the ones that wouldn't stuff or squirted out the side - I chopped them up and added them to the leftover ganache, drizzled with the leftover chocolate and brought them to work as a sample of the figs.

Microwave is a brilliant idea though - a few second nuke would probably aid in the manipulation amazingly.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Kerry Beal (log)

[DianaM]

Grand Marnier Truffle stuffed dried figs, dipped in a dark milk chocolate.

If I'd been able to steam the dried figs a bit it would have made them considerably easier to work with - but I think that would have a rather negative effect on the shelf life.

They must taste pretty amazing though, with the ganache inside. And the seeds provide great texture, I imagine. I wonder if maybe you got a tougher batch of figs, depending on the package, some are more malleable than others.

Thanks for the links, Kerry! Just noticed that La Tienda ships to Canada too, yey!! :-)

[keychris]

A christmas tree!

Lime ganache & buccaneer tea infusion.

[Quesmoy]

I made some really good Mint Meltaways today! They are little bit softer than what is probably the perfect texture, but they taste really good.

[minas6907]

Those look great, perfect shape with nice sharp corners.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

[minas6907]

Heres some things I did recently. First is request for peppermint lollis from a young friend of mine. Second is a test with some of my new toys from Chef Rubber, among them a packet of agar agar, so I make Blueberry Agar Jellies. And lastly is a sample I made of some wedding candies for a friends of mine, simple pillow mints, white is peppermint, yellow is lemon.

[Nathalie]

Those blueberry agar jellies look really tasty, what's the consistency like? Is it like jellies made with gelatine or is it more like fruit de paté?

[SylviaLovegren]

Holiday 2012 assortment. From top left clockwise, 70% vanilla, passion fruit, salted caramel, coconut, black currant-chambord, rosemary caramel, armagnac-orange.

I also made two varieties of bars: milk chocolate with a filling of pretzels, brown butter, and milk chocolate, and dark with a filling of toasted coconut, coconut milk powder, coconut oil, and white chocolate. I think they are going to be good.

Those are beautiful!

[curls]

Holiday chocolates... brandied cherry cordials, PBJs, muscovado sugar salted caramels, chocolate nougat (dipped in milk chocolate and dark chocolate) and bittersweet chocolate ganache (not included in attached photo).

Edited December 18, 2012 by curls (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Holiday chocolates... brandied cherry cordials, PBJs, muscovado sugar salted caramels, chocolate nougat (dipped in milk chocolate and dark chocolate) and bittersweet chocolate ganache (not included in attached photo).

That is a classy looking assortment.

[minas6907]

Those blueberry agar jellies look really tasty, what's the consistency like? Is it like jellies made with gelatine or is it more like fruit de paté?

Haha, you know, I'd say it's inbetween both of those! They have sort of a short texture to them, and I would definitly not be able to say they have the flavor punch that a pate de fruit gives. It is cool though, that the agar jells very easily, and can be flavored with fruit purees or juices easily. Stacking jellies is also easy, but overall, I'd go for the traditional European fruit jellies, but I still think the agar jellies have a place in my kitchen.