Confections! (2006-2012)

[Anna N]

Anna I think you are going in that direction , where it isnt a point of return  ,Caramel isnt that hard to make , try this one out , its so easy and very very yummy.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/230778

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Thank you. One of these days very soon I am going to roll all of my courage up into a very tight ball and try again.

[Patrick S]

this is our version of the traditional german schokoladenweihnachtsmann,

it comes in six different flavors, white, lemon, orange, rose, earl grey and lavender.

additional we feature handpainted santas in various styles, including our "splatter santa" ;-)

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All the santas look lovely EXCEPT the blood-splattered one. What is the world coming to if Santa's sleigh is the victim of a drive-by shooting.

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I'm guessing (correct me if I'm wrong, schneich) this is a representation of Jesus-blood, which, according to the gospels, is salvific? For instance, John 6:53-54 (NIV) says:

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Maybe its supposed to be like communion wine and wafers -- except its candy. . . or something like that?

[schneich]

Amen

[Anna N]

TA-DA

Missed one little critter with the caramel.

The caramel is not quite right - a bit too sticky and gooey but I am betting these will still disappear all too quickly. Will make another attempt using the caramel from Kerry's eGCI course.

I think that the change of season will help a lot with the caramel - the humidity is pretty much gone now.

The stuff in the centre of the finished plate is krokant dipped in milk chocolate.

[Anna N]

Amen

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Hope I did not offend - I certainly didn't mean to.

[prasantrin]

TA-DA

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I knew you could do it! With all those beautiful chocolates you've been doing, it would have been impossible for you not to have success with caramel, too (especially since if I could it, then you definitely could!).

Congratulations on your perfect caramel. You don't even have dark streaks like I did!

[Anna N]

. . .

Congratulations on your perfect caramel.  You don't even have dark streaks like I did!

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Thank you! But the caramel is far from perfect - looks aren't everything. I still have work to do on it.

[miladyinsanity]

. . .

Congratulations on your perfect caramel.  You don't even have dark streaks like I did!

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Thank you! But the caramel is far from perfect - looks aren't everything. I still have work to do on it.

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Here's the thing about caramel, Anna. It's always yummy. Caramelized sugar is a Good Thing.

[Desiderio]

I agree! And Anna those little turtles looks great again Brava!

[John DePaula]

Kerry, Desederio, John, alanamoano et al -- can you recommend any good books on candy-making?

Love those snails, Kerry!

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Sorry for the delay, Patrick. I'm just getting back to eGullet after a harrowing week filling orders for chocolate!

I 2nd Kerry's recommendation for the Kendrick & Atkinson book Candymaking. It's a great reference and covers many of the basics of candymaking. I learned many good things from this book.

The Chocolate Bible by Teubner is also pretty good; and I also like Belgian Chocolates by Geerts.

[alanamoana]

anyone have an opinion on any of the carole bloom candy books?

[Kerry Beal]

anyone have an opinion on any of the carole bloom candy books?

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I quite like Truffles, Candies and Confections. I use the Krokant recipe from there. I found it useful for proportions when I was first learning to make truffles.

[Kerry Beal]

My sister in law arrived last weekend with a little sample of a toffee she wanted me to imitate. The thing about this one is it is made with only 5 ingredients according to the website - milk chocolate, almonds, sugar, maple syrup and butter. The reason she wanted this one was that the toffee was a little more 'tender' than most. On tasting it seemed quite crystalline but with very fine crystals.

So I dug through every candy making book I have and in one of the really old professional ones it had a recipe that had you bring the butter to a boil, add water, bring back to a boil, add the sugar and after it reached temperature you added some 'Bakers special sugar' which is a very fine powdered sugar. I took some regular sugar, put it in my sumeet spice grinder and reduced it to a powder and used that in it's place. I used maple syrup in place of the water in the recipe.

Apparently you need to let this toffee age for a week before it reaches it's final texture, but so far I think it just might work.

The only difference (aside from the fact that I'm using much better chocolate) between the sample and mine is the colour of the toffee. The sample is darker and I'm not sure that it doesn't use brown sugar. I think I'll retry the recipe using at least part brown sugar and see how the result differs.

[alanamoana]

looks delish kerry.

[Desiderio]

I had that type of toffe only once , and I was thrilled by it , I wanted to try one as well and then spread chocolate on top of it.Kerry if you find it to be a good recipe can you post it if you have a chance?

Thank you it looks so yummy

[Desiderio]

FInally I ordered some pcb creations transfer sheets .They are just fantastic colors and designs and above all so easy to use , nothing to do with my home made ones that wouldnt stick to the chocolate .

But I think next time I am going to order directly form them , much cheaper even with exchange and all .

[tammylc]

Gorgeous as usual, Vanessa!

I've had a crazy baking/candymaking weekend. My 2-year old was home sick from daycare on Friday and I was looking for things to do with him. He asked if we could make the pie pumpkin that's been sitting on our counter since before Halloween into pumpkin pie, so we did that.

We've been fun playing with cookie cutters and playdough, so I decided we should make some cookies too. I made up the sugar cookie dough while he was napping, and then he helped me roll out and cut the cookies.

Friday night/Saturday day I made a loaf of no-knead bread.

But this is the confectionary thread, so what I really should be talking about are the truffles. I've already got orders for 20 dozen truffles for my holiday sale (with 5 more days for orders to be placed) so I needed to start testing my recipes. Good thing I did - all of the recipes need work - gingerbread needs more ginger, egg nog needs more vanilla and nutmeg, cranberry needs a different source of cranberry flavor, and chestnut needs a new approach entirely. But this gave me a chance to decorate them and take a picture so I can make a little flavor decoder insert for the packages.

Here they are:

Clockwise from top left: chestnut, cranberry, egg nog, gingerbread. They look better than they taste right now, but I have good ideas for the next iteration.

[Kerry Beal]

I had that type of toffe only once , and I was thrilled by it , I wanted to try one as well and then spread chocolate on top of it.Kerry if you find it to be a good recipe can you post it  if you have a chance?

Thank you it looks so yummy 

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Vanessa,

The proportions are as follows, this was quite a small batch just to experiment,

5 ounces butter

1 ounce maple syrup (or water)

6 ounces sugar

1 ounce of finely ground sugar ( ground it in my spice grinder, I suppose you could use a coffee grinder)

Bring butter to a boil, add maple syrup or water and bring back to a boil. Add 6 ounces of sugar. Cook on higher heat to 280 degrees F, then turn down heat and continue boiling to 310 to 312 F. Pour out onto parchment and spread out. Cool, dust with cocoa, coat each side with milk chocolate and sprinkle with toasted chopped almonds. Let sit one week to age.

[Desiderio]

Thank you Tammy.Your days sounds lot like mine with my 2 years old boy, try to make cookies he love to use his little rolling pin

Your chocolates looks great and the flavors are very nice , holiday spirit .I am sure you will find you recipe soon and ready for the orders , thats the way it goes , we work better under pressure right?

Good luck and Happy Holidays

Kerry thank you so much , you are always so fast on getting back to me with all you tips , suggestions etc.I will try this as soon as I get 2 minutes ( or 4 ).

I have just ate a caramel covered marshmallow and I thought about you and that I need to try your caramel to cover some marshmallow soon , it was soo good.

Thank you for all your great ideas and the talent you share with us

Edited December 11, 2006 by Desiderio (log)

[Anna N]

. . .

FInally I ordered some pcb creations transfer sheets .They are just fantastic colors and designs and above all so easy to use , nothing to do with my home made ones that wouldnt stick to the chocolate  .

But I think next time I am going to order directly form them , much cheaper even with exchange and all .

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Vanessa,

Every time I see your chocolates I am inspired to keep making them until I can get mine to look as good as yours. Thanks for sharing the lovely images with us.

[Anna N]

. . .

Here they are:

Clockwise from top left: chestnut, cranberry, egg nog, gingerbread.  They look better than they taste right now, but I have good ideas for the next iteration.

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Tammylc - They look very nice indeed. I love that tiny gingerbread man.

[Anna N]

. . .

Let sit one week to age.

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I have to ask - why do they improve with age? I'm not being smart - I really do not know. Is it the candy part that improves? I know my turtlelike critters seem to be improving but I would love to understand why. Thanks

[Kerry Beal]

. . .

Let sit one week to age.

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I have to ask - why do they improve with age? I'm not being smart - I really do not know. Is it the candy part that improves? I know my turtlelike critters seem to be improving but I would love to understand why. Thanks

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I think it is the crystallization of the candy part that benefits from the aging. I know that certain pull taffys that I have made are hard initially then after sitting for a couple of days they become sort of creamy and softly crystallized.

[tammylc]

Tammylc - They look very nice indeed.  I love that tiny gingerbread man.

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Yeah - isn't he cute? I found gingerbread sprinkles at the store and thought they'd make the perfect identifying mark. Only problem is - they don't taste very good. That's why just one tiny one instead of an actual sprinkle.

[Anna N]

. . .

Let sit one week to age.

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I have to ask - why do they improve with age? I'm not being smart - I really do not know. Is it the candy part that improves? I know my turtlelike critters seem to be improving but I would love to understand why. Thanks

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I think it is the crystallization of the candy part that benefits from the aging. I know that certain pull taffys that I have made are hard initially then after sitting for a couple of days they become sort of creamy and softly crystallized.

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Thanks.