Confections! (2006-2012)

[Kerry Beal]

A high school student in the culinary program where I did a little chocolate demo a couple of weeks ago asked if I would show her a few things. One of her favorite Christmas goodies is something they make at a local chocolate place called 'Snails' and she asked if I could make them.

I looked up a recipe in Candymaking by Kendrik, used her recipe for the nougat, but stuck with my recipe for the caramel.

Put caramel in rulers, let cook then put nougat over top, leaving an edge uncovered.

Start to roll up.

Keep rolling thinner, cutting in 2 as necessary.

Dip their little feet in chocolate to make trails.

[miladyinsanity]

A high school student in the culinary program where I did a little chocolate demo a couple of weeks ago asked if I would show her a few things.  One of her favorite Christmas goodies is something they make at a local chocolate place called 'Snails' and she asked if I could make them. 

I looked up a recipe in Candymaking by Kendrik, used her recipe for the nougat, but stuck with my recipe for the caramel.

Put caramel in rulers, let cook then put nougat over top, leaving an edge uncovered.

Start to roll up.

Keep rolling thinner, cutting in 2 as necessary.

Dip their little feet in chocolate to make trails.

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Where is that drool icon!!!

Looks sooooo yummy Kerry!

[Desiderio]

Yumm , Kerry you got to stop doing that! I dont need anymore addicting Ideassss Yes where is the drooling icon here?!!!!

[Anna N]

Kerry - those are amazing.

I was the lucky recipient of a roll of this confection but Kerry just said, "See what you can do with it." Lacking imagination I simply cut up the roll and dipped it in chocolate (my first attempt at dipping!). Had I known I could make cute little critters, I would have done so. But my lack of imagination in design didn't stop my son-in-law from scarfing them down with abandon.

[Kim Shook]

drooling over the butter mints!  what recipe did you use??!!  thanks!

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Here is the recipe. Kim

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I was just thinking about making butter mints for the holidays. Do you think this recipe would work well with molds as well? I have a jillion candy molds, and need to justify their existance every once in a while

I'm guessing that the ingerdient "16 oz. box (4 c.) 10X, sifted" is superfine sugar?

thanks for any guidance, I've never made mints...

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Yep, as alanamoana said, it's powdered sugar, and I am sure that they would work just fine with molds. They were extremely easy to make!

[Joni]

if you were going to put marshmallow on top..how soon do you think you could roll it ...3-4 hours?

[Pam R]

Adorable. What's the shelf-life on something like this?

[Kerry Beal]

Adorable. What's the shelf-life on something like this?

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You probably get a couple of months but these little suckers have slumped since I made them so next time I think I would wrap each in cello if I wasn't using them in a couple of days.

[GTO]

Very cool, Kerry - They look very much like Goetze's Caramel Cremes, which I love.

[Patrick S]

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

Love those snails, Kerry!

[Kerry Beal]

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

Love those snails, Kerry!

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Candymaking by Ruth Kendrick is an excellent basic book that covers caramels, fondants, divinity and chocolate.

Older ones probably available on abebooks or e-bay would be Anita Prichard's Complete Candy Cookbook, Skuse's Complete Confectioner, and Antoinette Pope School Candy Cookbook.

But definately start with the Kendrick.

[alanamoana]

i really like the time/life candy book. you can usually find it used on amazon, etc. it is a bit old school, but it covers the basics with a lot of color photographs.

[Kerry Beal]

i really like the time/life candy book.  you can usually find it used on amazon, etc.  it is a bit old school, but it covers the basics with a lot of color photographs.

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So true, also one of my favorites. And covers some rather complex things like molded liqueur centres.

[prasantrin]

Pictures of the caramels I made a week or so ago. Not pretty, but very tasty!

I used a square non-stick pan, but I greased it and the aluminium foil I lined it with. Luckily, there was barely any sticking of the aluminium foil to the caramel--just a wee bit in the corners.

You can see dark streaks running through the caramel. I was a bit worried about them, and thought they might become hard.

I cut into it, and now you can see the dark bits more clearly.

They weren't hard at all, though. Just dark.

I didn't have any fleur de sel, so I sprinkled some coarse sea salt on them. Yum!

I still have about 15 left. I've been keeping them at room temperature (for my part of Japan, that's about 15C right now) and they're still hard. They got a bit soft for a couple of days when it rained, but they hardened right up again with no ill-effects.

I'm addicted! I've only shared about 16 or 20 of the 64 caramels I made...I just can't part with them!

[Kerry Beal]

I didn't have any fleur de sel, so I sprinkled some coarse sea salt on them.  Yum!

I still have about 15 left.  I've been keeping them at room temperature (for my part of Japan, that's about 15C right now) and they're still hard.  They got a bit soft for a couple of days when it rained, but they hardened right up again with no ill-effects.

I'm addicted!  I've only shared about 16 or 20 of the 64 caramels I made...I just can't part with them!

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Don't you just love that crunch of salt on them. I have enjoyed a bit of smoked salt on them too.

[alanamoana]

prasantrin, there's a prettycommon ingredient available at japanese markets which you might consider using on top of your caramels. i don't know the japanese name but it is kuro-goma(?) (black sesame seeds) with coarse salt. sort of like furikake but just salt and seeds to sprinkle on rice, etc. suddenly you mentioning japan and seeing the pictures of your beautiful caramels made me think of that. it just sounds good.

Edited December 6, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[Trishiad]

Prasantrin,

Isn't it nice to discover a recipe which isn't actually that difficult and is so tasty?

The dark spots in your caramel are likely burned milk solids and occur from not enough stirring or stirring with a spoon that doesn't make enough contact with the pot. It's good to stir with something flat on the bottom with a bit of a corner on at least one side. I use a huge bamboo utensil and it helps me reach every crevice of the pot.

[Anna N]

First serious attempt at white chocolate - filled and unfilled.

[Desiderio]

Anna those look Incredible!! Bravaaa ( where is the clapping icone???? )

[prasantrin]

Kerry--yes, the salt just makes them all the more addictive! I've been eating them even more quickly than before (I only have 8 left now, compared to the 15 I had left yesterday...). I'm thinking I might need to make another batch for the holidays--this one was supposed to last until January!

Alanamoana--gomashio? What an excellent idea! When I made the caramels, I scraped the leftovers out of the pot and smeared them on some sesame snaps (sesame candy) and I thought they were awesome! Gomashio will be on my next shopping list! (Thanks for calling my caramels beautiful, btw. I thought they were kinda funky looking compared to some of the stuff that gets posted here, but they were good!)

Trishiad--I've always been afraid of caramel and other candies. Working with boiling sugar is so scary! But seeing Kerry's course made me realize how easy it just might be, and it is! I'm never buying caramels again! These were so much better than the French sel de g..(I can't remember) caramels I bought that were about Y300 for 10 small pieces! And thanks for the tip about the milk solids. I wasn't sure if I should stir a lot or a little, so I erred on the little side. I'll stir more next time (which may be sooner than later!).

[Anna N]

Anna those look Incredible!! Bravaaa ( where is the clapping icone???? )

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Thank you. Each time I have a chocolate session visions of your chocolates dance in my head.

prasantrin, now, if only I could master caramel- it has me totally initimidated. Aside from not liking to mess with hot sugar, the only time I tried to make caramel from the egCI course, it became like some kind of alien being and slumped and spread until I thought it might take over the house.

[Desiderio]

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

[schneich]

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" ;-)

Edited December 7, 2006 by schneich (log)

[Pan]

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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The splatter Santa looks bloody!

[Anna N]

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. What the heck does he carry in his sack these days?