Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Q&A: Confectionery 101


Recommended Posts

Ahh good question Kerry, I think I followed the one of the course , I didnt check to see if they were different , I assumed they were the same .Ok I will try that one .

But in the pics of the demo yours looks more pinkish like the one I wanted to reproduce, and I also noticed that when my syrup is almost at temperature it tends to get color a bit and eventually burn ( like I did the first time , but that was my fault because I was distracted doing something else :raz: )A termometer like the one you are using I am sure would make the difference , becausze the one I use is a digital and I cant leave it in the pan cauce will touch the bottom and the screen gets blurry when overheated.

Thank you Kerry :wub:

Vanessa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kerry your caramel recipe is to die for!!! LOVE IT! :wub:

Now I would like to tweek it a bit by adding a berry flavor to the recipe, like a blueberry or huckleberry. Could I use a juice or puree? Do you know what the best way to go about that, or is it even possible? After I can get this figured out I would like to dip them in white chocolate.

Thank you ever so much for your help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kerry your caramel recipe is to die for!!! LOVE IT!  :wub:

Now I would like to tweek it a bit by adding a berry flavor to the recipe, like a blueberry or huckleberry. Could I use a juice or puree?  Do you know what the best way to go about that, or is it even possible? After I can get this figured out I would like to dip them in white chocolate.

Thank you ever so much for your help!

Might be a challenge keeping the fresh flavour of the berry in the caramel when it boils so long. But I find with this recipe when it's done, and I'm adding the vanilla that I can add a few drops of orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit oil or a couple of drops of peppermint oil and get an amazing flavour. Often I split a batch and do several flavours.

If you had some natural flavouring I'd try adding it at the end. You might try replacing the water with puree, but I can't say how well it will turn out. But let us know how your experimentation goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the help Kerry. I have some flavoring from Amoretti that I will add at the end and see how that works. I will also try some with puree instead of water. I just wasn't sure if I used the puree if the acid in the fruit would make a difference.

I will report back once I try this. It may not be for a couple of day.

Thanks again!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the help Kerry. I have some flavoring from Amoretti that I will add at the end and see how that works. I will also try some with puree instead of water. I just wasn't sure if I used the puree if the acid in the fruit would make a difference.

I will report back once I try this. It may not be for a couple of day.

Thanks again!!!

The acid in the fruit may potentially split the cream, but blueberry isn't terribly acidic (I don't find it a particularly assertive flavour either).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
If I wanted to add salt to the caramel recipe, as in to make fleur de sel caramels (actually, I would be using some coarse Sel Marin de Guerande), how much would I add and when would I add it?

Or should I just sprinkle it on top of the finished caramels?

I'd just sprinkle it on top. Let us know how they turn out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Kerry , I recentely tasted some sea foam candy bar from the RockyMountain chocolate factory.

Now I never tryed the sponge toffee, are they the same thing?Is sea foam a tipical american candy?

Thank you

Vanessa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kerry , I recentely tasted some sea foam candy bar from the RockyMountain chocolate factory.

Now I never tryed the sponge toffee, are they the same thing?Is sea foam a tipical american candy?

Thank you

Vanessa,

I think of seafoam as divinity made with brown sugar, however I have seen recipes where it is clearly sponge toffee. Divinity is an american candy as far as I can tell from the books I have.

Was the candy you had hard and crunchy, or more like a cross between fudge and marshmallow?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I just had to write and say thank you, Kerry. I just discovered the lovely course. I can't wait for cooler weather to try all the recipes. Do you have any pictures of the finished turtles? Every day I discover something new and amazing on egullet. I am lucky to be on holiday and spend hours going through everything!

I will suggest egullet to everyone here who has these interests and well, thank you!

Lior

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just had to write and say thank you, Kerry. I just discovered the lovely course. I can't wait for cooler weather to try all the recipes. Do you have any pictures of the finished turtles? Every day I discover something new and amazing on egullet. I am lucky to be on holiday and spend hours going through everything!

I will suggest egullet to everyone here who has these interests and well, thank you!

Lior

I just looked through all my pictures and I've got mice, squirrels, two kinds of frogs, pigs, hedgehogs, groundhogs and bunnies. The only turtle picture I could find was before they were dipped. I'll try to remember to take a picture next batch I put together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Kerry! Well today I will begin making the snicker bars!! The pictures with the instructions seem to be unavailable for some reason. Is thereanyway to resolve this? Should I ask someone else? And please-if you make turtles canyou post a pic of the finished product?? Once again, I really appreciate this course. You are wonderful!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi. SO sorry to have been a bother bug! I went into the course through the subforum and not through the pastry and baking forum link and magically the pictures appeared... I don't know why they don't show up through the link... butall's well that ends well!

Were there pictures of the turtles too? I can't recall. If not I'll post some when I get home from NYC and can put some together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i didn't know if this thread still even existed, but I am taking the plunge today and makeing some carmel using your recipe, I will let everyone know how it came out...

I am excited! I never done this before.....

"I eat fat back, because bacon is too lean"

-overheard from a 105 year old man

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok, I got done with only one small pin-head size burn. When I dropped my butter in the sugar. Yeah, you were certainly right about that stuff splattering. I don't have a decent camera or I would take pictures, my camera comes out way too dark on every picture (cheap crap...)

anywho, the color is a beautiful golden caramel that looks like store bought caramel. (to give you an idea of what it looks like)

I have a question about candy thermometers, when you clip it to the side of the pan, isn't the temputer of the candy cooler on the outside edge than the middle? How does one get past that?

"I eat fat back, because bacon is too lean"

-overheard from a 105 year old man

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok, I got done with only one small pin-head size burn. When I dropped my butter in the sugar. Yeah, you were certainly right about that stuff splattering. I don't have a decent camera or I would take pictures, my camera comes out way too dark on every picture (cheap crap...)

anywho, the color is a beautiful golden caramel that looks like store bought caramel. (to give you an idea of what it looks like)

I have a question about candy thermometers, when you clip it to the side of the pan, isn't the temputer of the candy cooler on the outside edge than the middle? How does one get past that?

A candy thermometer seems to give a pretty reasonable estimate of the temperature throughout the batch even when a lot of stirring isn't happening. You want to be sure to have a heavy enough pot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made the fudge. I have never had fudge like this. I mean, I have all kinds of flavors of fudge, but this is different.

Is there a name to this kind of fudge other than "fudge"?

(nobody I know wants to eat it because its not chocolate fudge....how do you store it? By the way, I don't care, more for me....:) !

"I eat fat back, because bacon is too lean"

-overheard from a 105 year old man

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made the  fudge. I have never had fudge like this. I mean, I have all kinds of flavors of fudge, but this is different.

Is there a name to this kind of fudge other than "fudge"?

(nobody I know wants to eat it because its not chocolate fudge....how do you store it?  By the way, I don't care, more for me....:) !

I just call it fudge - perhaps you could call it 'non chocolate fudge'. Fudge can be stored either just out on the counter (depending on how soon it will be eaten) or in an air tight container,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Kerry, I just taught a candy class, and made three batches of caramel in the past week. It'd been quite a while since I'd made it, so I wanted to practice. Your recipe was fabulous, but I found that at 250F, the caramels were very soft -- excellent tasting and easy to eat, but within 15 minutes after cutting into squares, they'd settled into puddles. I ended up cooking the last batch to about 256F and they held their shape much better (yes, I double checked my thermometer -- I used three to be sure).

Every recipe I've read gives 250F as the temperature for firm caramels, and as far as I know, when I used to make them I would have used that temperature. Could this be due to humidity (it's really dry here right now) or some other factor I don't know of?

By the way, I tried a square silicone cake pan to pour them out, and it worked better than any other pan I've ever used -- no buttering, no lining with foil and then peeling it off. They just popped out of the pan. I highly recommend it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kerry, I just taught a candy class, and made three batches of caramel in the past week. It'd been quite a while since I'd made it, so I wanted to practice. Your recipe was fabulous, but I found that at 250F, the caramels were very soft -- excellent tasting and easy to eat, but within 15 minutes after cutting into squares, they'd settled into puddles. I ended up cooking the last batch to about 256F and they held their shape much better (yes, I double checked my thermometer -- I used three to be sure).

Every recipe I've read gives 250F as the temperature for firm caramels, and as far as I know, when I used to make them I would have used that temperature. Could this be due to humidity (it's really dry here right now) or some other factor I don't know of?

By the way, I tried a square silicone cake pan to pour them out, and it worked better than any other pan I've ever used -- no buttering, no lining with foil and then peeling it off. They just popped out of the pan. I highly recommend it.

Jaz,

At the 121ºC (250ºF) these do eventually spread after cutting, so they do need to be dipped or wrapped. I find that much higher than that they get too firm and hard on the teeth. I tend to get them to 121ºC then test in cold water to make sure they aren't still too soft if I'm dealing with humid days etc. When I make the caramels with fruit purees I take them to 123ºC (253ºF).

Love the silicone pan idea - brilliant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hi Kerry!

This week I want to work on caramels with fruit purees. I am not sure how to do it. Do I add the fruit puree after it reaches 123C? And do I change the amount of any liquid in order to replace it with the puree? And also,are there purees that come out better than others? Mango and passion fruit is what I have around... I hope you don't mind all my questions.

Thanks a thousand times already!! :rolleyes:

Ilana

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Kerry!

This week I want to work on caramels with fruit purees. I am not sure how to do it. Do I add the fruit puree after it reaches 123C? And do I change the amount of any liquid in order to replace it with the puree? And also,are there purees that come out better than others? Mango and passion fruit is what I have around... I hope you don't mind all my questions.

Thanks a thousand times already!! :rolleyes:

Ilana

Two options - replace part of the cream with puree - either at the beginning of the boil or part way through. Added at the beginning you get a more caramelized caramel - added at 120º C you get a fresher fruit flavour. I've e-mailed you the two recipes.

I've used mango and passion fruit so far and love the combination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...