Tag: candy

in the kitchen, Seasons

What I did with my December

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I always seem to go a bit off the grid in December. I’m a far cry from the 80 pounds of candy Grandpa made one year, but I do seem to get lost in the kitchen just the same. Nuts to chop, sugar to caramelize, chocolate to melt. This was the year I learned to temper chocolate. Also, silicone molds are better for shaping ganache centers for truffles. Turtles should be made with two pecans instead of three, only 24 turtles fit on a tray and I probably should have made at least 30. Dipping is much easier with an …

in the kitchen

Rice Krispies Can’t Fix Everything, and A Favor

 

A few days ago, I attempted some cinnamon divinity. It’s a light and airy candy, just a little on the dry side. It falls apart in your mouth like some after-dinner mints or a meringue cookie. I goofed somewhere on this batch. Possibly, I didn’t beat the eggs whites enough, or maybe I didn’t heat the syrup to a high enough temperature (the recipe said 155 degrees, but the thermometer markings suggest I should have held out for 160 degrees). Or maybe I was worried about over-beating like I did the opera cremes in December and so didn’t beat it …

in the kitchen, Seasons, sewing

All wrapped up

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Remember this project? Want to see what it became? These bags are officially tradition now. I made about a dozen (some of last year’s bags were returned for refills) of the tutorial size of Jeni‘s Drawstring Bags, which is the perfect size for several bundles of homemade candy. This year, the fabric bags contained the required caramels and English toffee (from Grandpa’s recipes), as well as salted caramels (which might become a staple), peanut brittle and chocolate dipped marshmallows. I was hoping to also include opera cremes, but that didn’t work out so well. And I ran out of time …

in the kitchen

Introducing Opera Crispies

 

Have you ever heard of Opera Cremes? They are out of fashion now, according to Grandpa’s vintage books, because they are tiny and have to be hand-dipped in chocolate. But they used to be popular among Victorian opera-goers, for precisely the same reason. Tiny candies are easier to sneak into long opera performances, and you can eat them surreptitiously. No large nut-cruching to distract the performers, no large mouth movements to give you away. Grandpa’s books have a couple of recipes for opera cremes, one of which includes instructions for topping with a layer of melted chocolate and cutting into …

in the kitchen

Not done yet!

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A rough count, so far: 4 pts heavy cream 2 cups peanuts 7 11 oz bottles of corn syrup approximately 4 cups almonds approximately 4 lbs butter and a lot of sugar (Apologies for the less-than-thrilling photography. Yesterday, Seattle had it’s sixth darkest day of 2012, according to our local weather guru. Sure, it’s a dark time of the year, but our cloud cover is so thick that it basically looks like twilight all day long!) Save

in the kitchen, Seasons

If you need me

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I’ll be in the kitchen for most of the month. The first batch has been beta tested and deemed a success. I’m still not sure what the final collections will include beyond the essential caramels and English toffee. I’ve got all of Grandpa’s candy books, which mostly means that nothing is impossible. Which leaves me with improbable amounts of sugar. Hooray! Save