Holiday baking and other food prep

[merigayle]

REcipe?

[caribougrrl]

REcipe?

very first post, or better instructions on the blog http://moosecurrry.blogspot.ca/2013/12/dance-of-sugar-plums.html

[merigayle]

very first post, or better instructions on the blog http://moosecurrry.blogspot.ca/2013/12/dance-of-sugar-plums.html

that was so last year 


:p

[merigayle]

Ok, I am a pain in the butt. Any way to make them without almonds and without liquor?

[caribougrrl]

Ok, I am a pain in the butt. Any way to make them without almonds and without liquor?

Sure, use other nuts, just have a total of 2 cups.  Use orange or apple juice instead of liqueur, but maybe store in fridge right away?  I think the juice substitution is common.

Similarly, use whatever dried fruit you want... I particularly like the ratios in the recipe, but I sometimes use sour cherries instead of cranberry. or dried pear instead of the dates.

[merigayle]

I am not sure I will have time to try these, but I pinned them to my Pinterest holiday recipe board and hope to try them

[merigayle]

UGHHHHH. DD wanted to make caramels for the weekend. It was hard but I finally found a decent looking recipe for ones that do not have corn syrup in them to make. (I am not eating grains and wanted to be able to taste test what i made and either corn or rice, it turns out, makes me REALLY itchy) I found a recipe on Smitten Kitchen for apple cider caramels. I have made several recipes from her site and all have been winners, so I trusted the recipe. It starts with reducing the apple cider in half, which took about 30-40 mins, then you stir in the rest of the ingredients and according to her recipe, bring up to 255F, 5 minutes, then they are done. I bought a candy thermometer which turns out SUCKS DONKEY BALLS (but seems like according to reviews most do, doh!) and it never went about 220. She also mentions if you do not have a candy thermometer you can put a spoon full of the caramel in a bowl of ice water and see what the consistency is and determine readiness from there. 10 minutes go by, 20 minutes go by....... I am starting to FREAK OUT. I google to try to find similar recipes, I scan the 1000+ comments on her recipe blog post and finally I find a similar recipe and the guy boils the mixture for FORTY FIVE minutes. HUGE difference, imo. After around 40ish minutes I poured them out into prepared 8x8 pans to set up. What I tasted was phenomenal. They are REALLY chewy, so probably will cut them very small.  they are good in the AM.

[witchypoo]

do you eat dairy, meri?  does your daughter?  this is a good recipe, if so: http://eatboutique.com/2012/10/24/homemade-caramel-candy/

[merigayle]

We generally do not eat dairy but she wanted to make this, so i bought butter and cream 




ETA-- does that say FIFTEEN cups of sugar or 1.5??? FIFTEEN 

[merigayle]

UGH!!!!! The caramels are REALLY hard  I may attempt a second batch tomorrow. They are delicious but hard. This was the recipe
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/10/apple-cider-caramels-the-book-is-here/

[caribougrrl]

UGH!!!!! The caramels are REALLY hard  I may attempt a second batch tomorrow. They are delicious but hard. This was the recipe
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/10/apple-cider-caramels-the-book-is-here/

I think 255 is a bit too hot for a chewy caramel.  The apple cider reduction should probably come up to 255 or 265 (hard ball stage to just shy of soft crack stage), but after the butter etc. is mixed in, I would only bring it to the firm ball stage which is about 245.


technically, sugar doesn't caramelize until about 330F, but I wouldn't risk that will all the other contents of cider... beside, the cider has a lot of colour without caramelizing the sugar

[merigayle]

I think 255 is a bit too hot for a chewy caramel.  The apple cider reduction should probably come up to 255 or 265 (hard ball stage to just shy of soft crack stage), but after the butter etc. is mixed in, I would only bring it to the firm ball stage which is about 245.


technically, sugar doesn't caramelize until about 330F, but I wouldn't risk that will all the other contents of cider... beside, the cider has a lot of colour without caramelizing the sugar

How long should I cook it after I stir in the butter, cream, sugar? This seemed to have been the issue, i saw anywhere from 5-45 minutes. I was closer to the 45 min stage. Maybe closer to 25-30? UGH. I think I will try again. The therm never got to 245 and it was definitely a rolling boil. I think it was bad. (thermometer)

[caribougrrl]

How long should I cook it after I stir in the butter, cream, sugar? This seemed to have been the issue, i saw anywhere from 5-45 minutes. I was closer to the 45 min stage. Maybe closer to 25-30? UGH. I think I will try again. The therm never got to 245 and it was definitely a rolling boil. I think it was bad. (thermometer)

there are a lot of bad thermometers out there... I prefer the ones like this:


because they keep the thermometer tip off the bottom of the pot, are easy to read and generally easy to keep submerged in the liquid, also, about $15 IIRC... you also want to make sure you use a small enough pot to keep the liquid deep, if you can't properly submerge the tip without touching the bottom you won't get an accurate reading


the more concentrated the cider before you stir in the cream and butter, the shorter the time it will take to reach the right temp after...

[merigayle]

That was the thermometer I used. I do not think the pot was too wide, it was tall as I did not want anything bubbling up and burning me, but not wide at all.

[tenacious1]

they are good right away, they just get better over a couple of weeks (in my opinion)... but you can absolutely serve them right away

Oh good. I thought I was too late.

[caribougrrl]

That was the thermometer I used. I do not think the pot was too wide, it was tall as I did not want anything bubbling up and burning me, but not wide at all.

if the thermometer is a dud, you might be better off trusting the cold water test http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html

I threw out 6 or 7 thermometers before the one I have... and the one I use is pretty accurate, but I still also test with water most of the time.

[merigayle]

if the thermometer is a dud, you might be better off trusting the cold water test http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html

I threw out 6 or 7 thermometers before the one I have... and the one I use is pretty accurate, but I still also test with water most of the time.

I was doing the cold water method, and it seems to have been closer to stage 3 than 2, which is prob the issue.

[witchypoo]

We generally do not eat dairy but she wanted to make this, so i bought butter and cream 




ETA-- does that say FIFTEEN cups of sugar or 1.5??? FIFTEEN 

LOL!  no teeth for xmas.

1.5 cups.

[srsly]

Sometimes the foaming of the syrup in the sauce pot keeps the thermometer from reading accurately.

Re: Candy thermometer, I have given up using standard candy thermometer a long time ago because it's very hard to read. I also prefer to use Celcius reading because it's more accurate in my opinion. So I replaced my glass thermometer with digital. Even then, when your syrup foams too much, the thermometer reads the temp of the foam and not the syrup.

I suggest that you check the syrup temp by tipping the pot to one side so that the syrup collects at a level where the thermometer can be submerged in at least 1 inch of it. I also tend to remove my syrup about 2-3 deg C before my target temperature because I think there's a delay in the way my digital thermometer reads the temp. I have to cook my macaron syrup to about 118, with my new digital thermometer from Walmart, I have to remove it from heat when it reaches 116.

[merigayle]

LOL!  no teeth for xmas.

1.5 cups.

whew! I was worried!!


From what I am reading on line, most candy thermometers are crap, the tip was well submerged, not touching the bottom and it was not foaming for a while until i started losing my patients, since the recipe said 5 mins and i was pushing 40. THe caramel flavor is delightful and I will try again tomorrow.