Author Topic: Holiday baking and other food prep (Read 141356 times)

merigayle · « **Reply #100 on:** December 11, 2015, 03:17:45 PM »

Trying again. Been boiling for 10+ minutes, thermometer only reading 210. Put spoonful in bowl of cold water and it completely dissolved to nothing, so hopefully 10 more minutes or so.

merigayle · « **Reply #101 on:** December 11, 2015, 03:31:56 PM »

Still dissolving in the water but I have to go to the bus stop in 5 minutes so I will have to put it by then!

merigayle · « **Reply #102 on:** December 12, 2015, 06:45:48 AM »

batch #2 too soft

i knew it needed about 5 more minutes. This is getting expensive but I think I want to try ONE MORE TIME. And I almost missed the bus! It came 10 minutes early

I ran to the bus stop too. The flavor is amazing, I just got to get the cook right. I am pretty sure I was boiling it for 25-30 minutes, so somewhere between 30-40 must be the magic spot.

merigayle · « **Reply #103 on:** December 12, 2015, 11:42:24 AM »

Is this thing on? HELLO?

Can I recook my not cooked enough caramels? Can I combine and cook the two batches and find a happy median? Or do I start from scratch?

srsly · « **Reply #104 on:** December 12, 2015, 01:17:46 PM »

Quote from: merigayle on December 12, 2015, 11:42:24 AM

Is this thing on? HELLO?

Can I recook my not cooked enough caramels? Can I combine and cook the two batches and find a happy median? Or do I start from scratch?

Yes, you can. Absolutely. I have saved many a batch of caramel sauces, even the ones that crystallized.I added water, boil together the good and the bad ones, simmer, and watched the thermometer carefully (like a hawk). Your flame or burner heat can hasten the time it takes to reach your target temp, but do lower it When it's around 10 deg c prior. The function of the thermometer is more important than the recommended time of cooking in the recipe, IMO.

merigayle · « **Reply #105 on:** December 12, 2015, 06:06:04 PM »

I dumped them

I will try tomorrow, did not make it to the store today. I knew it was a little undercooked yesterday but since batch 1 was so overdone I was hoping it would be ok. Hopefully third time is the charm. Also talking to a friend who does a lot of confections, she said not having corn syrup will make it much harder but corn or rice makes me itchy, not sure which one and I do not care to find out.

merigayle · « **Reply #106 on:** December 13, 2015, 11:32:34 AM »

Ok, round 3 I think will be the one. It is in the fridge cooling now. I used the cold water method and it was a moldable amount of caramel.

merigayle · « **Reply #107 on:** December 13, 2015, 01:41:49 PM »

Perfectly delicious caramels! Picture when out on display

merigayle · « **Reply #108 on:** December 13, 2015, 08:52:48 PM »

Everyone loved them! pics on my phone, will try to update tomorrow. Now I am all sad they are all gone, LOL!!!! I wrapped about 1000 pieces of caramel by hand.

caribougrrl · « **Reply #109 on:** December 14, 2015, 07:32:20 AM »

I'm glad to see the caramel saga come to a happy end!

merigayle · « **Reply #110 on:** December 14, 2015, 09:46:23 AM »

Quote from: caribougrrl on December 14, 2015, 07:32:20 AM

I'm glad to see the caramel saga come to a happy end!

Me too. Everyone seemed genuinely impressed with them. I think they had such a better flavor than regular caramels which generally taste like burnt sugar and butter to me!

You can see the wrapped ones, I should have counted, there was prob 150? And then some on the stand in paper cups for people to eat at the party. I was really happy i gave it one last try. They prob could have cooked for 1-2 minutes but I did not want to risk it.

Magic Microbe · « **Reply #111 on:** December 14, 2015, 12:58:04 PM »

Yesterday I made and decorated sugar cookies, spritz cookies using the cookie press, Swedish spice cookies, and grandma cookies. I also made some oatmeal chocolate chip for the husband.

Today I may make caramel corn and snickerdoodles.

JBM · « **Reply #112 on:** December 15, 2015, 09:05:38 AM »

This weekend I am going to make coconut macaroons and anise cookies.

My cookie gun is busted. The last time I tried to use it, I couldn't get it to work properly. I loved that thing and those cookies are so good!

Magic Microbe · « **Reply #113 on:** December 15, 2015, 06:14:39 PM »

Quote from: JBM on December 15, 2015, 09:05:38 AM

This weekend I am going to make coconut macaroons and anise cookies.

My cookie gun is busted. The last time I tried to use it, I couldn't get it to work properly. I loved that thing and those cookies are so good!

That's weird. There isn't much mechanically to it. Mine only works with the recipes that came with it though. I tried to use a sugar cookie recipe with it once and it didn't work at all.

JBM · « **Reply #114 on:** December 15, 2015, 06:30:31 PM »

I can't remember what the problem was. I haven't pulled it out to look at it again. It's definitely picky about the dough. Even then it can take several efforts to get it to come out the way it should through the disk instead of a blob

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

merigayle · « **Reply #115 on:** December 15, 2015, 07:44:54 PM »

the dough has to be JUST RIGHT and i like parchment paper to deposit the cookie onto. But yeah, some recipes just do not work with the press.

srsly · « **Reply #116 on:** December 16, 2015, 09:50:18 AM »

I made two batches of English toffee. The frist one looked great, but IMO, not good bec it had a hard candy texture while chewing on it. I was miffed because the recipe it called for had 3 tbsp corn syrup. I was hesitant to put that much into my syrup but did anyway. I think that was the culprit. Too bad because I feel that I wasted some very good chocolate in it (Valrhona).

The 2nd batch, I completely f-d up too, first by toasting the almond slivers too dark, then by cooking the syrup too dark which made it taste a bit bitter. The recipe that I used for the second one called for 2 tbsp of water. This made the syrup cook too fast and made the candy a lot darker than typical. Ugh. I like the 2nd recipe better thought. The texture is much better than the first one. It is crunchy, and does not turn into a chewy hard candy when you eat them. But melts in your mouth type of texture, and quite buttery. I spread it a bit thinner than I did the first one. And so it cracks too easily.

On to the third batch! This time I'll use the 2nd recipe but will cook the syrup in a smaller pot with enough water to dissolve the sugar and butter before allowing it to caramelize to the right color. Oh the 2nd recipe calls for brown sugar instead of white granular, and 1 stick less butter and 1 tbsp corn syrup plus a bit of baking soda which I believe created the crunchy texture.

merigayle · « **Reply #117 on:** December 16, 2015, 11:43:20 AM »

Good luck, it took three batches for me to get the caramels right, but was well worth it.

caribougrrl · « **Reply #118 on:** December 05, 2016, 10:10:38 AM »

it's that time of year again, so bumping this up.

I made some candied citrus peel yesterday... it's still sitting in the syrup, I will dry and sugar it later in the week. The whole point of doing it though is that I'm going to try my hand at panforte this year.

teetime · « **Reply #119 on:** December 09, 2016, 09:17:51 PM »

Along with candied ginger, candied citrus is up there with my favorite things (strips half dipped in dark chocolate ...

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Author Topic: Holiday baking and other food prep (Read 141356 times)