| Okay enough of that! Now on to the main event. Candy making at our house happens between the day after Thanksgiving and the 10th of December. This year I thought that I would share six recipes with you for making candy.
Two of them will be from last year (Butter Creams and Chocolate Dipped Caramels) and give you four new ones, Perfect Peanut Brittle, Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Centers, Orange Pralines and Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows.
Since folks will probably (hopefully) want to make them before the holidays, I am going to run a Sunday Bread every evening this coming week around 8pm EST.
Like many of the recipes I share with you all, candy making is one of those things that everyone thinks is really impressive and hard, but the reality is there is nothing difficult to it. It merely requires the right equipment, the main piece being a good candy thermometer.
Today we are going to make chocolate covered butter creams. The centers are a honey fondant which is then flavored and dipped in chocolate. Another form of fondant is what is used to give cakes that ultra-smooth frosted look. Because this particular fondant has honey in it, the flavor actually improves over time.
Enough chit chat, lets make some candy!
Lemon and Mint Butter Creams
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup milk
¼ honey (light mild honey preferred)
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups sugar
½ cup marshmallow cream
1 teaspoon lemon oil or flavor
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (if you have peppermint oil use ¼ teaspoon)
Yellow food coloring
Green food coloring
1 lbs dipping chocolate
Equipment:
4 quart or larger pot
Candy thermometer
9"x"13" backing dish
8"x8" baking dish
Method:
In a 4 quart or bigger pot combine the cream, milk, honey, butter and sugar. Stir constantly over high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Wash down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water. What this does is make sure there are no seed crystals around to make your centers crunchy instead of creamy.
Clip on your candy thermometer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the temperature reads 240 degrees. If you are at 5000 feet or above, you want to reduce the temperature by 12 degrees to 228. The real best practice is to boil some water and see what temp it boils at. At my house water boils at 200 instead 212 so I subtract 12 degrees from the recipe.
When the sugar mixture is at the right temperature (you can err on the side of too high but not the side of too low!) remove from the heat and pour into the 9"x13" pan. Do not stir or scrape the pot, just pour out what will come out easily.
Without shaking too much (it can help the formation of crystals, a bad thing in this application) place the baking pan in the refrigerator uncovered. Allow it to stay in there for 1 hour.
Now we come to a place where it is nice to have a stand mixer, though it is not required. When the bottom of the pan feels just barely warm remove it from the refrigerator. If you have a stand mixer scrape the fondant into the work bowl of your mixer and attach the flat paddle attachment. Turn it on to the lowest setting and let it run for 10 minutes.
If you are doing this by hand, it is time to work on those arms! Transfer the fondant into a bowl and using a wooden spoon stir it for 10 minutes. You don't have to have to whip it or anything, just keep the mass moving.
After 10 minutes add the marshmallow crème. Now you could make your own marshmallow crème, called Mazetta, but the fact is that it you don't gain anything from it in terms of quality and it is another set of sugar that you would have to cook. Just buy a jar of the stuff at the store.
Keep stirring for at least 40 minutes until the fondant sets up and becomes very stiff. It will look like this:
Now you can either flavor the fondant all in one batch or separate it into batches and flavor each of those.
To do that turn the fondant out on to a very lightly floured work surface and divide into two roughly equal parts. Set one aside. Form the one your working on into a ball and make a dent in the center with your thumb. Pour a little food color and the flavor you want into the hole and then quickly knead the fondant until the color is uniform. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the 'fridge. Repeat with the other flavor and color.
Allow the fondant to chill for 30 minutes while you do the same. It is never good to make candy when you're tense or spun up. Put your feet up and have a mug of tea or hot chocolate.
To form the centers, cover two sheet pans with parchment paper and take one of the packages out of the 'fridge. Break off about ½ cup of fondant and on a very lightly floured work surface roll it back and forth under your palms to form a rope about 12" long and about ½" in diameter. Using a sharp knife, cut it into 12 inch long segments.
Roll each segment between your palms until you have a sphere. Place the sphere on the prepared pans. Repeat until you have formed all the centers. Take an index finger and flatten the top of each piece just a little, this will make your finished product look more professional.
Depending on how soft your centers are, you're ready to dip them. If they are very soft, it is a good idea to let them stand for a couple of hours or even over night to form of bit of crust. This is important as you will be putting them in warm chocolate and that can make them flow a little. It does not affect the taste but it make them look a little funny.
Let's take a minute to talk about dipping chocolate. Now, you can temper your own chocolate, but it is pretty hard to do well the first time, and there are acceptable substitutes for that. There are all kinds of "dipping compound" which you can use if you want unnatural colors and a waxy taste. What you are looking for is not compound but dipping chocolate. This is usually a pre-tempered chocolate. Ghirardelli used to make a great one but they took it off the market. Your best bet for good dipping chocolate is actually a wedding cake supply store. You might be surprised at how many there are in any major city, just get on the internet and look for them. I always use a dark dipping chocolate, but you can use a milk chocolate if you like.
The chocolate will be in discs or medallions and usually is sold in 1 and 5 lbs bags.
The ideal thing to melt these or any chocolate for dipping is an electric griddle or frying pan. I don't have one so I use my oven. You could use a microwave but I find that the oven set on "warm" is just right for melting but not overheating the chocolate.
To prepare the chocolate, pour 1 lbs in your 8"x8" baking pan (or any relatively deep baking pan). Place in your oven and let it sit for at least five minutes. At five minutes give the chocolate a stir with a wooden spoon. It should be partially but not completely melted at this point. Give it another five minutes while you set up your dipping station.
You want to have the station set up so that the centers are on the side of your non-dominate hand. The pan of chocolate will go in the middle and the landing space (another sheet pan covered with parchment paper) is on the dominate hand side. I am left handed so my dipping station looks like this:
When the chocolate is ready, wash and completely dry your hands. If you get any water in the chocolate when it sets it will have white streaks, and no one wants that. With the fingers of your dominate hand give the chocolate a stir. It should be very warm but not too hot to keep your fingers in it. If it is too hot to keep your hand in it, then the chocolate is too hot to dip. You want somewhere around 85 to 90 degrees for dipping.
Take one of the centers in your off hand and place it in the chocolate. Make a cage of your fingers in your dominate hand and use that to swish the center back and forth. Pick it up with your dominate hand and let any excess chocolate drip off. Check the center to see that it is completely covered and if there is uncovered spot, just rub a chocolate covered finger over that spot.
Place it on the landing tray and repeat. The goal here is to get a thin shell of chocolate on the center, not to drowned it in chocolate. The first time you do this you might want a little more than 1 lbs of chocolate, as beginning dippers tend to use more chocolate.
Every once in a while stir the chocolate with your fingers, to keep the temperature even. If the chocolate gets cold and starts to clump too much, just put it back in the oven for 5 minutes.
Continue to dip until you have dipped all your centers. Congratulations, you've just made your first batch of butter creams!
Place each candy in a small paper cup and store in an air tight plastic container for up to a month, if you can stay away from them that long!
The flour (well this week sugar) is yours. |
