Tag Archives: fail

Salted ‘Bit ‘o Honey’ (ish)

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Soundtrack: Animal, Miike Snow

finished salted 'bit 'o honey'

Supplies:
standing mixer
measuring cups/spoons
spatula
silpat lined baking sheet

Ingredients:
1 large egg whites, room temperature
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 and 1/3 c sugar
1/2 c honey
2 Tbs water

so this post is kind of a haphazard way to see if i could fool around with a recipe i messed up. you’d think i’d have learned my lesson before about letting the sugar mixture reach too high of a temperature…but i apparently not.

(not pictured – combine sugar, honey and water in saucepan. mix to combine and increase heat. i should have stopped at 252 degrees were i to continue with nougat making but i went a bit over. honestly, not even sure what the final temp was before i pulled it off the stove and tried to incorporate in with the whipped egg whites…)

mixing

in standard mixer with whisk attachment beat egg white and salt on medium high until foamy. with mixture running add in syrup and continue to beat. (the color was my first clue something was wrong)

mixed

this doesn’t end up whipping up into a light fluffy mixture…sooo just mix for a few minutes until throughly combined (second clue)

cooling

pour onto silpat lined baking sheet – sprinkle with sea salt flakes. let cool and harden, break into pieces. at this point i knew it was a salvage or not situation so i thought sea salt and honey sounded like it be a tasty treat.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • um, watch temperature on candy thermometer. do not decide to chop additional ingredients or load dishwasher in meantime.

Review: great flavor pretty much on point with bit ‘o honey with a twist – honey and salt is a total winner in my book. however, consistency is like really, really hard chewy taffy. it takes some work but then again it keeps you from eating too much in one sitting i suppose…

mistakes were made

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so in a (totally my fault) turn of events, my attempt to make pistachio/chocolate/dried cherry nougat has resulted in a confection that reminds me of Bit o’ Honey. luckily i could see that gross miscalculations had been made and avoided adding in any of the nougat additions i had prepped. (posts for both forthcoming)

but quite honestly, this is kind of why i love teaching myself how to make all kinds of confections, you never know what you’ll wind up with (if you’re anything like me). and even mistakes are still a good way to learn how to roll with the punches life inevitably throws at you.

Vanilla Marshmallows

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Soundtrack: Death From Above 1979

finished marshmallows 

Supplies:
silpat lined baking sheet
3qt saucepan
candy thermometer
measuring cups/spoons
standing mixer

Ingredients:
3 packets unflavored gelatin
1 and 1/2 c sugar
1 c light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbs vanilla extract
confectioners sugar for dusting

ingredients

measure out sugar/salt, corn syrup and 1/2c water

prep

line baking sheet with silpat and coat with powdered sugar

ingredients

combine gelatin and 1/2c cold water in bowl of standing mixer with whisk attachment. let sit and soften while cooking syrup mixture.

cooking

cook sugar, salt, corn syrup, and water over medium heat until sugar dissolves. increase heat and cook until syrup mixture reaches 240degrees.

mixing

slowly pour hot syrup over softened gelatin while mixer is running on low speed. once incorporated increase speed to high.

whisking

let mix for about 10min until glossy, thick and stiff.

mixing

add in vanilla extract and mix to combine.

cooling

pour onto confectioners sugar coated silpat. flatten with wet hand and shape to form rectangle(ish). top with more confectioners sugar.

cutting

let set up overnight, cut into squares and roll in powdered sugar.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • when transferring the finished marshmallow onto the prepared pan it helps immensely to keep the faucet running on low and continually wet your hands to keep from becoming covered in strands of marshmallow.
  • as always…blast it…make sure to watch the temperature. my first batch over cooked a bit and the whipped up finished marshmallow was a bit off-white and turned out a bit too sticky/rubbery and flat compared with the second batch.

mistake

  • i tried to divide the first batch into 3 separate flavors – vanilla, champagne and strawberry. the marshmallow is so sticky and challenging to work with that this extra step just wound up making a mess. plus the amounts of extract i added in was more of a guestimation and the flavor ended up being too overpowering.

mistake

  • the champagne extract will take some work to figure out the right balance of how much to use to get the flavor, without tasting super alcohol-y. not my favorite so far.

Review: the vanilla only batch turned out perfectly. marshmallows are my favorite confection and i actually prefer them before they’ve set up completely and are still a bit melty textured. i’ve made different flavor combinations in the past and i’m looking forward to tweaking this basic recipe. re-mastering basic vanilla, obviously, is a necessary first step before i change up the flavorings, but the plain vanilla is pretty darn delicious in any case.

Honeycomb (take 1)

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Screening: Misery

finished honeycomb

 
Supplies:
parchment paper lined baking pan
3qt saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
whisk

Ingredients:
1/2 c sugar
4 Tbs dark corn syrup
1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda

ingredients

line baking sheet with parchment paper. pour sugar and syrup into saucepan.

ingredients

stir to combine – off heat.

cooking

cook – not stirring – over medium heat for about 5 min until sugar mixture boils and bubbles and turns the color of maple syrup. remove from heat and whisk in baking soda until entirely combined.

finishing

pour into prepared baking pan and let cool.

noms

break into pieces. dip into melted chocolate if desired.

Lessons Learned:

  • pour finished mixture into pan quickly, and don’t try to even it out with the whisk because the quickly hardening confection with glom onto everything.

Review: did not like this recipe. the finished product has a weird after taste of baking soda, and after the initial first few light and airy bites the honeycomb starts to stick to your teeth and doesn’t really dissolve. the chocolate was a pretty touch, but doesn’t really address these main concerns. a friend who does not like honeycomb as a general rule did, however, like this confection because it had such a different-than-typical taste. also i find it weird that honey was not an actual ingredient. i will be making an alternate recipe tomorrow.

 

Chocolate Rum Walnut ‘Fudge’

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Screening: The Addams Family, 1991

finished 'fudge'

Supplies:
microwave
microwave safe bowl
8in square pan buttered or lined w/parchment paper
measuring cups/spoons
Ingredients:
butter for pan if buttering
1 (12oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 c rum (or amaretto, coffee liqueur)
3/4 c walnuts (halves and pieces)

ingredients

line square pan with parchment paper. pour chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in microwave safe bowl. measure out rum and walnuts.

microwave chips and milk on high for 1 min 30 sec, remove and stir. put back in and microwave for 1 min 30 sec more. even though for me the chips and milk combined and mixed into a smooth consistency i put it back in for a second heating hoping that would help the fudge firm up. mix in the rum until combined. mix in nuts.

cooling

pour mixture into buttered or parchment lined pan, again make sure when you are pouring that the mixture doesn’t flow over the parchment lining, easy to prevent so long as you are monitoring. let cool – at room temp! – for at least an hour. apparently putting fudge to cool in the fridge produces a grainy consistency so plan accordingly if you are making the fudge last minute for an event/gift.

noms

(attempt to) cut into squares. serve with white chocolate fudge failure #1 topping.

Lessons Learned:

  • the fudge STILL takes longer to harden and is softer than i had anticipated. honestly it doesn’t hold up well enough to cut and serve in a social setting because the heat from your hands warms up the chocolate and it starts to melt over everything.
  • i haven’t given up on fudge yet, i will master this beast.

Review: people seem to love fudge and this is a really sweet boozy nutty version which i think will be an appreciative addition to an office party setting – IF it actually held up. because it really still seems too soft for me to even feel right about touting it as fudge, i have a feeling i will be putting this batch into a jar and calling ‘topping’ as i did with the white chocolate attempt.

White Chocolate Rum Walnut Topping

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Screening: Twilight Zone, black and white episodes

white chocolate rum walnut topping

Supplies:
microwave
microwave safe bowl
8in square pan buttered or lined w/parchment paper
measuring cups/spoons
Ingredients:
butter for pan if buttering
1 (12oz) package white chocolate chips
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c rum (or amaretto, coffee liqueur)
3/4 c walnuts (halves and pieces)

ingredients

line square pan with parchment paper. pour chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in microwave safe bowl. measure out rum and walnuts.

microwave chips and milk on high for 1 min 30 sec, remove and stir. for me the chips and milk combined and mixed into a smooth consistency so i did not have to return it to the microwave to heat it up any more. mix in the rum until combined. mix in nuts.

cooling

i poured my mixture into a parchment lined pan (my friend still has my proper pan following the divinity disaster so i’ve been relying on disposable ones…) because i was still under the assumption that it would harden up into fudge – NOT TRUE. make sure when you are pouring that the mixture doesn’t flow over the parchment lining, easy to prevent so long as you are monitoring. let cool.

this is the point at which i discovered my fudge was still super runny and plan b, c, or d’s would need to be employed. i put the ‘fudge’ into the freezer for a while and still no luck.

noms

since i have made hot fudge topping in the past with great success, i figured that this kind of had the same look and feel and would make a good stand in. i/gift recipients could then come up with ideas of ways to use the (still delicious) confection as a topping to all sorts of treats. that decided, i spooned the final product into a jar, slapped a label on it and called it a day.

Lessons Learned:

  • the fudge takes longer to harden and is softer than i had anticipated. it is possible that i added too much rum (shocking assumption i know) but truth be told i stuck to the 1/4 c measurement so maybe the recipe was at fault with this one. were i to make this again i would definitely use less.
  • this recipe does not for a fudge make. period. end of story.

Review: confession - i actually dislike fudge, and dislike white chocolate even more. i decided to make this confection though because it is one of the easiest recipes that i have come across in my scouring of things to make, and it avoids having to mess with boiling sugar or a candy thermometer. it is super quick to throw together and does not require vigilant attention to detail.

all this said, however, it did not deliver on the promised fudge final product. i substituted white chocolate chips for semi-sweet so i also thought that might have been my error, but as my next attempt proves this has nothing to do with the failure. i would have rather attempted a more involved recipe were it to guarantee that i’d wind up with actual fudge.

peppermint divinity – fail

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today i will be undertaking my second attempt at peppermint divinity. there were many lessons learned with the first batch, most notably the importance of being fully present during the candy making process. trying to squeeze in a quick recipe while juggling multiple other tasks is a, well, recipe for disaster…

non-noms

from my understanding this is nothing what the finished product should look like – fingers crossed i will be posting an impeccable version later today. i was only able to remove the rock hard mass with the help of some hot water soaking and a very determined friend.