Tag Archives: nuts

White Chocolate Cream Eggs

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Soundtrack: Punk Bunny

finished white chocolate cream eggs

Supplies:
saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
spatula
silpat lined baking sheet
wire rack
Ingredients:
1/4 c butter
1 c finely chopped pecans
1 and 1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/3 c sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz white baking chocolate chips
paste food colorings

chopped pecans

finely chop pecans

candy center

melt butter in saucepan. stir in pecans, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. transfer to bowl

chilled filling

chill for 2 to 3 hours

chilled centers

shape mixture into eggs (…decided to go with balls vs. eggs since making mini eggs wasn’t really working out for me) - place on silpat lined baking sheets and refrigerate overnight

dipping

melt white chocolate in bowl set above pot of simmering water. using fork or candy holder carefully dip candy into melted chocolate.

chilling

place on wire rack and allow chocolate to harden

coloring

place small amount of food coloring on paper plate (or plastic container lid). dilute with a bit of water to achieve pastel colors.

speckling

crumple piece of wax paper, dip and carefully blot eggs to decorate.

chilling

allow coloring to set, chill candies

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • the pecan cream filling is pretty rich so i wanted to make smaller sized pieces – especially since they were going to be coated in white chocolate which is suuuper sweet. i thought small ball shapes just made more sense than eggs since every time i tried to make a mini egg it wound up looking round anyways
  • dipping the candies in white chocolate with the round chocolate dipping tool i have resulted in some weird marks when i put the candies down to cool – i let the chocolate harden up some and then re-dipped wonky looking ones for a thicker coat
  • the bottoms of the coated candies stuck to the wire rack while cooling. luckily i still had some melted white chocolate left over so i went back and tried to fill in the gaps

  • wear gloves
  • seriously – this was what the final product was supposed to look like. i like to think mine’ve got character.

perfection

Review: really rich tasting but pretty and festive. i don’t like white chocolate but it’s a sacrifice that has to be made to get the colors to turn out so vibrantly. smooth and melty with little bits of crunch from the pecans. i like them better chilled vs. room temperature. again, i cannot re-itterate enough these are so sweet i can’t imagine eating more than one at a time, if that. maybe if you really like white chocolate…

Dried Cherry, Chocolate, Pistachio Nougat

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Soundtrack: Pursuit of Happiness, Kid Cudi

finished nougat

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

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
roasted pistachios
chocolate covered dried cherries
rice paper or wafer paper

ingredients

roasted pistachios

chocolate covered dried cherries

chop up whatever you decide to put into nougat – i had a scant half cup of pistachios and some chocolate covered dried cherries on hand i figured would be a nice combo.

cooking

combine sugar, honey and water in saucepan. mix to combine and increase heat. cook until syrup reaches 252 degrees.

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.

whisked

whip up into a light fluffy mixture.

mix-ins

add in pistachios and chocolate covered dried cherries

mixed

stir to combine.

spreading

spread onto waver paper and top with another sheet. let cool for about two hours.

cutting

cut into pieces with serrated knife

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • it’s hard to whip up just one egg white in a standing mixer. not sure if i should have used a hand mixer to start since the final nougat mixture didn’t seem to whip up into a fluffy base, but it still worked
  • i should have spread more mixture in between the wafer paper. the ratio tasted a bit off and i would have preferred more nougat to wafer.
  • the kitchen store i went to didn’t have rice paper which i think would have worked much better than the wafer paper since the wafer paper is a bit thick.

Review: delicious. i love nougat and the chocolate covered dried cherries and pistachio were great additions. really soft consistency and gorgeous color. would love to make again with rice paper.

Peanut Butter Cups

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Soundtrack: Sail, AWOLNATION

finished peanut butter cups

Supplies:
3qt saucepan
2qt saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
cooling rack
mini cupcake cups

Ingredients:
2 c milk chocolate chips

2 Tbs shortening
1/2 c butter
1/2 c crunchy peanut butter
1 c powdered sugar
2/3 c crushed graham crackers

ingredients

combine chocolate chips and shortening in saucepan.

melted

melt over medium low heat – turn off heat once melted.

cups

put small spoonful of melted chocolate into cups – swirl around so that it goes up sides of cup, but is still a bit thick on the bottom. place in fridge to harden up.

ingredients

in second saucepan combine peanut butter and butter until melted.

filling

remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and crushed graham crackers.

filling

once chocolate cups are firmed up add in small amount of peanut butter mixture. flatten with your fingers to form an even layer. top with another layer of melted chocolate and refrigerate until hard.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • be careful when filling cups with chocolate – the little cups have a tendency to smoosh a bit and loose their perfectly circular shape.
  • silicone molds do not work – aside from my sloppy filling they wouldn’t pop out from the mold even when hardened because the chocolate layer is too thin:

Review: yum yum yum. the small version of these is perfect, i may put more peanut butter mixture in the molds next time around since there was a lot of that left over when compared to chocolate. i made two larger versions of this in proper cupcake sized paper cups which i think turned out pretty good as well – except for the fact that i should have gotten aluminum cups rather than just paper so they would peel out more easily. the idea of using shortening in anything kind of grosses me out, but it really makes for a smooth creamy chocolate.

Sour Cream Candied Pecans

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Soundtrack: Pixies

finished candied pecans

Supplies:
baking sheet lined with parchment paper
3qt saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
wooden spoon

Ingredients:
2/3c packed dark brown sugar
1/2tsp kosher salt
1/4c sour cream
3/4tsp vanilla extract
1 and 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1 and 1/4c roasted nuts

ingredients

line baking sheet with parchment paper. combine sugar, salt, and sourcream in saucepan. stir to combine with wooden spoon.

cooking

cook mixture, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until mixture reaches 240degrees.

mixing

remove from heat. add vanilla, cinnamon, and nuts to syrup. stir until well combined.

cooling

spread onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • the finished product that i came out with looks a lot different than what the recipe had as their final photo. mine turned out a bit more sticky-candied whereas their pic looked like the finished product would have a hard candy shell. maybe again something is off with my thermometer?

Review: easy to make. adding sour cream to a candied nut recipe sounds weird but the finished product is tasty. sticks to your teeth a little as you finish chewing but has a nice crunch to it when you first bite into the pecan.

Caramelized Pumpkin Seeds

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Screening: Love Actually

finished candied seeds

 
Supplies:
roasting pan or large skillet
measuring cups/spoons

Ingredients:
10oz pumpkin seeds
5 Tbs sugar
5 pinches of salt
2 and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
5 tsp ground cinnamon
2 and 1/2 tsp ground ginger

**the ingredient amounts are a little weird because i multiplied the original recipe by 5 since i wanted an ample amount

pumpkin seeds

place pumpkin seeds in single layer in roasting pan.

ingredients

top seeds with sugar and spice mixture.

roasting

place seeds on stovetop and heat over low heat until sugar begins to melt and seeds are coated in mixture.  since i had a large roasting pan i put it over the front and back burners and made sure to stir the mixture frequently. once seeds are coated and caramelized remove from heat. at this point i thought the seeds were still a bit too chewy (i like them crispy) so i threw the pan in the oven and broiled on high for about 5 minutes.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • before i moved the roasting pan to the stove, i initially tried to roast the pumpkin seeds in the oven but the sugar didn’t really melt and after 10 min it still looked like this:

mistake

  • since i didn’t use fresh seeds (from an actual pumpkin that i cleaned) i think that it took a bit more cooking over heat to get the mixture to melt, stick to the seeds and eventually caramelize.  however, the convenience of being able to use pre-packaged seeds makes up for it.

Review: super easy to make. i may have left them under the broiler for a bit too long but they are especially crunchy which turned out to my liking. dark, rich, spicy caramelized flavor rather than overly sweet which i sometimes find typical of caramelized nuts.

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.