Sponge Candy!

Ooh, this was a fun one to make. Sponge candy (also known as honeycomb, seafoam, cinder toffee, among other things) is weird. I'm still amazed by what sugar can do simply by heating it to different temperatures. The difference sponge candy has is baking soda. Some recipes use vinegar to create a bubbly reaction. In this particular version, just the thermal decomposition of the baking soda causes the release of carbon dioxide, which causes the bubbles. Same idea. 

I don't remember the first time I had sponge candy, but I definitely fell for it in Ireland. Crunchie bars are probably my favorite candy bar, and I'm super sad they aren't a thing in the US. It's probably for the better...I might not have teeth if they were. I am in love with this candy, everything about it. I love the golden color and thousands of holes dotting its surface. I love the delicate tinkling sound of pieces hitting against each other. I love the texture, crunchy but easily yielding to the teeth, then dissolving to nothing. 

Scary Cave. Why did this happen?

I tried making a recipe over Christmas Break, and it was HORRIBLE. It called for actual honey and it smelled so, so bad. Like a barn. And it tasted awful, and I was so sad. I did some more research and found this recipe from Wilde in the Kitchen, who seems to have done some serious sponge candy research. Mine turned out...okay? The outside bits are very good, especially dipped in chocolate. But the whole inside was this...scary cave. Trypophobes, beware! I just scraped all the yucky stuff out and was left with some lovely candy. If anyone has perfected a recipe, let me know! 

Sponge Candy
from Wilde in the Kitchen

¼ tsp gelatin
1 tsp water
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cups light corn syrup
½ cup water
1 tbsp baking soda (sifted)
Butter a 9x9 pan then dust with flour. Tap out excess flour.
In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1 tsp water and allow to bloom.
In a medium stock pot with high sides, mix sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 cup water together. Heat over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil. Wash down any sugar crystals from the sides with a wet pastry brush. Clip on candy thermometer and heat to 310° F.  Do not stir after you have clipped the thermometer on, the sugar will self stir.
Remove from heat and let sit for two minutes, bubbling should subside. Add gelatin and whisk, be careful, the sugar syrup will bubble up. Sprinkle baking soda over syrup and whisk vigorously. Return mixture to the heat and whisk for 30 seconds. The sugar will rise up in the pot, a lot!
Quickly pour into prepared pan, it should come out in a big blob. Do not spread the mixture, just let it settle into the pan. Allow to cool completely (about 2 hours or overnight) before removing from the pan.
Either break into odd pieces or cut into squares (this is a messy process!). To cut into squares - using a serrated knife, score the candy at 1-inch intervals. Snap the candy apart at the score lines. Then score and break into squares.
If you please, melt chocolate melts in a double boiler (or bowl sitting above a pot of boiling water). Dip sponge candies in chocolate, tap off excess. Chill in the fridge to set the chocolate shell. Enjoy!

Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

I finally got an oven to work for me! But that's a story for later in the week ^__^  Okay, so you know how there are double stuffed oreos (which, apparently, are only 1.86th stuffed. The nerve!)? Now there are MEGA STUFFED OREOS. Is that too much filling for you? I'm kind of feeling yes. How do you eat oreos? I usually either spread peanut butter on them or pull one of these. 

Whoa, black and white, what is this madness? 

I don't usually buy cookies for myself, but I came into possession of some mega stuffed oreos through my father, who had received them from someone else. He can't eat oreos though, too much sodium, bad for the heart. So they became mine! And as much as I wanted to, I knew I probably shouldn't eat the whole package by myself. 

Messy....sorry, I was in a hurry >_ >

Soooo...I found a recipe for oreo cheesecake cookies. Not surprisingly, given my track record so far, they were a mega fail. All the fat oozed out the bottom without cooking the rest of the cookie. I slammed the rejects into the garbage and pondered my next course of action. I was due to meet up with some friends soon and I was not about to walk over there empty handed. So I rolled the remaining dough (eggless, hooray!) into balls, dipped them in chocolate, and popped them in the freezer. Cheesecake truffles! They were such a huge hit, I made them again a few days later. 

Oreo Cheesecake Truffles
adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 sleeve oreos
1 bag chocolate chips

Crush oreos into crumbs. It's okay to have some bigger chunks in there. Set aside. 

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and well-combined. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and mix until the ingredients are well-combined. Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated. Stir in crushed oreos. Roll into balls (about walnut sized). If your dough is getting too soft, pop it in the freezer until it firms up. Melt chocolate chips and dip each ball into chocolate until completely covered. Freeze until solid.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Oy. Somehow I have three papers due by the end of the week. So much stress! I need to not freak out. But I'm so good at it. I used to be better. Which is not a good thing, being a pro at anxiety. It's been a long time since I cried because I was so overwhelmed by work. And I am not about to let that happen again.

Do not trust them when they say it is American Style. It is not,

When I was younger, as young as like, nine years old, I always had something to worry about. if I wasn't worrying, that was also a cause for worry, because it might have meant that I was forgetting something that I was supposed to be worrying about. But as a consequence I always did really, really well in school. Because not being the best at everything was another reason to worry. I avoided competition and team activities because of how much I worried about losing. Relying on other people was too much of a risk, for them and for me. Yeah, I am aware that isn't a very healthy mentality to have.

Is it worth it to sacrifice my sanity? No way. I learn in college to let go of some of my control issues. Not all of them (it's a work in progress). So I have to figure out how to strike a balance between uh, happiness and having friends and being a normal, functioning human being without feeling like I'm neglecting my work. Sometimes I don't know how to do that. Sometimes stress baking helps, and it helps a lot when it's something you can make in five minutes. Sometimes boiling sugar makes you feel more alive. Hooray for peanut butter fudge! 

If all else fails, you can just listen to this guy over and over again. 

Peanut Butter Fudge

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter

 

Put sugar and milk in pan and bring to a boil. Boil two and a half minutes. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla. Stir just until mixed well.Pour into greased pan (the smaller the pan, the thicker the fudge will be. And 8x8 is pretty good). Cool and cut.
 

Oreo Truffles

Life is moving so fast and I almost feel like I'm having a difficult time keeping up, but in a way I've never really experienced before. Every day there is a new party downtown, or an international student event, or day trip. I've been trying my best to attend everything I can, sort of against my nature. Today I started to feel it get to me. 

I've spent the last week or so walking through the constant drizzle (my attempts to avoid puddles futile) to classes, the bus stop, friends' apartments...back and forth. I've enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, I'm just not used to it. My incredibly strong sense of introversion causes me to tire out in social situations at a faster rate than many other people. But instead of retreating to my room like I normally would when I feel that I've had enough, I've been forcing myself to stay out, sacrificing my alone time, but other things like proper nutrition as well (promise I'm getting back on track). 

Today, even though I still have the feeling that I let my friends down, I decided not to go into the city to visit museums. It sounded like my ideal sort of day, but I knew that if I went I would be doing my body and mind a disservice. My anxiety was beginning to bubble up, and I couldn't let that control me. I'm currently sitting in my kitchen with a pot of pasta e fagioli simmering on the stove behind me. My mind is at ease. I think I made a good call. 

I made these oreo truffles in a spare moment during the week. They really do only take minutes to prepare, and they're surprisingly awesome. I can see myself making them again soon. 

Oreo Truffles

36 Oreos or something similar

8 oz cream cheese

16 oz melted semisweet chocolate

If you have a food processor, pull it out and grind the Oreos until they become find crumbs. Otherwise, crush them by hand. Mix in the cream cheese until no white streaks remain. Roll the mixture into balls. I froze mine on a foil lined baking sheet before dipping in chocolate, but it's your call. Dip each ball into the melted chocolate and place on parchment or foil lined sheet. Refrigerate until firm.

Marshmallows!

"Why are you making marshmallows? They're like a dollar a bag," my mom asked me, echoing the question that's already been asked about four times. I scowled and shook my head.

"It's not the same at all! They're so much better. I'll prove it to you," I promised. And besides, they'd been on my to-do list for a while (and on the Sweet 100 List, which I'm kind of determined to complete someday). So when a friend offhandedly mentioned that he'd been wanting to make homemade marshmallows, I jumped on that opportunity. 

Marshmallowery is a good intro to candymaking, since you're working at fairly low temperatures (relatively speaking. Do NOT touch the boiling sugar). I still consider myself a novice in the field, having never really worked with sugar past the firm ball stage of cooking (around 250ºF). So if the project failed for some reason, I probably wouldn't ruin any pans or hurt myself too much.

 

Though it's possible to do it alone, I recommend doing any sort of candymaking with a friend (or enemy, if you're into that sort of thing). It's nice to have an extra pair of hands, since everything has to move fairly quickly. And it's fun to have someone to poke marshmallows with. Remember to put some in your pocket for secret eating!

Marshmallows

From BraveTart 

Notes - Our marshmallows had a layer of toasted coconut on the bottom, but you should do whatever flavor you want. The possibilities are endless. I have my eye on mint chocolate chip for next time. Additionally, we also 2/3'd the recipe, since I only had an ounce of gelatin. Do what you need. Still made more than enough.

1.5 ounces gelatin
8 ounces cold water (or coffee, mmmmm, coffee marshmallows…)
11 ounces corn syrup, honey, or maple syrup
8 ounces water
28 ounces sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved for another use

ample powdered sugar for dusting (1 cup or more)

Unless you have a supercharged motor on your hand mixer, I don’t think it will survive this recipe. Use a stand mixer if at all possible.

Have a lightly greased 9”x13” pan at the ready.

So. Combine the gelatin and water together in the bottom of a stand mixer bowl. Set aside.

In a medium sized heavy bottomed pot, combine the syrup, water, sugar, salt, and vanilla bean scrapings. Set over medium heat and stir gently, taking care to not splash liquid (and thus sugar crystals) up the sides of the bowl. Once the mixture starts to simmer, stop stirring and put a lid on it for 5 minutes, letting it go to town (this lets some steam build up in the pot to “steam off” any sugar crystals stuck on the sides of the pot.).

Warning: if you use honey, the smell will be awful. Barnyard and hay and all kinds of musty awful. The end result will taste awesome, but getting there will fill you with doubt. Hold the course. It’ll get better. Mine smelled likes cows even though I used corn syrup. Hmm...

After 5 minutes, remove the lid and stick in a candy thermometer.

Keep cooking, undisturbed, until the mixture reaches 240°. Then shut off the heat and let it stand until it cools to 210°. This is important.

Once the mixture has cooled to 210°, and taking a goodly amount of caution as this mixture is super hot, pour all of it into the mixing bowl with the awaiting gelatin. Fit the bowl with the whisk attachment and crank it up to medium-high speed.

You are gonna let this thing whip it, whip it good until the mixture has really increased in volume, doubled? tripled? It will nearly exceed the bowl at any rate.

Once you’ve shut off the mixer, move quickly. There’s no delicate way to put this: it’s gonna be a sticky mess. But that’s half the fun, so don’t stress it. Set the whisk attachment aside (or give it to a small child if you really want to see what a mess looks like) and scrape the marshmallow goo into the prepared pan.

Get your fingers a little damp and pat down the mixture. Lift up and smack the pan a few times against the counter to dislodge any air bubbles and help it level out more. The goal is for more or less even.

Dust the top of the giant marshmallow with some powdered sugar (I forgot to do this....getting the plastic off was such a pain!), cover in plastic and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Rejoice! You’ve done all the hard work, now for the best part!!!

Get a cutting board ready by dusting it with powdered sugar. Take your pan of chilled marshmallows and literally reach your fingers between the ‘mallow and the pan, and pull that guy right outta there.

You’re now holding one giant marshmallow pillow. 

Dust the exposed bottom of the ‘mallow with some more powdered sugar.

Use a hot knife to cut the marshmallows into about 13, 1” strips. You’ll have to stop periodically and clean your knife. Once the strips are cut, roll them about in some powdered sugar so none of the sides are sticky.

Now use the knife to cut each strip at 1” increments. Of course, the marshmallows are probably close to 2” tall, so they won’t be perfect cubes, but rather rectangles.

Toss these cut pieces in more powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking.

So store these guys in an airtight container or a big zippy bag. They’re essentially nothing but sugar, so they have a terrific shelf life. Weeks. Months even, if you refrigerate them. A year in the freezer.

 

Aw fudge...

Sometimes I feel like it's difficult to write a blog post because my life is kind of boring. I mean, I left the house once today. To get chocolate. The rest of my day consisted of baking in a frilly apron intermingled with mindlessly consuming a giant bowl of guacamole while reading Cracked.com. I briefly donned some legwarmers and a hobo sweater to venture into the frigid (and creepy) basement. Thrilling, right? 

You have to find adventure in small things I suppose. A compatriot and I (words are fun ^_^) made fudge a few days ago. His overwhelming enthusiasm to do so was too amusing to resist, even though it was 9 p.m. And it was fun, running around weighing, mixing, thermometering...and it was definitely much easier with two people. But be prepared to soak some super sticky pans!

On a side note, does fudge remind anyone else of Arthur? Y'know, the episode when the librarian is trying to get Mr. Ratburn to sing about what he likes? Anyone? ...never mind, haha.

Easy Fudge

from Sugar Baby

Ingredients

2 1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 c. butter

5 oz evaporated milk

2 c. Seven Minute Frosting (recipe follows)

1 tsp vanilla (or half a bean)

2 c chopped bittersweet chocolate

In a large saucepan over medium low heat, combine the sugar, milk, salt and butter and simmer until the sugar has melted. With a damp pastry brush, wipe down the sides of the pan to prevent crystals from forming. Attach a candy thermometer and allow the mixture to reach 235 F.

Remove from heat and immediately stir in frosting, vanilla and chocolate. Keep stirring until chocolate is completely incorporated.

Pour the fudge into a greased 9 inch square pan, and allow it to set overnight. Can be stored for up to a week!

Seven Minute Frosting (This makes a lot, so I'd half it)

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. sugar, divided

1/4 c. corn syrup

1/3 cup water

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp salt

In a heavy saucepan, combine 1 1/4 cups of sugar, the corn syrup and water. Heat, stirring continuously, until the sugar has completely melted. Stop stirring, and heat the mixture to 235 F.

In the meantime, in a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and salt. Gradually pour in the remaining sugar until you get soft peaks.

Add the hot sugar in a steady stream down into the egg whites and beat until the mixture is thick and shiny, about 10 minutes. Use immediately.