(Kentucky) Cream Candy Update

2015 Update:

Cream candy. Every Thanksgiving, we make it again. It is always delicious, but the experience is always different, and unlike how I recall my father doing it.

This year I tried a couple of changes, and got a dramatically different result. However, no new pictures, unfortunately.

Mulled Apple Cider

It snowed! Hurrah! Everyone went out and played, and got cold. So, we had some cider to warm us all up. Very tasty! And it looks lovely cooked in my Lodge cast iron Apple.

Ingredients

2 quarts apple cider

2 cinnamon sticks

2 whole allspice berries

2 whole cloves

1 cardamom pod

1 orange, thinly sliced

Combine ingredients in a pot over high heat to bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Serve hot.

Buttery Vanilla Bean Caramel with Sea Salt

Maybe it should be named "I can't stop eating this" caramel!

I just made caramel from a recipe that worked fine before. The recipe calls for honey, and I used some nice local stuff. Unfortunately, the honey flavors intensified while cooking, detracting from the true caramel flavor. Back to the drawing board!

After discovering how amazing fancy imported butter is in shortbread cookies, I wanted a recipe with a lot of butter. Other criteria were salt, vanilla, no honey, no sweetened condensed milk, but with corn syrup (the non-fructose kind). The closest recipes I found were these two, which I combined: http://www.inspiredtaste.net/8947/salted-caramels-recipe/#ixzz2pOwrwAHX and http://www.alaskafromscratch.com/2012/05/16/vanilla-bean-sea-salt-amish-caramels/#prettyPhoto

This caramel is simply amazing! Use heavy whipping cream, vanilla bean, and the expensive foil-wrapped imported butter, and you won't be sorry.

Shortbread Cutout Cookies

I finally found THE recipe! We pull out the cookie cutters every Christmas Eve, and make specially decorated cookies for Santa. It is great fun, and the cookies are very pretty and/or interesting to look at. However, given the choice, we'd all rather eat a good old chocolate chip. But not this time!

Shortbread Cookies from King Arthur Flour, rolled and cut

This time I made shortbread cookies, then rolled them out and cut them like sugar cookies, and baked for about 28 min to get them golden. They spread a bit more than would be ideal, but they did retain a hint of impressions on the surface. Make sure they turn golden around the edges, as this brings out the buttery flavor. They are great with icing too, but we ran out of time. They are crisp, tender, crumbly, buttery, and delicious!

Triple Cinnamon Scones

We've made these several times, and we like them a lot. They take a little while to make, but your time spent is rewarded with delicious cinnamony-biscuity-yumminess. The recipe calls for two specialty ingredients available from King Arthur, and while that can be burdensome, it's worth it to me to keep them in stock. I haven't tried to substitute for them yet.

I have modified the instructions (my part is in blue) from the original (in black, and also some portions deleted). There are also links back to KAF’s original recipe, and their blog entry. My technique is similar to that of my favorite pie dough recipe. I like it better because the dough is easier to handle, without becoming tough. This is, for me, the magical way that allows a bread baker to make tender pastries.

King Arthur Flour’s

Triple Cinnamon Scones, Modified

With cinnamon filling and cinnamon chips inside, and cinnamon-scented glaze (or cinnamon-sugar) outside, these moist, aromatic scones are a cinnamon-lover's dream come true.

(Kentucky) Cream Candy

This recipe was passed to me by my father, who learned it from his mother, and simply called it “cream candy”. They were from Kentucky, and a similar recipe appears online as “Kentucky Cream Candy”.  My aunt says my grandmother got it from a candy store down the street.

Dad is no longer here to help us make the candy right, and all I had was an ingredient list, about two lines of instructions, and my memories of watching him make it when I was little. Now when my brother and his family come to visit at Thanksgiving, we try making it, and I update the recipe once again. It's almost time to try again!

Finally, we caught a photo of the elusive cream candy. It mysteriously disappears within seconds of being cut...

This candy is soft, and yet crumbles when pinched, and has a smooth, creamy, melty mouth-feel. It has a delicate creamy, buttery, hint of caramel taste, and a texture similar to butter party mints. It might be good with vanilla or peppermint added during the pulling process, but is delicious unflavored.

While the technique is hard to pull off “just right”, it is none the less forgiving, entertaining for onlookers, and if not beautiful, always delicious.

Engilsh Toffee Success

I tried the toffee again (refer to previous post), this time cooking it to 300°. Oh, what a great move! The butter flavor was so great, very "browned". The texture was also better. A nice crushy crunch. This time I used milk chocolate, which usually isn't my favorite, but I think it's the right thing here. I had the full amount of almonds this time. After toasting them all, I chopped  a few, maybe 1/4 cup. I put the whole slivers on the bottom, poured the toffee over them, spread the chocolate on top, and sprinkled with chopped almonds while still soft. I don't know if the chocolate bloomed this time, it wasn't around long enough to find out. :)

Update: I made it again with Nestle's semi-sweet chips, and preferred that to the milk chocolate. It's so good, though, the chocolate is really more of a personal preference. White chocolate would probably work too.

Apple Strudel today

I made an apple strudel again today, and couldn't resist changing it. I used softened rather than melted butter, and dark brown sugar for white sugar, in the filling. This is more like the cinnamon roll recipe. For the apples, I used all Honey Crisp. The apples alone weren't that outstanding, but the flavor was great in the strudel. However, I should have warmed them first.

I also should have wrapped up the sides and ends better, to hold in the filling...

When I checked on the strudel in the oven, the filling was oozing out badly, and was almost onto the stone. I pulled it out, put it on a baking sheet, and put it back in. This, on top of using cold apples, disrupted the baking time, and I ended up calling it done too soon. The filling didn't set up all the way, and there were undercooked places in the dough.

Sounds like a real disaster, but, my family still loved the gooey, cinnamon-apple-bread-mapley-icing result. Success! :) And room for improvement. ;)

First Waffles of Christmas!

Try the Dex+ Version of this recipe.
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Christmas gift: WaringPro Waffler

I got a new waffle iron for Christmas, and today was the day to try it out. We wore out the hinge on our last waffler. :) I'd been using Krustease pancake mix, which is very easy, especially for the kids. We were out of that, though, and it was time to find a better recipe.

I decided to try Food Network's Waffle of Insane Greatness, which was courtesy of Aretha Frankensteins, Show: $40 a Day Episode: Chattanooga, TN

The waffles were great! The outside had a crispy crunch, inside was creamy, overall they were light and wonderful. The first waffle was actually a tad lighter brown than the rest, but was still good. They were flavorful and delicious. We forgot to use butter, just added a light drizzling of real maple syrup, it didn't take much, didn't need anything more.

Cookies for Santa

We made Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies from Smitten Kitchen, and iced them with Amanda's Awesome Icing, from I Am Baker

We decided on the Maple Nutmeg cookie. Turned out to be a good choice, yum!

I went on the scant side of the 1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg, fearing it would be too strong. I also used Grade A Dark Amber maple, because I didn't find a Grade B in time. I did not add maple flavor because, well, I'd rather use the real thing. I used imported butter, and for the flour, 1/2 Whitle Lily, 1/2 King Arthur All Purpose

Home-made Toffee

I decided I wanted to make some toffee over a year ago, found this recipe, and made some. I made it again last Sunday, and wished I had made notes last time. The recipe is from "allrecipes":

Best Toffee Ever - Super Easy

Candy fresh from the fridge.

That first time, I skimmed through all the "allrecipes" comments, and decided to... make it exactly per the original instructions. I find it amazing how much people will alter a recipe before even trying it once per instructions! I recall that it came out well the first time I made it, but I couldn't find any notes on how it went, but I do recall: tasted great, stuck to my teeth more than desirable, I didn't taste the almonds much, and the chocolate that I used (Pete's Burgandy) was maybe overpowering the toffee.

Scandinavian Cardamom Braid

 This is such a good, exotic bread, I'm not sure why I don't make it more often.  Cardamom is the second most expensive spice, after saffron and before vanilla bean. Happily it is also super strong, so you don't need much. The almonds toast on top while the bread bakes, and then a drizzle of buttery orange glaze... 

This is a holiday bread, and I usually only make it in December. It can be a real show-stopper at the office "goodies" table, or at a party. I usually have to cut the first slice myself, because no one wants to mess it up. I serve the glaze in a bowl on the side, for two reasons: 1. If there is any bread left over, it will keep better, and 2. Everyone gets to decide how much they want to drizzle on their serving.

 I just made it as a 6-strand braid, and it was beautiful that way also.

LAL's Cinnamon Rolls

Quest for the Ultimate Cinnamon Roll: Completed!

A friend and I have discussed cinnamon rolls for months now. In fact, more like a couple of years. Here is the current revision of the recipe.

What we talk about really is how amazing TJ Cinnamons® cinnamon rolls were, and how sad it is that you can no longer get them. We alternated trying recipes. We tried Alton Brown. Tried an old recipe I had saved long ago. Tried one from the Bread Baker's Apprentice. Tried the filling from King Arthur Flour. I've lost track of all the recipes we tried. They mostly make good cinnamon rolls, and our family and friends enjoyed eating them. But, somehow, they always missed the mark. I started to doubt my memory of the amazing rolls, now lost to a fast-food chain, and modified beyond recognition. Googling for TJ Cinnamons® turned up dozens of copies of the same recipe that, just from reading it, I knew by now was not worth trying. So I looked instead for old recipes, and found one called "Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls" by Amy on October 11, 2009.

Finally, this sounded about right.

Blueberry Preserves or Topping

This is the best thing to put on top of those lovely cheesecakes you buy from fundraisers. It's also great on pancakes, waffles, toast, bagels... you get the idea. It's really good stuff, and keeps for a week or two, maybe more, in the fridge, if it lasts that long. Probably could "can" it, but I never have. Makes maybe 6 cups.

It is especially easy to make if you have a bread machine, like my well-loved Zojarushi. I haven't made it on the stove before, but all the Zo does is cook it slowly and stir it gently. If I try it on the stove one day, I'll update this post. The bread machine is so easy, though. If you have a dropper bottle for your vanilla, pinch your salt, and use a fork in the lemons, there is very little to clean up.

Ingredients:

15 oz can blueberries

1 lb frozen or fresh blueberries (no need to thaw)

1 3/4 c sugar

2 lemons

1/4 cup pearl Tapioca

4 pinches salt (maybe 1/4 tsp?)

4 droppers vanilla, about 1/2 tsp

Pour canned blueberries into bread machine pan. Stir in sugar, then tapioca. "Fork" lemons, squeezing in most of the juice. This is probably about 1 1/2 lemons worth of juice if you really squeeze it all out. Add the salt, vanilla, and fresh or frozen blueberries. Stir everything well one last time, without mashing the berries, and start on the "jam" cycle. When it's done, let it cool some, then pour into jars or other containers.