English Toffee w/ Chocolate & Almonds

English toffee tastes GREAT covered in chocolate! I'm just not a fan of the almonds. If you do make it, I recommend using dark chocolate. It brings more zing! to it, you know? It was also very easy to make, and it didn't take long at all. YUMMY!!!

Candy Corn (Faliure)

I tried candy corn, and it did not work one bit. I made the dough, put it on a marble slab, and tried to knead it out. FAIL.

The dough got really hard really quick, and it turned into a block. It didn't taste good either, and it was too dry. I tried it again with less sugar, but that only helped the taste. I took a second look at the photograph of it in the picture, and that's when I registered the fact that they probably used clay. I looked up and said, "Thanks a lot, Anita Chu."

Divinity

I made a Christmas treat called divinity tonight. If you don't know what it is, just call it "fluffy marshmallows"; which is pretty much what it is. I started by bringing a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil in a sauce pan. Meanwhile, egg whites were being beaten in a blender until they had stiff "peaks". I then added the boiling liquid to the egg, and blended it some more. Then, vanilla extract was added to the mixture, turning it into a frothy substance. I scooped up the fluff with a spoon, and scraped it off of with another spoon onto a baking sheet (covered with a Silpat) into little blobs.

I let them sit for an hour and a half, and they turned out perfect! As you can see, I enjoyed licking the spatula and whisk.


I highly recommend making it and putting it into your coffee or hot chocolate.

Butterscotch Drops

Today I made butterscotch! I started by mixing water, sugar, brown sugar, salt, butter, and white vinegar together in a sauce pan, and when it reached 270 degrees, I added vanilla extract. I then poured the mixture onto a Silpat, and scored it with a paring knife as soon as it was cool enough. There were a few spots in it where there was undissolved sugar, so it caught in the knife and dragged through the rest. I think that the look can change the taste sometimes, but that's if it's burnt. In this case, it tasted fine. I highly recommend making it if you have the time and ingredients.

Cream Cheese Mints

The cream cheese mints were a blast to make! I started by blending cream cheese and butter together, and then added powdered sugar and a little bit of pink food coloring in it. I then rolled the batter into logs, and then cut them into little pillows with a paring knife as shown:


I then let them sit over night, and in the morning they were harder, and tasted like the actual ones that you could buy at the store. I might try the butter mints next, but until then, I will keep an eye on the rock candy's progress.

Rock Candy-- AGAIN

I'm retrying the rock candy, because we found a recipe on the internet for it. It said to use a pipe cleaner or string for the base. The string wanted to stick to the surface, and the pipe cleaner looks like the fuz would fall off into the water. :( I just don't get it.

Lemon Drops

Today I made lemon drops. I know that they're supposed to be shaped like lemons, but I needed a mold for that. I boiled sugar and water until it reached the required temp, and then I poured the mixture onto a greased pan. I then added citrus acid, lemon extract, and yellow food coloring to it. I folded it a few times with a bench scraper, and then I separated it into two ropes. I cut the pieces into little squares, and covered them in powdered sugar. They tasted very sweet, and a tiny bit sour.