Rock Candy (Final Result)

The rock candy did not turn out at all. Only a few crystals formed on the skewers, and there was a thin layer at the top. Bummer.

Champagne Jellies (Final Result)

The jellies are awesome! They almost taste like apple-flavored Jell-O! They were easy to get out of the pan as long as you dice them up with a knife. I'll bet the kids and the adults at the party will love them! In the book they used alcoholic champagne, so all this time I thought the jellies were going to be transparent, like they show in the book. It's quite delicious.

Pear & Apple Chips-- AGAIN

The chips were so good, I decided to make the apples all over again. But today I made biscuits with tuna tetrazzini, and so I turned the oven on for the biscuits. The problem was that I didn't know that my mom had put the apples in earlier this morning. After about 5 minutes, I started to smell something burning. Oh no, I thought. Oh no, no, no! I quick dashed to the oven, opened it, and a huge cloud of grey smoke emerged from the door. When it cleared out, I saw the batch of apples- but they weren't recognizable. They looked like apple-shaped bricks of charcoal.



I tossed the pan onto the stove top, thrust my OveGlove to the ground, and sobbed. A whole apple. Wasted, I thought. Just a hint for the recipe- don't leave them in for over 1 minute more than required.

Champagne Jellies (Part One)

Champagne jellies are quite simple. All you do is mix champagne, non-flavored gelatin, and sugar together. First, I put champagne and sugar into a pot until the sugar dissolves, and meanwhile, I mix more champagne with the gelatin. I let the sugar dissolve for 5 minutes, and when it was, I mixed the combinations together. While you're reading this, you're probably thinking, "Why should a 12-year old be drinking so much champagne?" Don't worry-- it's alcohol-free. I'm making these for a neighborhood party, so the kids there can eat them. The jellies have to actually become gelatin before serving, so I'll write tomorrow for sure to tell you all how they turned out.

Pear & Apple Chips

Today I made pear and apple chips. I started by cutting the fruits half, and slicing them on the mandoline. A mandoline is very sharp. The other day I was watching the TV show "Hell's Kitchen", and a cook sliced his finger off on it. Ouch! Then I soaked them in a pot of dissolved sugar-water, and when they were ready, I took them out and laid them on a silpat. Getting the pears out was tough--if you picked up a whole piece, it would fall apart and plop back into the pot with a splash.


I finally managed to get them out, and the apples were as simple as apple pie. We put the sugared fruits into the oven for an hour, and they tasted great!


Except, it was a bit bland, so I took the book's word for it and dipped them in chocolate. RIGHT! Luckily, it wasn't a disaster like the first batch of the sponge candy. Then I tried them covered in Nutella. EVEN BETTER! It tastes great! You should try it sometime, whoever you are...

Sponge Candy

Today I tried the recipe for sponge candy- it was part failure, part success. The success was that you could eat it- the failure was that you need a jackhammer to get the rest out of the pot. I tried it at my grandmother's house, and in the book it called for 3 tablespoons of dark corn syrup, and my grandma's and other Internet recipes called for a whole cup of it. But I decided to go with the book. WRONG! The temperature very quickly rose to the required temp, and we hastily added the baking soda as it was hardening. The pan was extremely hot, too hot for me too hold, and my grandma's hands were covered in butter from buttering the pan, so she couldn't hold it. The candy hardened into the pot, and my wooden spoon didn't help at all. I tried a butter knife, but it was too late.


It tastes fine, as regular homemade candy should. I tried the recipe over with 1 cup of the syrup, and it was a TOTAL success!!! There was a lot more of it, and it didn't stick as much! Well, of course it stuck a bit, but in the other recipe, half of it stuck to the pot. If you ever try the sponge candy recipe from the book, try using 1 cup of the syrup. Trust me. ;)

Rock Candy (Part One)

I was skimming through my "Field Guide to Candy" today and the recipe for rock candy caught my eye. To start, I added sugar to boiling water until the sugar dissolved.


Then I was supposed to cover wet bamboo skewers in sugar and let them sit in the dissolved sugar-water for a few days.


I decided not to add food coloring to them, because I figured that white, crystal-like candy would look better. I'll write again within the next week to tell all of you viewers how the project turned out. Until then, I will be trying new recipes!

Introduction

Emma typing here! I'm 12, and for some strange reason about 6 months ago, I have discovered my hidden talent of cooking. It went from baking cookies to flipping omelets. For Christmas at my grandmother's house yesterday, I got this book called "Field Guide to Candy", by Anita Chu.


She even has a blog of her own! It has recipes from peanut-butter cups to mint melt aways. Don't worry- I won't be making JUST candy. I just recently watched the movie Julie and Julia, and I thought it was neat that Julie started a blog about cooking out of a cook book by Julia Child called "Mastering the art of French Cooking". Just today I decided that I should start a blog similar to that.