Fish Sauce Caramels with Kaffir Lime and Lemongrass

 

Portland, Oregon is known for its foodie culture.  When Jonathan and I were there this summer for the International Food Blogger Conference, we had our pick of fabulous restaurants to choose from.  So, guess what we had for lunch?  Ice cream!  The tasting menu at Salt & Straw was irresistible!  Just look at their menu and you'll see what I mean.  My favorite of all of the flavors that I tried was a collaboration between Salt & Straw and Boke Bowl - a fish sauce caramel ice cream with lemongrass and kaffir lime.

How to Temper Chocolate Like a Pro (You'll Be Surprised By How Easy It Is)

It doesn't matter if chocolate is tempered when using it in cake batter.  But, for chocolate decorations (like my 30 second chocolate leaves), ganache that shines, properly textured truffles, and gorgeous chocolate-dipped fruits and caramels, it's essential to know how to temper chocolate.  If you just melt chocolate any which way, it doesn't harden with the proper almost-reflective surface and the smooth crisp break of a chocolate that's been tempered correctly. The chocolate could end up rubbery and fugdey or simply lack luster.

I recently had an opportunity to learn how to temper chocolate from the pros at Kakao Chocolate.  I got to be a chocolatier for a day - this meant that, in addition to being trained by a professional chocolatier, I got to eat all of the chocolate that I wanted all day long - hello, sugar high!

Mini Black Licorice Cupcakes for Halloween

In my last post, I asked you to guess which flavor of licorice I'd be using in my licorice cupcakes.  The answer is black licorice!  Black licorice is a love it or hate it flavor and I saw some strong opinions about it in the contest comments.  Even if you fall into the "hate it" category, I hope you'll consider giving these black licorice cupcakes a try.  Flavors taste different in different formats.  Some people enjoy bananas, but can't stand banana bread; others detest tomatoes and adore tomato sauce.  Likewise, several anti-licorice tasters raved about my licorice cupcakes.  

Before I developed the licorice cupcake recipe, I made homemade black licorice to see firsthand how to achieve the distinct flavor of black licorice.  (I didn't post about the candy itself because I wasn't able to get the texture quite right.  If I master it, I'll share it.)  The black licorice recipe was made using dark corn syrup,  molasses, and anise extract, so I used those same ingredients in my black licorice cupcakes.  It worked!  The cupcakes truly taste like a cupcake form of black licorice. 

To get the black licorice cupcake recipe, head over to Paula Deen's website.  I'm a regular guest contributor on her site and the black licorice cupcakes were my contribution for Halloween!

And the winner is...

Homemade Jelly Beans - You Pick the Flavor

Once I conquered homemade Lucky Charms (a task that was so arduous I will never repeat it), I needed another challenge.  I set my sights on homemade jelly beans.  While homemade jelly beans are time-consuming to make, I learned that the process isn't that difficult.  I would make homemade jelly beans again and I would encourage you to try preparing them, too.  Seriously, you can do this.

When you create homemade jelly beans, you get the joy of choosing the flavor and color you'd like - any drink you fancy can be turned into a jelly bean flavor.  Use juice to flavor jelly beans for a kid's party, but don't forget the adults.  Grownup flavors made using your favorite cocktails allow you to get really creative. The homemade jelly beans shown above are margarita jelly beans.  Serve the margarita jelly beans straight up or use them to top margarita cupcakes.  Jello shots are so 2011; homemade jelly beans are where it's at!

Candied Cucumber - This is No Pickle

Cucumbers are clean, crisp, and refreshing.  Why do we often sour them, turning them into pickles?  Although candied cucumbers resemble bread and butter pickles, I assure you that they taste nothing alike.

Candied cucumbers taste like candy!  They are sticky, sweet, and - since I added some fresh mint when I candied them - minty fresh!  These candied cucumbers made a gorgeous topper for my cucumber martini cupcakes (coming soon).  But, they would also steal the show on an after-dinner cheese plate or perched on the side of a glass of an actual cucumber martini.

Pumpkin Lollipops (or Sweet Potato or Persimmon or Lucuma)

Lollipops don't require artificial flavors or colors or even fancy molds.  All you'll need to make these lollipops are canned pumpkin, canned sweet potato, persimmon pulp, or lucuma pulp*, plus water, sugar, and some sticks.  You'll also want to have a candy thermometer (my favorite is the Maverick because it's digital and you can set an alarm to warn you when you reach the desired temperature - but any candy thermometer will do). 

The texture of these lollipops is a bit different than a typical lollipop.  When you bite them, they have a slight crunch, like maple candy (my favorite candy on the planet).  However, sucking the pops is definitely an option.  I gave one to my gluten-free cousin (she is so happy when I make anything that she can eat), and she sucked on one pop for at least ten minutes.  She smiled the whole time, in a closed-mouth-I'm-sucking-on-a-pop kind of way.

The lollipops taste like a super sweet candy version of whatever you make them out of (pumpkin, sweet potato, persimmon, or lucuma).  If you make them out of pumpkin, they would be a such a fun treat for a Halloween party; it's mid-August - time to start thinking about one of the best holidays of the year!

Maverick Digital Candy Thermometer Giveaway

I have patience in some areas of my life.  In one of my pre-cupcake jobs, I trained computer neophytes, walking them through such basics as how to use the arrow keys to navigate in a document and when to double-click vs. right click (making sure to clarify that right click does not mean to write the word "click" in Notepad).  These days, I can sing Itsy Bitsy Spider to my toddler and still enjoy his wide mouthed grin on the twentieth rendition.  However, when it comes to standing by a stove watching the number go up on a candy thermometer, I have zero patience.  I tend to walk away and come back just in time to see my caramel/candy/anything in my pot burnt and inedible.  I always set a timer that beeps to tell me when my cupcakes are done, but I had never seen a candy thermometer with any kind of alert feature.

Twitter to the rescue:


I asked my tweeps if anyone had heard of a candy thermometer that beeped when it reached the correct temperature.  Gesine Bullock-Prado, author of Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker, responded right away to tell me about the Maverick!  This was the thermometer of my dreams (if I were to dream about thermometers).

Good Ship Lollipop - Homemade Shirley Temple Lollipops

The Good Ship Lollipop sails the open seas bringing joy to everyone except her photographer (Jonathan balked at taking the photo above: "So cheesy!").  The Good Ship Lollipop's passengers are two homemade Shirley Temple lollipops made with grenadine and lemon. 

The Good Ship Lollipop's passengers were my very first homemade lollipops.  Believe me, it's much easier than you might think.  You can do it!  I was prepared to have to make multiple batches before getting it right, but the lollipops worked swimmingly on the first try (Well, technically it was the second try.  During the first try, I forgot to take the plastic wrapping off of my new candy thermometer before putting it in the hot candy - oops!).

Milky Way Cupcakes

Milky Way cupcakes are the first cupcakes that I have made which feature two layers of frosting.  Like Milky Way bars, Milky Way cupcakes are topped with a layer of luscious, chewy caramel and a layer of creamy milk chocolate.  Does double frosting equal double pleasure?  You bet!

The cake part of the Milky Way cupcakes is a chocolate malt cupcake with homemade chocolate malt nougat mixed into the batter.  If you don't have the time to make homemade chocolate malt nougat, you can leave it out and the Milky Way cupcakes will still be superstars (stars in the Milky Way galaxy, of course).  I opted to make the Milky Way cupcakes as minis so that the cake to topping ratio would be closer to the nougat to topping ratio in an actual Milky Way bar.  This worked really well, but if you prefer, you could certainly make them as full-sized cupcakes.

Nougat With Chocolate Malt - Like in Milky Way Bars

Until making homemade nougat, nougat was a mystery to me.  Nougat was the alien chewy substance found in my least favorite candy bars.  A request to make Milky Way cupcakes (more on that in a future post) prompted me to research nougat and ultimately to make some myself.

Sno-Cap Cookies

Why You Should Make Sno-Cap Cookies

1. You are a huge Sno-Cap fan. (I know many of you love Sno-Caps. When I asked on Facebook about your favorite movie theater snacks other than popcorn, Sno-Caps came up multiple times.)
2. You are making popcorn cupcakes for your movie night and you need an appetizer that will be a sure-fire blockbuster hit.
3. You are having a chocolate chip cookie craving, but it's midnight and the only store that sells chocolate chips is closed.  Guess what?  24-hour drug stores sell Sno-Caps.
4. You like to buy your cookie ingredients at the movie theater concession stand. (This is not recommended unless you like getting ripped off.)

Candied Orange Peel - Pub Peels

 

My candied orange peel came out all wrong.  You see, I wanted the candied orange peel to be smooth and shiny, like little sticks of orange covered in glass.  I envisioned my candied orange peel served in crystal and daintily eaten one at a time by ladies and gentlemen in cocktail attire. 

I ended up with pub peels (a term that I am proudly coining).  My pub peels are candied orange peels that are rough around the edges and more likely to be eaten by someone like me, someone who would do this while making them:

My good Twitter friend, Garrick_S says that this photo
makes me look like Homer Simpson.

Candied Flowers - Hibiscus

Rather than throw away the hibiscus flowers that I had brewed into hibiscus tea, I saved them and let them do double duty as candy - hooray for less food waste*.  Candied hibiscus flowers are sweet and super crunchy and I could totally see an alternate universe where popcorn was weird and candied hibiscus flowers were the normal snack to munch on while watching a movie.

Hokey Pokey - Nigella Lawson

Hokey pokey, as far as I knew, was just a song. However, I have learned that hokey pokey is also a candy, with a recipe popularized by Nigella Lawson.

Hokey Pokey is also a key ingredient of Minko's cupcake for Groom 2.5 (read Cupcake Love Connection to see what this is all about). If she wanted to put Groom 2.5 in the mood, it worked! When he heard the name "hokey pokey," he got a giant grin on his face. "You put it in, you put it out." That's what it's all about!

Did Groom 2.5 Like the Hokey Pokey?

Sadly, it turned out that Groom 2.5 did not like the hokey pokey. It had the consistency of brittle, which he does not like. But do not fear, love will conquer all. When the hokey pokey was put in the "Do the Hokey Pokey Cupcake," the texture was completely different and he didn't mind it at all.

Hokey Pokey by Nigella Lawson

Below you'll find Nigella Lawson's hokey pokey recipe as sent to me by Minko. Be sure to keep reading after the recipe for some very important tips.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tbs golden [dark corn] syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp bi carb [baking] soda

1. Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You can't stir once the pan's on the heat.
2. Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt and then turn to goo and then a bubbling mass the color of maple syrup - this will take 3 minutes or so.
3. Off the heat, whisk in the baking soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of baking parchment or greased foil.
4. Leave until set and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.

When I followed the recipe the first time, I ended up with this:

No bashing at it would make it shatter. It was a dentist's nightmare - super sticky, stretchy candy.

I did a bit of research and came across Pennypincher's Pantry. Pennypincher had made Nigella's hokey pokey recipe and had about 50 comments from people, many of whom had made the recipe multiple times before getting it to work. I read all the comments and tried again. It worked perfectly!


What makes it work:

1. The recipe works better if you use 3 T of corn syrup rather than 4.
2. You need to wait. Do not touch the mixture in the pot for even longer than the 3 minutes the recipe recommends. I waited about 6 minutes the second time. It will look like it is starting to burn.
3. Don't spread the mixture after you pour it on the parchment - just pour it and leave it.
   

Maple Bacon Lollypops and Absinthe Lollypops from Lollyphile

Visit Food Interviews to hear from Jason Lewis, founder of Lollyphile.

Maple bacon lollypops from Lollyphile are the first excuse I've had to give some tongue on this blog. We've had our share of foreplay. The post that comes to the top of my mind is one of me in an absinthe fairy costume. Is it coincidental that the other Lollyphile lollypop flavor is absinthe? I think not.



After I asked Jason of Lollyphile really nicely and told him about the absinthe cupcakes (I didn't mention the costume), he was kind enough to send me samples of his two lollypop flavors. I was VERY excited about them!


You should know though, that my tongue didn't come out right away. The lollypops and I started off with some simple caressing and there was lots of eye contact (it may have been only one-sided, but in this case, I'm OK with that).

The maple bacon lollypops were heavenly. I love anything maple and I'm also a huge fan of the sweet and salty combination. The little bacon bits in the pop were, shall I say, orgasmic.

The absinthe pop was a bit too licoricey for my tastes, but fans of absinthe certainly enjoyed these lollypops.

What's a Girl to Do With Maple Bacon Lollypops that She Hasn't Licked Yet?

I had to resist the temptation to jump all of the lollypops at once.

I had some raisins and I now had maple and bacon. Things were beginning to sound like breakfast.

Coming up next: Oatmeal raisin cupcakes with maple glaze, topped with chocolate covered raisins and maple bacon lollypops.

Really Sticky Candy with Applesauce

My really sticky candy with applesauce is like no other candy I've encountered before - which isn't necessarily a good thing. It's REALLY STICKY. It's so sticky, in fact, that unless it's fresh out of the refrigerator, you can't pick the candy up - it just sticks to your fingers.

Jonathan loved the sticky candy. I did not. Although I did enjoy the subtle apple flavor, I found it to be way too messy and somewhat too sweet for regular eating.

What I did love, however, is what I did with the sticky candy. I baked it right plop in the center of cupcakes to give them a sweet and chewy middle. You'll see that soon and by soon, I mean some time next week. Sorry to make you wait more than the normal couple of days. I'll explain why later.

The Sticky Candy with Applesauce Recipe

I based the sticky candy with applesauce recipe on the pineapple candy that I made a while back. Despite the recipes being very similar, swapping applesauce for pineapple gave me a completely different type of candy. This shouldn't be surprising since pineapple actually has a texture.

Makes one cookie sheet of candies the size you see in the picture.

• 1 C granulated white sugar
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 8 oz applesauce
• 1 T butter
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

1. Place white sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, and applesauce in a heavy saucepan.
2. Stir and bring to a gentle boil.
3. Cook, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 242 F on a candy thermometer.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Stir in butter and vanilla.
6. Beat until creamy and thick.
7. Drop by the teaspoonful onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
8. Let cool.
9. Refrigerate right on the baking sheet.
10. Once they are cold, you can pull them off the sheet and store them in a different container in the refrigerator or use them in cupcakes!

Toffee Recipe: Toffee That's Almost Too Good to Put in a Cupcake

A toffee recipe was not what I started out looking for. I was actually looking for a bread pudding cupcake recipe. What I found, though, was a bread pudding cupcake that contained homemade toffee. While I enjoyed the cupcakes, the homemade toffee was the star of the show! It was so good, in fact, that I hardly put any in the cupcakes. I wanted lots of the toffee around to snack on.

Was the Homemade Toffee Recipe Hard to Make?

Surprisingly, the toffee recipe was not difficult to make. The instructions even included the words "do not stir." You basically do nothing. All you do is add the three ingredients, wait, and make sure not to forget that they're on the stove.

The Toffee Recipe

I got the toffee recipe from Chockylit. Here is her recipe, with my notes and slight adaptations:

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• roughly chopped nuts (optional)

1. Add all ingredients except nuts to a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
3. The mixture will start to boil with vigor. Do not stir.
4. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until mixture reaches the soft crack phase - 270 F.  If you buy a digital candy thermometer with a timer, you can step away and not come back until it beeps.
5. Pour into a casserole dish lined with oiled parchment paper (I used dabs of the corn syrup to stick the parchment paper in place).
6. Optionally, sprinkle chopped nuts all over the top of the hot toffee.
7. Let the toffee sit out for a few hours to cool and harden.
8. After the toffee has cooled, break it into chunks.

Fond Candy Memories

Another really easy candy that I have made is pineapple candy. I loved my pineapple candy! As I write this, I am thinking of making it again, perhaps with another fruit.

Pineapple Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Ganache and Homemade Pineapple Candy: The Happy Cupcakes

The best pineapple I've ever had was in Thailand. My husband and I drove down a stretch of road where there were pineapple stands every few feet. For those who live in Thailand or have been to Thailand, I can't tell you where exactly this took place. I am directionally challenged in my own country. No hope in another country.

As we drove through what I shall refer to as the pineapple district, we asked our guide how he chooses which pineapple stand to stop at. "The one with the prettiest girl working there, of course." Guess I should have known. Economics 101: Sex sells.
The pineapple in my pineapple cupcakes was not the best pineapple. In fact, it wasn't even organic! Instead of my typical trip to Whole Foods, I headed to our local supermarket chain, Dierbergs, to do my shopping this week. The reason for this unprecedented trip was that I had remembered seeing canned pineapple cut into fun shapes like stars. I thought I could candy some shaped pineapple and it would be a really cute cupcake topper. After browsing the store and talking to the manager, I learned that the shaped pineapple was only available seasonally (stars for July 4th, Christmas shapes in Dec.,etc.). Oh well. Turns out it wasn't such a great loss, I was able to make candy and shape it myself as you will read about later.

Since I was already there and Dierbergs did not carry organic pineapple, I ended up buying a can of conventional crushed pineapple to use in the cupcakes and candy. I will say though that Dierbergs is starting to carry more and more organic products. The problem is that there is an inconsistency in how they are shelved. Some are mixed in with the conventional products while some have their own sections. It seems to me that the organic products should always be presented with the conventional products so that consumers can see their options and make an informed choice. End soapbox.

Armed with my canned pineapple (Note how despite the fact that I was willing to go through the effort to make my own candy, I didn't want to mess with cutting a whole pineapple), I headed home to bake.

The Cake

I got the recipe for the cupcakes from Coconut & Lime:

For those regular readers among you, you may note that I made:

• Coffee cupcakes that didn't have a strong coffee flavor
• Tomato cupcakes that didn't have a strong tomato flavor
• Tangerine frosting that didn't taste like tangerine
• Beer cupcakes that didn't have a strong beer flavor

I would like to officially welcome pineapple cupcakes to the list of cupcakes that don't strongly taste like their title ingredient. The cupcakes had bits of pineapple in them which obviously tasted like pineapple. However, the cake which was loaded with pineapple juice, did not taste at all pineappley.

My second complaint about these cupcakes was that they were a bit too moist (greasy?). The bottoms of the cupcake wrappers were slimy. This has not happened to me before and I hope it does not happen again.

The Ganache

For the frosting, I opted for a milk chocolate ganache. The goal was to make the chocolate taste pineappley by adding some pineapple rum. True to the trend, there was no detectable pineapple taste (or rum taste for that matter) even when adding more pineapple rum than planned.

I got the recipe from Allrecipes. Here is the recipe with my modifications:

• 9 oz milk chocolate, chopped
• 1 C heavy cream
• 2 T pineapple rum

1. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl.
2. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
3. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot.
4. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the rum.
5. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before frosting.

Saving the Best for Last - The Pineapple Candy

While the cupcakes were a letdown, the candy topper was not! The pineapple candies were awesome! They were sweet but not overly sweet with a strong pineapple flavor and a melt in your mouth consistency. They were also easy to make aside from being messy and sticky.

If you choose to make these, I would recommend putting them on the cupcake the day you are going to serve them. I left them on the cupcakes for a couple of days and they got soggy. Good thing that I had extras not on the cupcakes to snack on. I got the recipe from about.com. I have reprinted it below.

Makes about 1/2 pound pineapple candies

• 1 C granulated white sugar
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 T butter
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

1. Place white sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, and pineapple (with juice) in a heavy saucepan.
2. Stir and bring to a gentle boil.
3. Cook, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 242 F. on a candy thermometer.
4. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla.
5. Stir to combine, then beat until creamy, thick, and light in color.
6. Drop by the teaspoonful onto the a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Let cool to harden. If the mixture becomes too thick to drop onto the pan, add a teaspoon of very hot water, beating well after the addition.

The Smile

Taking my sex sells pineapple economics lesson into account, I probably should have given the cupcakes batty eyelashes and red puckered lips. However, since I didn't have to sell these cupcakes, I instead opted for a fashion lesson from one of my favorite musicals, "You're Never Fully Dressed without a Smile."