use real butter

There is much to be happy about this weekend. First off, I am done with my baking and candy making hell. I gave all of the goodies out to folks on my distribution list. And most of all, my buddy is visiting from out of town! She just finished one hell of a semester (she is a young superstar professor), as did Jeremy - so we are celebrating by pampering the hell out of her.

i picked up some succulent scallops from whole foods

we had awesome sushi for lunch

and more sushi

We took Kaweah for a walk this afternoon as the sun was going down, catching up on many things and watching the dog plow her face into the snow every five feet. My friend is awesome. Despite her incredibly busy schedule, she has been so supportive of me and Jeremy this past year.

someone didn’t care to have her picture taken

Tonight, we started the evening with lychee martinis. My god, martinis are really strong. My head was spinning after two sips. I do much better with martinis that are diluted with fruity juices. I whipped up a few appetizers so the alcohol wouldn’t go straight to our heads.

potent lychee martini

grilled prosciutto-wrapped white asparagus with balsamic reduction

We eventually made our way through dinner with lots and lots of conversation and wine(s). I planned a menu based on things my pal loves to eat. Here’s what I served up tonight:

lychee martinis
grilled prosciutto-wrapped white asparagus with balsamic reduction
pan seared scallops with white wine pan sauce
green citrus almond salad
potatoes au gratin
filet mignon with port reduction sauce
flourless chocolate cake, whipped almond cream, pomegranate seeds

No recipe today. I’ll try to post one tomorrow - I have one more “holiday” style cookie to share that Jeremy really likes.

Augggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I’m done! I’m done! I finished packing everything up at 3 this morning. It is all ready to be shipped or handed over. Get it away from me!

i made a huge mess yesterday

but i love it when things package up nicely

So let’s get rolling here as I don’t have a lot of time. I make truffles about once or twice a year. I really dig the Robert Linxe truffles that Deb blogged about because I love to NOT temper my chocolate. But I like variety, and so this year I decided to enrobe truffles… in tempered chocolate… which I hate to do. Idiot, am I.

start with good chocolate

and chop it up

Some folks say use good chocolate, others say it doesn’t matter. I say it matters like hell. Why? Well, I can taste the difference between Valrhona and Callebaut and Ghirardelli and Guittard and Nestles… And if I don’t like the quality of the chocolate, I’m certainly not going to give it out to people with my name stamped on it - sort of like my photography, sort of like my pottery, sort of like everything. No half-assedness allowed! When making truffles, it’s the chocolate that is front and center. Make it count.

pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate

stir gently to avoid introducing too many bubbles

What I love about truffles - what I think anyone who makes truffles loves about truffles - is the magical transformation from what looks like a terrible mess (hot cream flecked with bits of chocolate) into a silky, dark, velvety chocolate ganache. Have faith, keep stirring, it will come.

flavored with grand marnier

roll chilled ganache into little balls

Well, as expected, something had to give. My brain. Too many sweets in production at once is a guarantee for a slip up. I was thinking of the chocolate to cream ratio and did a 1:1 (which is a glaze) instead of 2:1 (for ganache). Durrrrrr. I had a pound of Callebaut (64%) and 2 cups of hot cream. Luckily, I had another pound of Callebaut (64%) intended for enrobing. I quickly chopped that up and added it to my mix. I used the guidelines from my pastry skills course last year. Somewhere in my notes, I had scribbled: use 4 tbsps Grand Marnier for every 2.5 pounds of chocolate. I poured in 4 tablespoons of Grand Marnier and honestly could not taste it *anywhere*. I poured in 2 more tablespoons. Very faint. I wanted to add more, but the thought of somehow tanking the ganache by pouring in a whole bottle of Grand Marnier (and it was a big bottle) - two whole pounds of Callebaut… I chickened out and held off. When the ganache had cooled and solidified, I scooped out and rolled… about 180 truffles. That was a lot. I would have been happy with 90, but that’s what happens when the brain goes on momentary vacay. That was day 1.

On day 2, I prepared myself to enrobe the truffles. Enrobing is something I really dread because I am not a temper master and I hate to ruin a temper when using good chocolate. I was out of Callebaut, but I always have an emergency stash of Valrhona (I mean, I don’t now, but I’m going out to replenish it shortly). In general, it is really hard to work with less than one pound of chocolate when tempering. The more chocolate you have, the better the heat capacity.

1.5 pounds of Valrhona (1 pound 64% and .5 pound 70%)

chop chop

Tempering chocolate is maddening and I’m not going to go into all of the details and ins and outs because I am not an expert. I have about a 50% success rate with tempering chocolate and this time was no exception. There are better tutorials out there if you want to know how to do it right. I personally like the seeding method because it’s easier and because I need all the help I can get. I melted the chocolate over a water bath and removed it from the bath the moment the temperature reached 118°F. Take care to never ever never ever NEVER let a drop of water touch your chocolate. It will seize, it will not temper, and you will have to start over again with new chocolate. I set my bowl over ice packs and stir it (trying not to introduce air bubbles) while watching the temperature drop.

bring it to 95°F

seed it with tempered pieces of the original chocolate

When the temperature reaches 95°F, it is time to seed the chocolate by tossing in a few pieces of tempered chocolate. The compound chocolate you started with is tempered (I reserve a few large pieces for seeding). At this point, stir and agitate the melted chocolate down to 89-91°F. The agitation is important to promote beta crystal formation. Don’t ask, just do it. When the chocolate reaches that target range, you can do a test swatch and dip the back of a spoon in the chocolate and let it cool. When it cools, if it is shiny - it’s in temper. If it’s streaked, gray, grainy - it’s not in temper. With chocolate in temper, I will start to enrobe the ganache (at room temperature is best to avoid cracking).

enrobing

cooling on silpat (or use parchment)

You need to work quickly. I dump three ganache balls into the chocolate (don’t add too many or else the temperature of the chocolate will drop too quickly). I grab the first and make sure it is coated completely, then shake out excess chocolate by hitting my hand against the side of the bowl. I roll it onto a silpat (next time I’m using parchment) and then repeat with the other two while replacing each truffle that is removed with a new ganache ball (using my other hand). It’s messy. And while all of that is going on and chocolate is flying around, you need to continue to monitor the temperature of the chocolate. My digital thermometer dropped into the chocolate FOUR TIMES. So annoying. When the temperature begins to drop too low, I set the bowl over a pot of warm water. If the water is too hot, I will layer some towels in between the pot and the bowl or just remove the bowl from the pot. There is much to keep track of and it is especially stressful when your hands are covered in chocolate and the dog is just waiting for something to drop on the ground.

My first 90 truffles were in temper. Then I began to lose the temper and you could see it in the streaky chocolate coating. Some of my truffles had cracked, probably because they were too cold. My pastry chef had told us to double coat truffles, which I did for about 1/3 of them. If you double coat, you need to let the first coat dry and harden completely before enrobing a second time. I had already decided to luster dust my truffles for some color, but I also realized that luster dust is a semi-effective way to hide bad temper chocolate. Sort of. I chose the raspberry luster dust, although midnight blue would have been beautiful too, no? Just remember to apply the luster dust after the chocolate is *completely* dry.

use a paintbrush, or if you have one (i don’t) a makeup brush to apply luster dust

some extra decoration

If you like to add the little lines of chocolate decoration on top, you need that chocolate to be in temper too. I pipe it out through a teeny hole in a disposable piping bag (parchment cones are *great* too). For the stripes, it looks best to sweep your piping tip past the truffle. A lot of beginners just squiggle back and forth on the truffle and it looks… not so good. Try it. You’ll see what I mean. It makes a bloody mess, but in the end you get a nice finished product. While enrobing is a lot of work, I have to say there is something especially lovely about them compared to rolled or dusted truffles. And that extra special something is conveyed to the recipients too.

put a smile on someone’s face

Chocolate Truffles

1 pound good quality dark chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
2-4 tbsps Grand Marnier (optional, to taste)

Fine chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl. Heat the cream until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute (make sure all chocolate is covered by the cream). Stir the chocolate and cream together until velvety and smooth. Stir in Grand Marnier. Let the ganache cool until solid. Scoop out teaspoon-size balls of ganache and roll into a ball. Roll in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, nuts, crushed candy, or enrobe in tempered chocolate (if enrobing, you will want a pound of chocolate for the tempering and double enrobing may be necessary if cracking occurs on the first shell). I also like this method.

I’m learning. The reason I keep making these confections that I swore to never make again is because I think I’m really close to getting them right. First time I made orangettes, it was a success. Second time, they were rocks. This time - I think I got it. I just finished hand-dipping 160+ candied orange peels. I wouldn’t go to the trouble to make these except people seem to love them and they are one of Jeremy’s favorites.

candy making is a bitch

Today, I made a lot of headway into the list of baked goods and confections. That’s good, because yesterday I blew off baking entirely. There was fresh powder, so I met one of my tele betties on the hill. It was her birthday!

rippin’ at 49 - get it, girl!

After skiing, we had a laaaaate lunch at The Kitchen, in Boulder. Oh boy, how I love the après ski. Their food is so unbelievably good.

their garlic fries are the best

roasted beet salad with chevre and hazelnuts

There are three pounds of Grand Marnier truffles waiting to be enrobed tomorrow. Ugh - tempering chocolate makes me nervous… and insane. But it’s all moving along on schedule. Hopefully this time tomorrow I will be DONE. While I typically like to sprinkle savory recipes in with the sweets, I figured I should post the sweets now in case anyone else is crazy enough interested in making these for the holidays. So let’s get on it.

vanilla bean and cream

People marvel that I am indifferent to chocolate, but there you have it. I like making things with chocolate and I’ll taste it to make sure it’s not crap, but I am not one to sit there eating half of the batter or frosting or glaze… But caramel is another story altogether. Until last week, I had never made caramels. Caramelized sugar, sure - but not REAL caramel.

sugar and corn syrup

This recipe was an optional part of last month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. The original recipe called for golden syrup. Being a yank, I had no idea what golden syrup was and could not find it anywhere. So I punted the optional part of the challenge. On our reveal day, I saw that my dear Tartelette had made the caramels and substituted corn syrup for golden syrup. I learn something new from that woman every day! At last, caramels were within my grasp.

boil the sugar to an amber color

My first attempt was the vanilla bean caramel version. They came out pretty hard and I know that had to do with the final temperature. I subtract 17 degrees from any temperature point in the recipe due to my elevation, but it also didn’t help that I read my candy thermometer incorrectly. Doh! But they had awesome flavor. My second attempt was to make Grand Marnier caramels. Honestly, I can’t taste the Grand Marnier. I feel like I have to empty the whole bottle in there…

stirring in the butter

That second batch was cooked to a lower final temperature, but it still rose another ten degrees after I took it off the stove and was pretty hard (well, they soften up in your mouth, but these things will destroy dental work should you try to bite into them). Chopping them gets a little scary because they are pretty brittle.

after adding the cream

On my third try (third time is a charm?) I took the caramel off the stove quite early. This time, they were soft and chewy caramels, but a complete nightmare to cut up - even with a buttered knife. Oy. Veeeeeery sticky.

pouring the caramel into a greased, foil-lined pan

While I’m happy that I have figured out the whole caramel scene, I think I’ve made enough in the past week that I don’t need to revisit this for some time. I love the vanilla bean version and sprinkled a little Murray River pink flake salt (from Oz!) which is heavenly with the caramel. They make great gifts and I intend to get rid of them all because I’ve nibbled on more than enough.

chewy and not-so-chewy vanilla bean caramels

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
slightly modified from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich

1 cup golden syrup (I used light corn syrup)
2 cups sugar
3/8 tsps fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsps pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used one whole vanilla bean and 1 tbsp vanilla extract)
3 tbsps unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F (288°F at 8500 feet). Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (I split my vanilla bean lengthwise, scraped out the seeds, and dumped both seeds and pod into the cream) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot. Remove the vanilla pod right before using the cream (rinse off the pod and use it for other things).

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F (nominally 288°F at 8500 feet, but be sure the sugar turns amber), turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F (228°F at 8500 feet). Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°F (I say 230°F at my elevation) for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F (240°F at 8500 feet); for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it (yes, I stirred in 1 tbsp of vanilla extract). Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm. If you are making hard caramels, I suggest chopping the caramels when they are still warm, but solid (maybe wait an hour).

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane. Makes about 81 1-inch caramels.

variations

Fleur de Sel Caramels: Extra salt, in the form of fleur de sel or another coarse flaked salt, brings out the flavor of the caramel and offers a little ying to the yang. Add an extra scant 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the recipe. Or, to keep the salt crunchy, let the caramel cool and firm. Then sprinkle with two pinches of flaky salt and press it in. Invert, remove the pan liner, sprinkle with more salt. Then cut and wrap the caramels in wax paper or cellophane.

Nutmeg and Vanilla Bean Caramels: Add 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg to the cream before you heat it.

Cardamom Caramels: Omit the vanilla. Add 1/2 teaspoon slightly crushed cardamom seeds (from about 15 cardamom pods) to the cream before heating it. Strain the cream when you add it to the caramel; discard the seeds.