I finally dipped the marshmallows I made the other day in some Valhrona 66%. They came out quite tasty. Short on time these days and rather busy. So that’s it for now.
Chocolate dipped marshmallows
Archive for September, 2010
Chocolate dipped Marshmallows
Posted in chocolates with tags Chocolate, marshmallow on September 30, 2010 by thebrokenganache
Rich chocolatey brownies
Posted in brownies, chocolates on September 30, 2010 by thebrokenganache
Rich chocolatey brownie
Last night I made double chocolate brownies. Will post later in a hurry to get work.
A horrible recipe from O and a amazing Peanut butter bar from Baked
Posted in candy, chocolates, confections with tags marshmallow, Peanut Butter on September 26, 2010 by thebrokenganacheMy friend Cheryl gave me a bunch of candy recipes from O Magazine October issue. There is a feature called Sweet Dreams and the recipes and photos looked great so I decided to try one. It was a Honeycomb candy recipe, now I think I am very good at following directions for a recipe, well let me tell you about this one. Apparently your supposed to cook sugar, corn syrup, water and honey to 325F over a medium high heat which I attempted to do, but around 290F it turned into a black, smoking, bubbling mess! Since I had never made it before I through suspicions aside and continued with the steps. I added the dissolved gelatin and baking soda, stirred it around and poured it into a pan as directed. This was the most disgusting thing I have ever made. I really have to question if this was tested before ending up in print in the magazine.
After that I returned to my new favorite book Baked and made their Peanut butter crisp bars, which came out absolutely heavenly. It has a caramel and rice crispy bottom, the middle layer is milk chocolate and peanut butter and its topped with a dark chocolate ganache. I don’t even know if they will make it to work tomorrow for people to taste as I keep nibbling on them. I cant wait to try some more recipes from this book. Anyone who likes baking I highly recommend this book its wonderful!
Then it was on to chocolate marshmallows. I have made them before with no issues so I am letting them dry out overnight and tomorrow I will dip them in dark chocolate.
Thats it for now.
Peanut butter crisp bar
The perfect peanut butter cookie and a spiced pumpkin loaf
Posted in chocolates, cookies with tags Chocolate, cookbooks, cookies, pumpkin on September 25, 2010 by thebrokenganacheI finally found the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe. It came from the book Baked by Matthew Lewis and Renato Poliafito, which I found at the bookstore yesterday. The cookies came out great – the perfect balance of crisp and chewy with a great peanut butter flavor. I am thrilled that I finally found a great recipe because I could not move on to other things until I got these dam peanut butter cookies right and now I have!
So after the excitement I decided to make a spiced pumpkin, walnut and milk chocolate bread. The recipe came from joyofbaking.com which had a pumpkin cranberry bread recipe and I just made a few changes. I used a light muscavado sugar, walnuts, milk chocolate and I doubled the spices, the bread came out great having a wonderful pumpkin flavor with a hint of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg and just a subtle sweetness of milk chocolate. Divine!
It was a great day
That’s it for now
Perfect Peanut Butter Cookie
Pumpkin Bread
A new batch of Peanut butter cookies!
Posted in chocolates, cookies with tags Chocolate, cookies, Peanut Butter on September 22, 2010 by thebrokenganacheLast night I was so tired I fell asleep before I even had an opportunity to post not that I had much to say anyway – I was just going to talk about school.
Tonight after work I tried a new peanut butter cookie recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I did make a few addition/changes; I used a little Moscavado sugar, Valhrona 70% dark chocolate chunks and I toasted some peanuts. I needed to try a new recipe since the last batch was a bit dry . I think tonights batch came out a lot better, they are not as dry and I like the extra crunch from the toasted peanuts. All in all they are better though still not 100% and I am still searching for the perfect moist chewy peanut butter cookie recipe – If you have or know of a recipe send it on and I will be very happy to try it out!
Thats it for now!
Peanut butter cookies
Fresh Vanilla Beans have arrived
Posted in chocolates with tags vanilla bean on September 20, 2010 by thebrokenganacheI was thrilled when I got home to find that a new batch of vanilla beans have arrived from Chef Rubber you can’t beat the price at $40.00 for more than a hundred beans. Compared with paying $7.00 and change for a single bean at publix’s.
That’s it for tonight working late.
Vanilla beans
Buttercrunch and Taffy
Posted in candy, chocolates, confections with tags Chocolate, taffy, toffee on September 19, 2010 by thebrokenganacheThe morning started off running to the store to pick up a few supplies. Then it was back to the kitchen to make a buttercrunch toffee with toasted almonds and dark chocolate. I found the recipe at joyofbaking.com. The consistency of the toffee came out great. The flavor OK. not as rich as it could be. I read that if you cook it on a lower temperature for a longer time it develops a deeper and richer flavor – I will have to try that next time, but all in all not bad.
After that I decided to make some chocolate taffy. It reminds me of a lighter more chocolaty Tootise Roll. I think this ones a keeper! The only slight issue is that some pieces seem to stick to the wax paper a bit, I think the way to resolve that is to cook it a few degrees higher the next time around.
That’s it for now.
Chocolate Taffy
Buttercrunch Toffee with Toasted Almonds and Dark Chocolate
A lovely Pecan Brittle
Posted in candy, confections with tags candy, confections, pecan brittle, pecans on September 18, 2010 by thebrokenganacheAfter doing some reading for the next school assignment I decided to make some pecan brittle. It came out perfect, great consistency and flavor. I was so happy, that it wasn’t grainy. Unfortunately I had other things to do today so that was all I made – I do have somethings in mind for tomorrow so stay tuned.
Pecan Brittle Recipe
The recipe is adapted from Chocolate and Confections by Peter Greweling.
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1+1/2 cup pecans
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 Tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 Tbsp baking soda
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place sugar, water and corn syrup in a pot and bring to a boil then cover for 4 min. Remove the cover and cook to 240F without stirring. Now add pecans and cook to 320F stirring constantly. Remove from heat add vanilla, butter, salt and baking soda and blend thoroughly. Pour onto the parchment lined sheet pan and spread out. Once cool break and enjoy!
That’s it for now.
Pecan Brittle
Research
Posted in confections on September 17, 2010 by thebrokenganacheTonight I am doing a little research into butter crunches, brittles and toffees. Since I dont want a repeat of yesterdays grainy bits.
More this weekend……
Thats it for now.
A grainy toffee with milk chocolate and toasted pecans
Posted in candy, chocolates, confections with tags toffee on September 16, 2010 by thebrokenganacheTonight Andy and I made toffee covered in milk chocolate and toasted pecans. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough milk chocolate to cover both sides – so only one side is covered. The toffee came out a little grainy, at the time I wasn’t sure why since I followed the recipe exactly. After doing a little research, apparently your not supposed to stir after it comes to a boil. The recipe I used called for constant stirring through the whole process. I actually didn’t mind the graininess before I put the chocolate on it. It does have a wonderful flavor, but I will try this again with the refinements.
Thats it for now.
Grainy Toffee 
