Week07 Chocolate and Peanut-butter Fudge

chocolate and peanut butter fudge

This week's recipe is dedicated to my great-grandmother, who I learned to cook with. Her favorite was peanut-butter fudge, and I loved it too.  The delivery portion is huge, so all peanut butter fudge seemed overkill, and this is a versatile recipe, so half the delivery is peanut butter, and half fudge.

The key ingredient for delicious fudge is marshmallow cream (or fluff), but it's very hard to find outside the US. Luckily, like most things, you can make it yourself at home!  It requires a sugar syrup, most people use corn-syrup, but I prefer the taste of golden syrup. Egg whites, salt, powdered-sugar, and vanilla. Start with all but the vanilla and powdered sugar.

marshmallow cream ingredients

You can see that all the ingredients are dark at the beginning.

dark beginnings

Then they get lighter as you whip,

and lighter,

and lighter.

After it's done getting light and fluffy, you add in sifted powdered sugar,

and vanilla.

Then you have marshmallow cream. It's delicious as a sandwich spread, especially with peanut butter.

finished marshmallow cream

Now to start the fudge. You take white sugar, light brown sugar, cream, and butter, and heat it. Notice the candy thermometer? Without one, it's almost impossible to get the right finished texture with fudge. Just ask me, I tried a batch without it.

fudge base beginnings

You have to stir right up to the point it starts boiling.

almost melted

Once the base starts to boil, it must be left unstirred till the temperature reaches the perfect temperature, so that it cools to the right consistency.

boiling fudge base

Once it's done boiling, you quickly stir in the marshmallow cream till it's melted and incorporated, then you have to let it cool to a precise temperature.

Perfect! Now you can add chocolate to this for chocolate fudge, or peanut butter for peanut butter fudge.

cooled fudge base

The fudge base added to chocolate chunks.

The fudge has to be shaped, so it's poured into pans, lined with saran-wrap for easy removal. Then it is allowed to cool gently in a cool room, not the fridge. No shocks.

cooled fudge

Inverted, and saran wrap removed. This is a single delivery! over a kilo of fudge!

finished peanut butter and chocolate fudge

Fudge is normally cut into small cubes. It is incredibly dense and rich, so most people enjoy only a cube or two, so I expect this delivery to last well into December.

cut into cubes

Bonus: Ever wonder about Royal Icing?

smooth royal icing

Every once in a while I do experiments related to improving my baking skills, unrelated (at least, directly) to a Hveiti og Smjör delivery. I became interested in how some bakeries create these glass smooth icing topped cookies, so I went about researching on the internet and doing a test run. I used this recipe for the royal icing.

First, I baked some large soft almond sugar cookies. These might make an appearance soon. They are incredibly soft, moist, and delicious with just a hint of almond.

almond sugar cookies

The main key to the puzzle, is initially making, and using, a stiff royal icing. You can color this if you like, either the same color the smooth top will be, or leave it white like I did, or even color it another color altogether. Pipe it onto the edge of the cookie with a line-tip on your pastry bag. Once this dries, it will act as a dam to keep the frosting from spilling over. Neat, huh?

Next, you thin down the royal icing. If using white lines, or the same color for both the line and top, you can use one bowl, but if you want different colors, you should separate the royal icing into two bowls, one for the stiff original line, and a 2nd bowl for the thinner top. I used one bowl, used it while stiff, then added some water and green food coloring to thin the icing and color it. Next you just pipe it on, careful not to add so much it can run over the border line. 

adding the top icing

Here are the five finished cookies, you can see the icing is still wet.

still wet icing

Once dry, you can see the top has hardened and has a beautiful glass like finish.

finished icing job

It's really satisfying taking a bite, both for the flavor, as well as for the impression you are spoiling this perfect creation with a destructive bite. :-D

mmmm

Week06 Carrot Spice Cake

 Carrot Spice Cake with Cream-Cheese Icing, Maple-candied Pecans, and Crystallized Ginger (couldn't fit it all into the title)

Moist, spicy, and sweet!

 I used to hate carrot cake as a child. I think it was because I never had really great carrot cake, only dry cheap american bakery versions, or if it was homemade, it was just "sheet-cake" which isn't so great. (baked in a large sheet to maximize servings).

Start with carrots of course! I love how it feels like it's going to somehow be healthy because it has veggies in it.

fresh carrots

Grate them.

grated carrots

 Start the batter, eggs, half white and half brown sugar, and one of the secret ingredients, apple sauce.

eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, oil, and apple sauce

Secret ingredient number two, crushed pineapple.

crushed pineapple

 After the batter is mixed well, I add the grated carrots.

batter ready for baking

 While it's in the oven, I start making the icing (which is cream cheese and powdered sugar and a bit of vanilla) but also the special toppings which really amp up the flavor. Start with fresh ginger roots.

fresh ginger root

Peel and dice.

diced ginger root

Next you have to make and boil a sugar syrup, and boil the ginger root, then dry it in the oven for about an hour.

sugar syrup mixture

When the ginger is done boiling and drying, the sugar crystals have completely replaced the moisture in the ginger, which is why it's called crystallized ginger. It retains the strong ginger taste, but gains a sweetness, and can last for months because the water is gone. It can be eaten as a candy, but if chopped tiny, adds a great ginger taste to anything you like.

crystallized ginger

But wait, not done yet!  Next comes the pecans, and plain pecans are too.. plain. Instead, I roast them in browned butter and maple syrup to make Maple-candied Pecans.

Maple-candied pecans

So, cake is baked, cooled, iced with cream-cheese icing, crystallized ginger is sprinkled, and maple-candied pecans added to the center. Finished!

Finished carrot spice cake.

The carrot spice cake is moist and dense, it has delicious cinnamon, and nutmeg flavors alongside the carrot taste. The cream-cheese icing is light and sweet, and the crystallized ginger gives it just the right ginger tang. The pecans are roasted and nutty with just a hint of maple.

Week05 Chocolate-Overdose Cookies

This cookie builds on a similar makeup as the tri-chip cookies. It's dense and rich, but has the same general consistency and texture as the tri-chip cookie. Whereas the other is more a caramel-y light sweet, this one is a chocolate-y rich sweet. 

Because the cocoa powder is so bitter, the dough for this uses all white sugar, rather than the brown-sugar heavy makeup of the tri-chip cookies.



High quality cacao powder is what gives the most chocolate flavor, so I use Cadburry's cacao rather than the store brand.



The sugar/butter/egg mixture with the cacao added in.



Mmmm, coming together!



The flour, salt, and baking powder change it from a sweet sticky mixture to a heavier dough ready for baking.



Even parts white chocolate and 56% dark chocolate chips.



Each cookie is cut to the same diameter for uniformity.



The raw cookies laid out for baking.



Mmmm, fresh out of the oven. They are good warm, but I think these particular cookies are better cold. They are simply amazing with coffee.

Week04 Butterscotch Bread Pudding

Pay attention to the title as you look at these first images. At first I was going to make a cheesecake. Graham crust, made from butter, sugar, and grahamskex crumbs.

Slowly beat the batter, one egg at a time.

Melt dark chocolate with some instant espresso.

What looks like a delicious espresso chocolate cheesecake was actually a little bland. It didn't "meet my muster".

So on to plan B! Butterscotch bread pudding. (this is the center photo on the hveiti og smjör main page) Start with bread crumbs. I use fresh bread toasted, rather than stale bread. I do for thanksgiving stuffing too, I find I like the taste better. This is whole wheat bread.

First, melt the butter and brown sugar for a nice butterscotch taste.

Mix it with an egg, some cinnamon, and whole milk, then soak the crumbs in it.

Next comes the "crumble" topping. Sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter.

Mash till it adheres slightly.

The soaked bread crumbs with crumble is now in the oven, now it's time to make the butterscotch RUM sauce! Melt butter and brown sugar again, then add cream...

Add rum after removing from heat and stir till incorporated. MMmmmm silky smooth!

Out of the oven comes the bread pudding, toasty and warm.

Drizzle butterscotch rum sauce over pudding.

Best warm, with a glass of milk, or a nice cappuccino. The texture is sponge-y, like a pudding, hence the name, but the crumble is a bit crunchy, and the rum sauce provides a cohesive sweetness.