August 2011 Daring Baker's Challenge - Candylicious!

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Pity the competition is only for people in Canada and the United States. =\


A plate of goodies! Truffles and chocolate bark is pure love.

Anyhow, say hello to my new layout! =D I was inspired by the blogs I always frequent and decided that my blog needs change - a new direction, a new vigor, a new life. Although blogging takes quite a bit of time, but it's always such good fun! Shall push on forward with this new commitment (and hopefully still get decent grades in school. =S)

So this month's challenge was candy making. We had to make 2 different candies, with 1 compulsory one being either a truffle or a filled bonbon and the other one as whatever we liked. Since we were already handling 1.7kg of chocolate (yes, 1.7 kilo-freakin-grams), might as well use some of those for chocolate bark right?

Right.


1/5 of the mess

To say that we made an epic mess of the kitchen is really playing it down. Even natural disasters don't create such a carnage, really. We had chocolate everywhere! The microwave, the stove, the 3 bench tops, the sink, the table, the chair, the fridge handle, our fingers, my face, my foot, my camera....

The side of my lips, accidentally of course.

Trivia!
Bonbons are chocolate coated candies. And "bon" means good in French.

From Wikipedia of course!

Basic recipe for truffle

1 3⁄4 cup (420 ml/9 oz/250 gm) Dark/Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup (160 ml) Double/Heavy Cream (36% - 48% butterfat)

OR

1 3⁄4 cup (420 ml/9 oz/250 gm) Milk Chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup (120 ml) Double/Heavy Cream (36% - 48% butterfat)


OR

1 3⁄4 cup (420 ml/9 oz/250 gm) White Chocolate, finely chopped
1⁄4 cup (60 ml) Double/Heavy Cream (36% - 48% butterfat)

Use the best chocolate you can afford yeah. Cheap chocolate tastes terrible and especially in a recipe like this where you only have 2 ingredients, the quality of the chocolate POPS OUT so loudly. Lindt, Green & Blacks are my go-to brands. =)

Steps

1. Finely chop or grate the chocolate
2. Place in a heatproof bowl 3.
In a saucepan, heat cream until just about to boil (it will start bubbling around the edges of the pot but it shouldn't boil vigorously)
4. Pour the heated cream over the chocolate
5. Gently stir the mixture until all the chocolate has melted and it is smooth


Tip: If you end up with pieces of chocolate that won't melt, put the bowl over simmering water (but not touching the water) and stir gently until it‟s all melted

Tip: Be careful if you do need to heat it over simmering water, if the mixture gets too hot it will split and you‟ll end up with gooey chocolate swimming in oil, so don‟t overheat the ganache, steam from a gentle simmer is all you need.

Of course this is a blank canvas where the truffle can be customized to any flavor you like! For liquer flavors, just stir in 2 tablespoons (or more. or less, but thats blasphemous) of your intended liquor (mmm Whiskey... =D) into the stirred ganache. For infusions such as tea, coffee or spices, put the intended flavors into the cream when you are bringing it to a near-boil. Then, allow the mixture to sit and steep so that all the flavors will be released into the cream. Then, strain the mixture to get the infused cream! For spices, do not add too much as a little amount of spice goes a LONG way.

Also if you'd like to coat your truffles with chocolate, just melted at least 400g of chocolate for easy handling. You could also temper the chocolate for better finish and texture but we didn't though.


In our first mould, ice cube trays - chilli cinnamon truffle, coffee cardamon truffle

Spiced chocolate tastes truly magnificent. I used to be an anal chocolate purist and never believed in flavoring chocolate. But after trying chilli cinnamon chocolate, my eyes were opened for the very first time and it was like a moment of enlightenment. *signals light-dawning-from-cloud effect* Chilli cinnamon chocolate is a personal favorite. We steeped the cream for 20minutes with 3 cut chilli padi and 1 cinnamon stick, crushed and broken into many small pieces. For coffee cardamon, we steeped the cream in 1.5 tablespoon of crushed coffee bean and 8 crushed cardamon pods.


Salted caramel filling. Yumsssss

Sweet + salty + chocolatey = ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh


Chocolate hazelnut crunch! Who needs ferrero rocher with their measly ONE hazelnut when you can roll your truffle and put 4? =D


With a new mould this time, we put in fresh cut strawberries and crushed pistachio.


Chocolate bark with dried orange peel, almond halves and fennel seed

For our 2nd candy, we made chocolate bark with the leftover melted chocolate. Just spread the melted chocolate on a sheet of baking paper and throw whatever you love on top of it. Our latest flavor obsession was orange, almond and fennel. The fennel seed adds a liquorice flavor that dances off the tastebuds gently. Really yummy!


Packed into a pretty box for as a present for a friend!

Pressure points and top tips! (from trial and error) =D
1) Repeat after me. I must use the best chocolate I can afford.

2. Ensure that the melted chocolate do not contact with water or it will become unusable for chocolate coating purposes.

3. Be daring with the flavors, but do not complicate the story. There's only so many flavors typical tongues can figure out!

Carious: Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

I have a confession...




I've never eaten a biscotti before.

"THEN WTF YOU DOING, TRYING TO MAKE 1?!"

I hear you say.



Well. I had lotsa cranberry and pistachio left, and I saw a blog entry of biscotti and it looked so yums. So there I went! Lets just say that it'd been better if I had biscotti before. I didn't really know how thick I had to cut it so I had quite a thick slice of brick. Oh well. It softened up a teeny bit the next day and man was it yums..

And best of all, THERE IS NO OIL/BUTTER/LARD/SHORTENING! =D

Talk about lower calorie indulgence. Noms. My mom and sis loved it to bits! Shall work on making these better!

Trivia!

Biscotti literally means twice baked - Bis - cotti. It came from Prato in Italy. Being baked twice, it gets very dry and hard so it can last longer. It is usually dunked into a beverage such as coffee to be eaten.
From Wikipedia of course! =)

Carious warning!
REMEMBER TO FLOSS AND BRUSH YOUR TEETH DAILY PEOPLE! =D Avoid eating dried fruits cause it's super high in sugar and it doesn't have as much vitamins as the fresh ones.

Original Recipe from here!



2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (60 grams) shelled, unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (75 grams) dried cranberries or cherries

Preheat oven to 180deg C. Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and fluffy.



Then, throw in the vanilla, flour and salt and mix with the mixer until combined.



Pour in the cranberries and pistachio and stir it up nicely.



And the ever important finger test. If you don't taste it, the product will fail. Period.



Shape it into a log, about 13 inches long and 7 inches wide? I just smacked it together. Remember to wet your hands or the dough will stick to your hands like a 2 year old kid. Bake it for a full 25 min - 30 min until it starts to brown a little on the top



Remove it from the oven and then cut it into THIN STRIPS diagonally. THIN STRIPS! About 1.5cm strips. I had them at almost 4cm. YIKES. Measure them alright! Then bake them at 160 deg C for another 10 min on each side. It should look slightly toasted. =D



Poured myself a cuppa milk cause I don't take coffee nor tea.. Don't like caffeine and it stains the teeth, although I do still like their taste..

Pressure points and top tips! (from trial and error) =D

1) Eat a biscotti first before making 1. You need to know where to pitch yourself at. Haha.

2) Cut them into thin strips! Biscotti are dry and hard so they gotta be thin thin. Like thin.

3) Don't overbeat the eggs cause they'll lose their fluff and become dense.

4) Ensure that the log is thoroughly cooked before cutting into it. They don't cook again when you baked them the 2nd time at a lower temperature.




Now go make some of these guilt-free yumminess! My mom has already ordered a huge box of these before I go back to Australia. Gonna be a lot of baking in progress.. But hey, no oil/butter/lard/shortening, its totally worth it no?

Carious: My favorite cookies - chocolate chocolate chip cookies

People who know me know my list of loves really well, because I always go hysterical whenever the conversation topic is about them. So it goes - chocolate, durian, grilled mushroom with olive oil and salt.

Oh wait, chocolate, durian, agnes b, grilled mushroom..

No wait, chocolate, durian, telekinesis, agnes b, mushroom...

You get my point.

Any recipe that has more than one "chocolate" is bound to find its way into my list of go-to recipes.



Chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Yum. These cookies are so decadent and so delectable. It takes me great restraint to stop at 1 but I always end up breaking up other cookies into halves or thirds.. =X

I can't describe how divine these cookies are adequately. Soft, chewy, moist, sweet, and with a tinge of salt that tingles the tongue. And all these are just the tip of the ice berg. The whole cookie is just pure magic.

The whole photography session took close to 15minutes because I was, well, you know.....

So apparently there are strict ways in chocolate handling because they are extremely fickle and need a lot of tender loving care. Here are some stuff I've uncovered while combing google!

From here

- Take your time. Dark chocolate can withstand high temperature than milk or white chocolate, but it’s always best to heat chocolate gently.
- Chopping chocolate before melting means the heat will be evenly distributed, and the chocolate will melt quickly with little fuss.
- Be very careful liquid away from melting chocolate. Chocolate is composed of solids suspended in cocoa butter. Melting the chocolate transforms the cocoa butter into liquid, and the solid particles glide easily through this cocoa butter base. But just a few drops of water, or any liquid, will be absorbed by the solids and cause them to cling to each other. When this happens, the chocolate seizes, or becomes stiff and difficult to stir. Once chocolate has seized, your only option is to add more liquid and make Chocolate sauce.

This website is pretty good too!



Original recipe from Martha Stewart! =)

Once again, halved the recipe to yield 10 large cookies. But I made it twice that night cause it was just that awesome.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
125g good-quality milk chocolate, 65g coarsely chopped and 60g cut into 1/4-inch chunks(I just sub it with a hell lot of white chocolate chips.)
1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter
3/4 cups sugar (I reduced it to 1/2 cup)
1 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract



Preheat the oven to 170deg C! Melt the chocolate and butter. I did it over a double boiler (read This website)



Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder.



Beat the egg, vanilla and sugar together until incorporated.



Then pour the melted chocolate-butter mixture with the egg-sugar-vanilla mixture and chuck them all into the flour mixture. Stir them up!



Then mix in an insane amount of chocolate chips. I threw in at least 1/2 cup of them..



Customary finger test! Now I gotta warn you though. My finger test turned into a spooning session and I think I lost at least 2 cookies here... It was that darn good.

Leave about 2cm space around each plonk of dough because the cookies will rise and puff a little. Bake em for 15 minutes.




Pressure points and top tips! (from trial and error) =D

1) Ok there is nothing to share about these cookies actually. Its so straightforward. Just watch out for the melting chocolate part as indicated by the websites I shared above.

2) Share them of course. Mindblowing stuff.

Hypertension: Coronary Cinnamon Rolls

Oh. My. Goodness.

I never really loved butter because it's so bad for you. But after baking this batch of babies, I think I reached Nirvana. Or rather, a state of reckless and injudicious consumption of butter because it was That Darn Good.



I actually ate 75% of what I made. Usually, 75% goes to giving the people around me but this golden recipe, got me so hooked I was downing them one at a time, and pretty quickly too at that.

These are the Best Cinnamon Rolls by Pioneer Woman. Honestly, I prefer coronary but hey, I didn't come up with this recipe. And man was she right that this IS the best. The dough is amazingly fluffy, chewy and had the perfect bite.

I woke up especially early that day to bake this cinnamon rolls for my family for breakfast and gosh, the amount of butter was SO MUCH that the cleanup was a total nightmare. I was so grumpy but the first bite of the cinnamon roll calmed me down instantly. The second took me right out of this galaxy.

PW posted a perfect step by step tutorial and pictures and shared her notes and tips on making this beauty piece of art. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.

Pressure points and top tips! (from trial and error) =D

1) I went ahead with a whole cup of butter as per her recipe and found that it WAS way too much. I am planning on making them again but with olive oil this time cause my house has simply too many bottles of EVOO. Shall see how it goes. The amount of melted butter is directly proportional to the mess that was made. I was also considering whipping the butter with cinnamon and sugar and then spreading it unto the dough so that it'll be cleaner to handle than melted butter. Shall try THAT method out too.

2) Give them ample room. I grabbed the nearest tray and it was simply too small but I squeezed them in like sardines. In the end, they expanded out of the tray and I had butter EVERYWHERE. Like, EVERYWHERE. Also, the shapes didn't look that good after it has risen UPWARDS instead of proofing sideways.

3)Refrigerate the dough. Really. Makes rolling it out seem like child's play.



As what I'd always say - share the love, share the calories. I'm definitely making you babies again soon...

Carious: Kelly's Brownies

I've made brownies about 5 times so far. At my 4th, I just give up in despair because seriously, Betty Crocker is so much better and I just can't figure out where I was going wrong.

how to get that perfect fudgey-cakey balance with a rich chocolatey taste?! arrrrghhhhhhhhh

Then, Kelly came.

=O



It's THAT good.

Trivia!
Brownies also mean a division within girl guides that organizes birthdays and stuff. They even have Brownie pledges! o.O
From Wikipedia of course!

I could imagine my brownie pledge already.

I, Distracted-Student
Pledge to make these brownies once a month
and never to forget to fold in my crushed walnuts into the batter.

Yes... I crushed a handful of walnuts and totally left them out of the batter. Sigh.. Too busy licking the spoon I reckon..

Caries warning!
Drink plenty of water after having sweet foods to reduce the help alleviate the lowering of the pH in the mouth.



Recipe from Kelly!

As usual, I shrunk my recipe to a smaller one, 1 egg recipe. I like my brownies thin and slightly crisp too, like a softer-than-soft cookie. What am I talking about?! Blahh.

80g dark chocolate (+ extra handful to scatter in the batter)
40g unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar (I used coarse cane sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/3 cup plain flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
handful of roughly chopped walnuts



Preheat the oven to 180deg Celsius.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over boiling water, stirring occasionally until it has completely melted. I chucked it into a steamer though cause I was steaming some dumplings at the same time. Worked out fine too..



Beat the sugar, butter and vanilla together until thick and creamy. I used coarse sugar and it was an interesting experimental result! Not all of the sugar dissolved because it's really coarse. I ended up with hits of sugar crystals that made it just a tad crunchy. Yums...



Beat in the egg until incorporated.



Chuck in all the dry ingredients and the melted chocolate and stir! Now after the batter is formed, FOLD in whatever else you want to be in your brownie.. M'ms, peanut butter, chocolate buttons, WALNUTS, dried fruits.. Whatever that floats your boat! For me, the best complement to chocolate is, MORE chocolate. I'd have chuck in more chocolate pieces if I had any at hand. SIGH!



Accidentally get some batter unto your fingers! Oh the batter is thick THICK, like, spreadable thick. It won't flow around so don't expect it to..! =)

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the brownie comes away from the side of the tin. For the poking stick test, it should still have some small bits of batter clinging on to it i.e. it shouldn't come out CLEAN.



I used a 20cm by 5cm tin so my brownie was thin, the way I love it to be for my waistline too but alas..

Pressure points and top tips! (from trial and error) =D
1) Well, use the best chocolate bar and chocolate powder you've got/can afford. Seriously the difference is insane. I've actually bought a few good quality chocolate bars (Green and Black, Valrhona) JUST for my private brownie perusal those I won't share.. because the taste of the brownie is really just the quality of the melted chocolate. So, pick a good one!

2) Lick the batter before you put it into the oven.

3) Don't overbake brownies. It's amazing how a few minutes can change a moist brownie to a dry crumbly one. Been there twice, I'm ashamed to say.

4) There's nothing much about brownies, really, except just remember to share the love, and share the calories!

Carious: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Cranberries and Pistachio

OMG YUM. Seriously, that was all I can think about when I'm eating my first slice. And the next slice. And the next. Speaking of which, I'm having another slice right now. URGH.

The cake is moist, the toasted nuts a treat, the overt amount of frosting a real sin (which frosting isn't?) and the cranberries and pistachio a visual stimulation.

Caries warning
Having sweet treats too often encourages bacteria growth and destruction of tooth enamel. Hence, it's recommended to have your sweet treats during your meal times to reduce the number of times the tooth enamel undergoes destruction.
Remember to brush and floss your teeth daily! =)


There's something really sexy about red and green that complements so well.. Case in point.





=D

The idea of having pistachio and cranberries came from Siena, this amazing 9 year old lass from Australia's Masterchef Junior. She's the most beautiful little girl with an air of confidence that puts me to shame. Sigh, got a lot more to learn! Her dish was pheasant stuffed with cranberries and pistachio.

oo! goes well with pheasant? must go well with everything then!

Trivia!
Carrots were used in sweet cakes because sugar and sweeteners were expensive and not easily available and that carrots contain high levels of sugar. Besides, carrots are high in beta carotene (for retina and hence, eyesight) and Vitamin A. All good stuff.
From Wikipedia of course!
whee! *goes for another slice*






Original recipe from here.

Once again, I shrunk the recipe to 2-egg because my baking pan is small, 9 inch diameter by 2 inch height. In retrospect, it should have been 3-egg recipe for the pan AND a better cake to frosting ratio.

1/2 cup (50 grams) pecans or walnuts
1 large raw carrot, about 1 1/2 cups finely grated
1 cups (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (120 ml) canola oil (or other flavorless oil)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract




Chuck the nuts into the oven and toast them for 5 minutes. I set the heat at 180 deg C so as to preheat the oven anyway.





Finely grate the carrot and complain about the humidity in Singapore.

OMG. WTH. SO HUMID. OMG. URGH. WHY ARE YOU SO HARD TO GRATE?!





Throw in the cuppa flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt and sieve them into a separate bowl.



In a large bowl, beat the egg till slightly frothy/foamy and throw in the sugar. Then, take out the anger of the humidity and beat the egg till its thick and light colored (as above)




Slowly pour in the cuppa oil while whisking it. Canola oil is rich in mono-unsaturated fat so don't feel so guilty! Peanut oil on the other hand...
I've made this recipe 3 times. The first time, I cut 50% of the oil and it turned out crumbly and dry. The second time I cut away 30% of the oil and 20% of the sugar and it was still crumbly and dry because sugar is hydrophilic (water-loving) and helps in maintaining the moisture of the cake. This time, I threw in all the sugar and oil and it's nicely moist and the perfect hit on the sweet-ometer. So if you're looking for a cake lower in calories but still as good, I guess you just gotta have a smaller slice?

Then, pour in the dry ingredients and gently stir the mixture until the dry ingredients have JUST been moistened and incorporated. Don't overmix it cause the leavening (rising agents) will work too quickly and the cake will end up slightly dense and flat.



Then, toss in the nuts and grated large carrot in stir gently. And of course, the customary finger poke taste test. For best results, repeat the poke test at least 3 times. =)

Some recipes suggest putting apple sauce/apple puree/crushed pineapples to help keep the cake moist. I've put crushed pineapples into the cake before. The pineapples tasted good but I thought that there was too much going on in the cake. Nuts, carrots, pineapples, frosting. Hurhhhhh????

Bake the batter in the oiled baking pan/pan lined with baking paper at 180deg for 20 minutes or until brown and the poke of a stick comes out clean.



And now, my favorite part of every cake. THE FROSTING! Admittedly this recipe made twice as much frosting as required but I used it all on the cake anyway cause I was too lazy to find a box to store the excess. Well, if some is good, more must be better!

250g of cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups of icing sugar (I used 1/2 a cup cause I just couldn't bring myself to do 2 cups.)
1/4 cup (57grams) of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
juice of 1/2 an orange



For a smoother frosting, whisk the butter and cream cheese together first and slowly sift in the icing sugar. But really, just chuck them all into bowl and whisk the life outta em. It'll still turn out good.



Once again, the finger poke test. For frosting, repeat it at least 5 times. =D

Green and red is ♥



Noms.

Pressure points and top tips! (from trial and error) =D
1) Don't overmix the batter or else the cake will not rise. Gently fold in the carrots and nuts and quickly pour them into the pan.

2)Don't cut the oil and sugar. Instead, share the calories with your friends and make em happy. Com'on, trust Distracted Student on this.

3)Refrigerate the frosting a little if it is too runny to be spread. 10minutes will harden it up sufficiently to be spreadable. Singapore is SO HOT that my cheese and butter softened while I walked home from the supermarket 10mins away. Oh well, makes for easier whisking!

4)Don't use up all the frosting on that 2-egg recipe if you aren't a frosting junkie like me.

5) FINELY grate the carrots. There are several sizes on the grater. Choose the SMALLEST sized for grating. I used to use the larger ones and the carrot taste wasn't as strong. Not to mention, it makes the cake almost uncuttable without ruining the texture on the sides.

Now go share some love and calories! =D