Chocolate Dipped Sponge Toffee - Daring Bakers Candy Part 1

I finally got my act together to participate in my first Daring Bakers challenge.   I have been following their adventures in baking for so long, so I was quite excited to try some creations my self.    The August challenge was to make candy and practice your chocolate tempering skills.   For my first candy I decided to make Sponge Toffee.  I have never tried anything like this before.  I have made my own caramel sauce and attempted chocolate covered toffee but sponge toffee is a little different.  Different due to the addition of baking soda, which causes the caramel to expand creating the sponge look.   I will tell you this I wasn't quite prepared for the expansion.   The recipe said a 10 inch springform pan is all I would need.  Hmmm... read on.

(Adapted from Christine Cushing via Daring Bakers)
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup - (I used half dark, half light)
• 6 tbsp (60 ml) water
• 2 tbsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Vegetable oil for greasing pans
• 350 grams bittersweet/dark chocolate for dipping

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Grease a 10 inch round spring form pan with the oil. Cover the bottom and sides with parchment and grease again. 

2) Add the sugar, corn syrup, water and vanilla to a medium-large saucepan.   Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Do not stir!  If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan during the cooking process, brush the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush dipped in water.

3) Cook until hard crack stage - 300F on a candy thermometer.  If you don't have a thermometer, take a small piece of the mixture and drop it into cold water.   The caramel should become brittle and break easily when dropped or bent.

4) Remove from heat.  Work quickly, add the baking soda and quickly stir and combine to incorporate the baking soda.  

The mixture will expand and bubble up with the addition of the baking soda.  It is hot, do not touch.  Thanks to my husband for taking the photos while I am stirring.

5) Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.  Now, you are supposed to let the mixture set completely before touching. My mixture however continued to expand overflowing the pan, so there was slight panic and I attempted to scoop some off and put into another pan.  The scooped portion did not turn out quite as light and airy as the original pan. So yes, let it sit and don't over crowd the pan.

6)  After the toffee has set, at least 20 minutes.  Cut into pieces.  You will not get perfect pieces and you will get lots of crumbs.  I am going to save these for future baking.

7)  I decided to dip parts of my sponge toffee in proper tempered chocolate.  Melt the chocolate, using a double boiler.  When the chocolate reaches 113F, remove from heat and pour 3/4 of the chocolate onto your desired worktop.  

 8) Using a scraper or palette knife, move the chocolate around the surface to help it cool, spreading and folding it back on to it self.   You want it to cool slowly, without setting.

9) Once the mixture has cooled to 80F, place the chocolate back into the bowl with the remaining chocolate and combine.  You want the temperature to return to 89F.  If it fails to return to 89F when combining, place back over simmering water.  Monitor the temperature so it does not rise above the 90F.
10) Remove from heat. The chocolate is now properly tempered and ready for dipping. Place half the sponge toffee pieces into the chocolate and let dry on silpat or parchment.

Final Step is crunch away.   This recipe was fun and interesting, not to mention delicious!   What a great Daring Bakers challenge.   Caramel and toffee can be tricky if you start to get crystallization but this recipe worked out very well, other than the pan size.  I might have a back up ready for next time.  The toffee has a great deep caramel flavour with an awesome crunch.  Now I need to figure out what to do with the bits and pieces.  Fun.

MEG's RATING : D-EEEE-LICIOUS!

Coconut Chocolate Pie

MAR 11, 2012 - NOTE: Check out my updated version of this pie with a salted caramel layer!!!

Click here for recipe

To close off the month of pies I decided to go with something decadent and different.  A pie with a less traditional crust and a simple filling that will make you melt.  It has been a fun month trying new fillings, new crusts, some pies with fruit and some with creamy chocolate fillings. Pie options are endless. The good thing is I barely made a dent in Martha's book.   There are still so many wonderful looking recipes in her book I would love to try, so there maybe a month of pies round 2 in the next year.   Hope you enjoyed all the pies this month and hope you can create your own sweet twists on them.  

(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

Makes one 9-inch pie.

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• Approx 4-5 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Filling

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (around 60% cacao)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1 Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a food processor, process butter and one-third of coconut and sugar until mixture forms a ball or starts to stick together, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Combine this mixture with the remaining two-thirds coconut using your hands to bring together

2 Press coconut mixture into bottom and up sides of pan to form crust, leaving top edges loose and fluffy. Cover the crust lightly with tin foil over the edges, and cut a hole in the center.  Keeping the edges covered to prevent burning. Bake until center begins to brown, 10 to 15 minutes; remove foil and bake until edges are browned, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer crust to a wire rack to cool completely.

3 Make the filling:  In a small sauce pan bring cream just to a boil.  While cream is heating up, place chopped chocolate into a medium heatproof bowl.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 10 minutes to allow chocolate to melt.  Stir to combine and melt remaining chocolate.  The mixture should be smooth and completely melted. Pour into coconut crust. Refrigerate until filling is set, 1 hour or up to 1 day. 

If you like chocolate and coconut together you will love this pie.  The coconut crust is simply awesome, crunchy and  I need to come up with more ways to use this.   Both crust and filling were in perfect proportions.  Using a dark chocolate I think is also critical so the pie doesn't become overly sweet.

MEG's RATING: D-EEEEE-LICIOUS

AUGUST MONTH OF PIES SUMMARY
Strawberry Pie
Peach & Berry Cornmeal Tart
Mississippi Mud Pie
Blueberry Peach Pie
Coconut Chocolate Pie

Other Pies from Year
Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie
Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Pie
No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Tart
Mint and Mini Egg Chocolate Tarts

The Five Friday Pin up

The blog world is endless and ever expanding.  People become friends across the country and world, through their love of food, fashion, science and more. I am fairly new to the writing blogging world but not to the following blog world.  Although my reading has increased dramatically since I have started to write.  In my reading I am discovering how amazing it is. Food bloggers and the friends they have made through blogging are reaching out to help each other.  Many food bloggers are uniting together for Jennie - In Jennie's Kitchen , a food blogger who recently lost her husband.  Bloggers are helping to raise money by creating auctions on their sites for baskets, photos, prints, paintings and more, It's fantastic.   You may not know her and I don't know either, but her blog is wonderful, refreshing and real.  Check it out at the link above and the other sites helping to raise money @ Bloggers without Borders.

This out reach from so many great bloggers makes me want to help you see other great blogs on the web.  I am just starting to get into Pinterest. For those who have never heard of it, it's a site where you can bookmark or "pin" favorite photos and links to articles, blogs, recipes etc you have seen on the Internet.  You create your own boards to post pictures on to and you can follow other people and what they are pining on their boards.  It is basically another avenue to check out the delicious, beautiful and crafty items that are on the web.  I am trying to maneuver through it and get used to it as there are also so many other categories other than food.  There is gifts, travel, fashion, science, people, nature, home and more.  It is quite cool.

In efforts to get used to pinterest, explore the web, bookmark some great photos and recipes and spread the blogging for others,  I am introducing "The Five Friday Pin Up"   Every Friday I will let you know my five favorite items that I have pinned or repinned this week from other blogs and places on the web.

Check it out!  You can follow my boards, Sweettwist_Meg - just like my twitter name.

Pinned this week:
http://pinterest.com/sweettwist_meg/food-worth-eating/

1) Chocolate Banoffee Tart - Citrus & Candy : http://pinterest.com/pin/131509378/

2) Whole Wheat and Millet Banana Bread - Joy the Baker:  http://pinterest.com/pin/131534431/

3) Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies - My fiance likes it so it must be good : http://pinterest.com/pin/133756078/

4) Apple Pecan Buckwheat Cake - The Healthy Foodie http://pinterest.com/pin/133773668/

5) Mini Lasagna Cups - The Girl who Ate Everything http://pinterest.com/pin/137448983/


Enjoy and have a sweet weekend.

Meg

Peach Blueberry Crumble Inside Pie

I know I already did a peach tart this month but it's so hard not to utilize all the wonderful peaches in season.   They just stare at you at the markets and groceries stores in their cute little baskets.  Buy me, I'm Juicy, they are secretly telling me.   Since my focus this month is pies,  I figure there is no harm in attempting to do another one.  This pie however I will  give to my Dad, who is a big peach fan. He also happens to be a crumble fan. I wanted to actually give this pie a dough lid, so to speak,  but still give Dad a hint of crumble.  I decided to sneak some crumble on the inside of this pie.   The recipe was adapted from the Food Network Canada August Cooking Club Challenge.  Here is my version with a few sweet twists.


INGREDIENTS:

Dough

• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
• 1/3 cup lard, cut into pieces and chilled
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 tablespoon vodka

Filling

• 8 peaches, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (for crumble)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1 egg, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water, for brushing

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Make the dough: Combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until the texture of coarse meal.

2) Mix together water and vodka and add to flour. Using a wooden spoon and then your hands (trying not to warm the dough too much) blend until dough just comes together. Shape dough into a disc and chill for at least 30 minutes.

3) Preheat oven to 350 F.  Divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of dough to 1/4-inch thick. Line a 9-inch pie pan with pastry.  Trim the hanging edges with a small knife.  Chill dough while preparing filling.

4) Make the filling: Toss peaches and blueberries with granulated sugar, 3 tbsp flour, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg.

5) Make the inside crumble : Combine oats, brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour and cinnamon.  Add butter, combing and moistening the mixture with your hands.  Mixture will darken as it moistens.
6) Combine crumble mixture with peach mixture.  Spoon this mixture into pie pan.
7) Roll out second piece of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out your desired shapes or pattern using cookie/fondant cutters.  If you don't want a shape, do at least 3 small holes to allow air out.
8) Carefully roll up the crust and gently unroll over the peaches - trying to get the pattern over the center.   Trim off the excess dough and crimp together the edges with a fork. Brush pie with egg wash

9) Bake for 50-55 minutes on a baking sheet (to catch drips) until golden brown.  Set on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool slightly.  Serve warm or at room temperature

The good thing about being a food blogger is the requirement for some nice photos which requires me to cut the pie and take a slice out.   That is also another bonus of baking a pie for your Dad, he won't really mind if there is a small piece missing.   I like to think of it as quality control.

This pie was super.  The inside crumble wasn't crunchy, obviously since it was hidden under the pie crust.  It did however give the pie a nice nutty, brown sugar sweet flavour, which I rather enjoyed.

MEG's RATING: D-EEEE-LICIOUS
DAD's RATING : SAME

Butterscotch/Caramel Ripple Ice Cream

My bi-weekly ice cream creations continue.  This ice cream was also for a cottage event. I needed to come up with an ice cream flavour that was fairly generic.  Having one friend who doesn't like chocolate and a husband who doesn't like fruit, I was looking for a crowd pleasing ice cream without worrying about allergies or picky eaters.  Something with caramel maybe?  I do have a half bag of Kraft caramel balls left over. I think those could be quite useful.  My go to vanilla base with a caramel swirl, easy, quick and delicious and after already baking the two pies I was looking for something that didn't take too much time.

Butterscotch/Caramel Ripple Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 cups half and half (10% cream)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 1 cup Kraft caramel balls or squares

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Add egg yolk and vanilla paste in a medium bowl and whisk together.   Set aside

2) Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a sauce pan and whisk together.

3) Slowly stir in milk and half and half, heat over medium-high heat whisking constantly until milk begins to boil and the liquid begins to thicken.  Remove from heat.

4) Temper in the hot liquid into the yolk/vanilla mixture pouring about 1/2 cup or so in and whisking to combine and not scramble the eggs.   Pour in the remaining liquid and whisk to combine fully.

5) Cover the liquid with saran wrap, placing the saran directly on the liquid to prevent a film from forming.

Let the mixture cool in the fridge for several hours.
6) Microwave the balls in a microwave safe glass cup at 1 minute intervals, stirring after each until melted.   Let cool for 10 minutes.

7) Add the ice cream base to your machine or attachment and follow the instructions. Mine is churn for 20-30 minutes.  In the last 10 minutes drizzle in some half of the butterscotch.  Put the ice cream into a freezer safe container, swirl in the remaining caramel by hand.    Place in freezer for several hours, overnight preferred.

I think caramel in anything makes it taste better and this was no exception.  This was quite the crowd pleasing dessert, everyone quickly cleaned up their bowls, with a few going for seconds.  It really was quick, easy and delicious - 5 E delicious.  ;-)

MEG's RATING : D-EEEEE-LICIOUS!

Hot dogs and Hamburgers for Dessert??

When you work at a company that makes hot dogs, sausage, burgers, sliced meats and bacon, bringing in desserts for work needs to get fun and creative.   A few years ago I worked at a restaurant company,  one day pre-blog I made cupcake hamburgers and cookie fries.   Everyone just loved them.  So for the last couple months I have wanted to create a dessert that would match some of the items that are made by my current company. Obviously putting bacon into a dessert would be an easy option and becoming quite the popular one. That however wasn't the route I wanted to take.  I wanted something a little more interesting,  I wanted to show them my interpretation of a hot dog. Since it happens to be the summer and hot dog season, there is no better time like the present. 

INGREDIENTS:

• Box of Yellow/White cake mix and box ingredients 
• Box of any cake mix you like and box ingredients
• 3 cups of vanilla icing (1 1/2  container if store bought)
• Approx 2-3 cups Red and Orange coating chocolate
• Yellow and Red food paste
• Candy sticks or Skewers

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Follow the instructions for both cake mixes.  The yellow/white mix should be baked in mini loaf pans for the buns.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to cool on a wire rack.   

2) Bake the other cake mix in a 9x13 pan to use for make the "hot dog" cake pops. 

3) Once cake is cool, crumble into a bowl and mix with 2 cups of icing, reserving 1 cup of icing for mustard/ketchup icing toppings

4) Form the cake-icing mixture into mini logs about the length on the mini loafs and 1/2- 1 inch thick.  Place them on a parchment lined container or sheet.  Let the formed logs cool in fridge for several hours or freezer for half an hour. 

5) Melt the red and orange chocolate together in a medium bowl over a double boiler. Start with a small amount of each and add as needed to get a colour close to hot dogs.  Gently place the hot dogs on to the candy sticks or skewers, one at a time and dip into the melted chocolate to cover the cake.   Tap off excess. 

6) Stand up the cake hot dog in a cup or Styrofoam to cool and dry. 

7) While the "hot dogs" are drying, carve out a groove in each mini loaf cake using a small circle cookie/fondant cutter for the hot dog to sit in. 

8) Remove the sticks from the dried "hot dogs" and place one into each loaf groove.

9) Using yellow and red food paste die half the remaining icing red and half yellow to create ketchup and mustard.  Place each into a piping bag with tip 2 or 3.   Zigzag icing on each "hot dog" to create the look of condiments on the "hot dogs". 

These were a hit!  There were a lot of double takes.  People couldn't believe it was actually cake.  Super cute and cool, I think.    Perfect for a end of summer BBQ.

MEG's RATING : D-EEEEE-LICIOUS!    (mostly based on fun and creativity)

Mississippi Mud Pie

Luckily for my husband not every pie has to include fruit. I think I have mentioned this before but he is not a fruit fan. Crazy I know.   It can make life difficult sometimes as I love desserts with fruit.  I love fruit, period.  I probably eat too much of it, if that's possible.  For most events I tend to make two desserts,  one fruit and one non fruit, which is generally some form of chocolate dessert. This pie was the second pie that made it up to the cottage the long weekend.

Time to indulge.....


INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 6 oz Oreo chocolate crumbs
• 1/2 cup pecan, halves
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1/4 cup Irish cream
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 small cubes

Topping

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp, praline pecans, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Make the crust : Preheat oven to 375F.  Add pecans to a mini processor and grind down.  In a large bowl combine crumbs, pecans and butter.   Stir together with a spatula until crumbs are completely moistened.  Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan.  Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake 8-10 minutes, let cool completely on a wire rack.

2) Make the filling : In a medium sauce pan, whisk together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt.  Slowly whisk in milk and Irish cream, until dissolved.  Continue to whisk while bringing mixture to a boil, continue for about 2 minutes once boiling.   Mixture will begin to thicken. Remove from heat.

3) Combine egg yolks and vanilla in another bowl.  Slowly stir in 1 cup of the milk liquid into the egg yolks, whisking while pouring to temper the eggs and prevent scrambling.   Add the egg/milk mixture back to into the  remaining milk, return to heat and cook over med-high heat bringing mixture back to a boil.

4) Run mixture through a sieve over a medium bowl, stir in butter, a piece at a time until smooth.
5) Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and cover the pie with saran wrap to prevent a film from developing.  Let cool at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.
6) When ready to serve, beat whipped cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks develop.   Spoon and spread over the chocolate filling and top with crushed pecans.

This pie was good but not my favorite pie of all time.  I think I am just more of a fruit pie fan will always have a preference for those.  My husband did end up eating half remaining pie over the course of a few days,  so clearly he had no problems with it.  Although this pie is screaming chocolate it is not overly rich and dense allowing you to actually enjoy the pie. The addition of the Irish cream also added a nice touch, (although I think I could have added more) giving just a bit more flavour to the chocolate filling.

MEG's RATING : D-EEE-LICIOUS!

M&M Pretzel coated Peanut Butter Cookies!

As I said before a weekend at the cottage always deserves some cookies, a day snack if you will to have in between the hard day of reading, napping, tanning and swimming.   It can be a rough weekend, (wink wink), so cookies are the nice pick me up to get your through the day.    I know in the past I have mentioned I am a die hard Mini Egg/Eggies fan,  I have found a new love, M&M Pretzels.  Find and try these!  Look for the blue M&M packaging.   These little candies are this great combination of crunchy, a little salty and sweet.  These candies alone get a 5E delicious rating.   Ever since I found them I have been dying to use these into some sort of cookie or bar.   I have figured out my reason.   Instead of adding them into the cookie I figured they would make a nice cookie coating.   Add a little chocolate as your glue and you got yourself a M&M pretzel coated cookies. A fantastic looking cookie if you ask me.   

(Adapted from Cooks Illustrated)
Makes around 2 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (1/2 lb) butter, unsalted
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter (recipe called for crunchy, I didn't have it)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped peanuts , ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs.
• 3-4 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 medium bag of M&M pretzels

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and sift together.
2. In a large bowl/mixer bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and cream together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scrape down sides of the bowl, if needed to ensure full incorporation. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. 

 3) Fold in dry ingredients and add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.

4) Using a small scoop, place cookie mounds on to a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Using a fork press each dough ball to make crisscross design. Dip fork in cold water as needed to prevent sticking.  

5) Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges,  10 to 12 minutes (they will not look fully baked). Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. 

Keep the baking sheet lined with silpat/parchment for the dipping stage

6) Melt dark chocolate over a double boiler.  While the chocolate is melting, crush pretzel M&M's in a pie tin or bowl.  (You can also crush them in a bag and then pour the crumbs into a pie tin or bowl. 

7) Dip half the cookie into the chocolate and then dip the chocolate half into the crushed pretzel M&M's, sprinkling and patting with your hand as needed. Place on the saved baking sheets.  Let dry completely and then store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. 

Oh, sweet chocolate and peanut butter you do me right every time. These were fantastic!  The peanut butter cookies were crunchy on the outside and slightly soft on the inside.   The addition of the chocolate and pretzel M&M's was just what it needed to push it close to the top of one of my all time favorite cookies.  There wasn't one cookie left from the weekend.


MEG's RATING : D-EEEEE-LICIOUS!