I decided that since i'm such a nice guy and all, i'd make some candied Christmassy goodness for my friends this year. I even acquired some molds last month for this very purpose.
As you can see, i made two specific sorts of candy: some peanut butter cups/brains/bars (with pretzels inside) and some minty rice crispie treats with a chocolate-coated bottom. The rice crispie treats from the brain mold don't look quite as nice as the pb cups from it do, but they're still completely edible.
This whole thing has also taught me something very important about melting chocolate. Specifically, double boilers are for pansies. If you seek perfection in sugar confection, there's something new on the scene: a heat gun. It's faster, less messy and just generally all around easier.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with heat guns, they're basically overpowered hair dryers that you can buy at any hardware store. They're intended to be used for things like melting plastic and heat-shrinking things. Obviously you probably don't want to use the same one for melting plastic that you'd use for melting chocolate (altho it doesn't actually touch the stuff it's melting, so there's probably not really an issue with that). It's useful for other stuff in the kitchen too. For instance, i used it to make those rice crispie treats too.
Now if i could just find an ice beam somewhere so i can use it to make ice cream...
As you can see, i made two specific sorts of candy: some peanut butter cups/brains/bars (with pretzels inside) and some minty rice crispie treats with a chocolate-coated bottom. The rice crispie treats from the brain mold don't look quite as nice as the pb cups from it do, but they're still completely edible.
This whole thing has also taught me something very important about melting chocolate. Specifically, double boilers are for pansies. If you seek perfection in sugar confection, there's something new on the scene: a heat gun. It's faster, less messy and just generally all around easier.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with heat guns, they're basically overpowered hair dryers that you can buy at any hardware store. They're intended to be used for things like melting plastic and heat-shrinking things. Obviously you probably don't want to use the same one for melting plastic that you'd use for melting chocolate (altho it doesn't actually touch the stuff it's melting, so there's probably not really an issue with that). It's useful for other stuff in the kitchen too. For instance, i used it to make those rice crispie treats too.
Now if i could just find an ice beam somewhere so i can use it to make ice cream...
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