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I'm a Super-Cook Wannabe! The cooking mis-adventures of Heidi Barry Move over, Martha Stewart—here comes the Super-Cook Wannabe! Seeing as this is the holiday issue, I decided to do something special for the Super-Cook Wannabe column. But I didn’t want to do the same old holiday recipes that every other magazine does for its holiday issue. I wanted to do something different. Where could I find unique and interesting recipes—that were still delicious and yet easy enough for a Super-Cook Wannabe to handle? The Internet, of course! I spend an entire morning surfing the web in search of just the right recipes, and my efforts were not in vain. I found recipes for candy canes, hot cocoa mix, Turkish Delight, and easy (!) no-cook fudge. As always, I tried all the recipes and will tell you how they turned out.
3 c sugar
Butter a marble slab or cookie sheet, one or two glass or metal bowls (according to whether you want one stripe or two), a heavy duty spatula or putty knife, a spoon for each stripe color, and a couple of pairs of scissors. Combine sugar, water, corn syrup and salt in a heavy 6/7 quart pan. Heat and stir until sugar crystals are dissolved, then stop stirring. Bring to a rolling boil and wash down the crystals. Boil rapidly to the hard crack stage (300 F). Pour two-thirds of the syrup out slowly onto the buttered slab or cookie sheet. Pour the rest into the bowl or bowls, and stir in about 3 drops flavoring and food coloring. Add 6 drops flavoring to the large portion and begin to turn the edges in with a buttered spatula. As soon as possible, butter hands and start to pull the portion in the large container (stretch it out slowly until about 14 inches long and then fold it back on itself) until it starts to get pearly colored and hard to pull. (It will be really hot—set it down or pass it to another person when it gets too hot.) Form it into an egg shape. Meanwhile gather up the colored portion and form it into a shape it into a strip about 1" wide and long enough to go around the white part once the long way. If you have two stripes, do the same with the other stripe. Wrap it around the egg and, if you have another stripe, turn the egg 90 degrees and do the same with the other stripe. With one person on each end, start to stretch and twist the egg in opposite directions to form a long rope with the traditional stripe. Cut into lengths as necessary. When the desired diameter is achieved, cut and form into canes (roll it on the board to get it smooth). If it gets too cold to work with, put on a wooden breadboard in a warm oven to soften. If you live in an area with high humidity, as soon as they cool, package in sandwich bags. Each batch makes about 30 or 35 medium canes. I found three candy cane recipes—each slightly different, of course. Since the most detailed recipe said it was best to do with 6 people, Anna and I got a bunch of girls together for a day of candy cane making! None of us had ever made candy canes before, but we had detailed instructions, the right utensils, enough ingredients for several batches, and a large garbage can in case the results were less than edible. Anna and I still remembered the cinnamon candy we attempted to make two years ago—we burned it and it ended up in the garbage can. But that was just the two of us. With seven of us in the kitchen, we hoped things would go much smoother. The recipe said that everything went fast once you got going, so it was best to get everything ready beforehand. So, before everyone arrived I got everything ready; I buttered the marble slab, the glass pan, the scissors, the spoons, and the spatulas, put the ingredients in the pan and set it on the stove (which was turned off), and loaded some Christmas CDs in the stereo. Soon the doorbell rang and Sarah and Hannah walked in. Sarah brought some red food coloring with her, since we had let a friend borrow all of our food colorings the week before. Amanda arrived soon after, and since we weren’t expecting Genelle and Leslie until later, we got started. I turned the stove on and got the syrup cooking while we all chatted. All three recipes said to cook the syrup to a different temperature; two said to the hard ball stage and the other said to the hard crack stage, but one said hard ball was 265° degrees and the other said it was 270° degrees! Both of my candy thermometers said that hard ball was 260°, so that’s what I was cooking to. It took awhile for the syrup to reach the right temperature, but as soon as it did, we were all ready. I poured 2/3 of the syrup onto the marble slab, and 1/3 into the glass pan for the stripe. Next I poured on the drops of peppermint flavoring and Sarah mixed the red food coloring into the stripe portion. While everyone buttered their hands up in preparation for pulling the candy when it had cooled enough, I used the spatula to turn the edges over and in, over and in. Genelle and Leslie arrived just in time. We quickly explained what was going on, and then I gave the white part to Amanda to start pulling. I think I’d waited too long before pulling it, because while it was still hot, it wasn’t unbearable, so Amanda was able to do the pulling by herself. Then she handed it to me and I worked on it a little more until it got really pearly colored and firm. I formed it into an egg shape and we took the red part for the stripe, which we’d pulled already and formed into a rope, and wrapped it around the long part of the egg. Then, with one person on each end, we pulled and twisted, and suddenly we had a red stripe around our white rope! It quickly got too thin in the middle, so someone snipped it in half with the scissors, and then everyone dived in, taking a section and continuing to pull and twist until it got to the right width, then cutting it into the right length with the scissors and forming it into a cane. We were all giggling and grinning as we handled this unruly substance, getting used to its feel, and learning how to work with it. Our first few candy canes were a sight to behold; way too thin and poorly shaped; but soon we got the hang of it and the shapes became recognizable. Soon we branched out into different shapes, and made hearts and spirals and pretzels. Before we knew it, we’d used up all the candy cane “dough.” We cut one cane up into little bite-sized pieces and each tried one; the candy was still chewy, and oh, so good! It had just the right amount of peppermint flavoring; it was delicious! Of course, we had to do another batch! This time we wanted to try some different flavors. We had a lot of different flavorings, but we didn’t have any food coloring left; Sarah had used the last of hers to color the stripe for our first batch, which actually turned out more pink than red. (The colors get a lot lighter after pulling.) So Mom left to pick up our food colorings from the family we’d lent them to, while we discussed what flavors to make. We decided on strawberry/orange, strawberry/vanilla, orange/vanilla, and cherry/vanilla. Leslie measured out the ingredients while we buttered up the utensils. I decided to use a bread scraper instead of a spatula this time; the spatula left a lot of candy stuck to the marble slab. We got the syrup cooking on the stove and said goodbye to Sarah, Hannah, and Amanda, who had to leave early. The syrup, again, took awhile to reach the proper temperature. When it still had ten degrees to go, Mom arrived with the food colorings. That distracted me, and while I was trying to arrange which colors went where, the syrup reached the hard ball stage—and kept going. By the time I checked it the temperature was 270! “Ack!” I squealed. “It cooked too long!” Memories of those burned cinnamon candies filled my mind, and I grimaced as I poured the syrup onto the slab for the vanilla and into the three glass pans for the strawberry, orange, and cherry. Then I ran around, showing people what flavorings and colors to put into which portion, and by the time I got back to the vanilla portion and started mixing it up, it was already partially hard! “Ack!” I said again. It ended up being okay, though, and we started our candy cane forming with a strawberry cane with an orange stripe. That went well, and we went on to make vanilla canes with cherry stripes, strawberry canes with vanilla stripes, and orange canes with vanilla stripes. Since the candy had cooked to a higher temperature, it set up much faster, so when it got too firm to work with, we set it on a wood cutting board in the warm oven, and after it softened up a bit, we were able to work with it again. I think I pulled the vanilla too much, though, because toward the end it got very dry and wouldn’t stick to the stripes. At the very end of our candy cane making (of course) we discovered that it works really well to roll the cane out on a surface before forming the cane. I tried it at the beginning on the buttered slab, but it didn’t work because it just slid on the slick surface. But it worked once the butter had been worn off the slab. The candy canes made that way were smooth and round the way candy canes are supposed to be! We all had a great time making candy canes, and plan on doing it again, now that we know what we’re doing. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. We are definitely going to make this a family tradition! Anna and I made another batch on Thanksgiving. This time we cooked it up to the hard crack stage, and that worked much better. It was harder to work with; they set up so fast we had to put them in the warm oven several times, but they hardened quickly and had the consistency of traditional candy canes! The first ones we made had the consistency of after dinner mints. So, if you want after dinner mints, cook it to the hard ball stage; if you want candy canes, cook it to the hard crack stage. TURKISH DELIGHT 2 c granulated sugar
Dissolve the granulated sugar in half of the
water over medium heat. Add the strips of lemon and orange peel and the
juices. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Soften the
gelatin by soaking it for 5 to 10 minutes in the rest of the water. Add
the gelatin to the sugar syrup stirring well, and boil for 10 minutes,
until the syrup reaches the thread stage.
When I came across the recipe for Turkish Delight, I was so excited. I didn’t realize that the candy from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was really a real candy! I had to make it. Of course, I found two recipes for it, each slightly different, so I decided to go with the easier recipe. Anna and I started working on it right after we finished with the candy canes. She grated the orange and lemon peels while I go the other ingredients together. As it cooked, the kitchen filled with citrus smells. It smelled wonderful; we couldn’t wait to taste it! Unfortunately, the pan I used was too small. The syrup bubbled up so much that we couldn’t turn the temperature up enough, or it would spill over the side. As a result, the syrup wouldn’t get hot enough, so finally we poured it into a larger pan. It did eventually get hot enough, but it had cooked far too long. After it had set up in the refrigerator, we were able to taste it, and it wasn’t nearly as good as we’d hoped. I’d always envisioned Turkish Delight as being some kind of fudge or taffy, but it was completely different. It was kind of like rubbery Jell-O with a slight citrus taste. Hardly delightful. The candied peel, which is strained out, was really good, though. It was a huge hit with my Spanish class, though, so give it a try and see what you think! HOT COCOA MIX 10 cups dry milk powder
In a large mixing bowl, combine milk powder,
confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, and creamer. Stir till thoroughly combined.
Store cocoa mixture in an airtight container. Makes about 15 cups mix,
or enough for about 45 servings.
I am a huge hot cocoa fan, so I couldn’t wait to try this recipe. It makes a lot—40 servings—but I think that’s because it calls for an entire jar of powdered non-dairy creamer. It could easily be halved, as long as you’re willing to end up with half a jar of creamer left over. The recipe said to experiment with different flavors of creamers, so instead of buying one jar of creamer, I bought a box of creamer packets in four flavors; french vanilla, hazelnut, amaretto, and swiss chocolate. I mixed up all the other ingredients in a big bowl—it took awhile to get it thoroughly mixed—then divided that into four smaller bowls. I added the different flavors of creamer to the different bowls, and again mixed thoroughly. Then I stored each flavor of hot cocoa mix in a heavy quart ziplock bag, labeled with the flavor and directions. What could be easier? It has, however, met with mixed results—my mom and I like it, and my sister says it’s okay but not as good as store-bought cocoa mix. It is a little powdery. This recipe might call for some experimentation to get the proportions just right. NOTE: For a heavenly cup of cocoa, drop in a piece of the peppermint candy canes that you just made which happened to break off. Mm, mmm! NO-COOK FUDGE 1 cup confectioners sugar
Blend confectioners sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, melted chocolate, and salt together with an electric mixer until smooth. (You can also put all the ingredients together in a heavy plastic bag, and squish with your hands until well combined.) Press into a 8 x 5.25 x 1 1/2 foil pan. Top with red and green sprinkles. Let harden before eating. Makes 3 dozen Fudge that you don’t have to cook sounds great to me! The lady who submitted this recipe on the Internet said she makes it with her Sunday School class, it’s so easy. Well, it probably is really easy—when you add the right amount of cream cheese, that is. The recipe calls for a 3-oz package, but the smallest I could find was an 8-oz package. I forgot about the size difference when I added the ingredients, so I ended up having to add triple the other ingredients in order to make up for the extra cream cheese. Also, since we didn’t have baking chocolate, I used cocoa powder and butter, following the directions on the cocoa powder box for substituting for baking chocolate. Of course, they said to use oil or shortening, but I used butter. So, since I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (what’s new?) I can’t say for sure how it normally turns out. The recipe gives two different ways to mix it up; either in a bowl with an electric mixer, or in a heavy ziplock bag with your hands. I opted for the more unusual and fun ziplock bag method. It was a lot of fun, though it probably would’ve been easier if I’d had the correct amount of stuff in there. This would be a lot of fun to do with kids—just make sure the bag doesn’t pop open, as it did on me a couple of times. Have fun with these recipes, and let me know how they turn out for you! Help the Super-Cook Wannabe by sending your favorite recipes to: Christiana, 493 W Desert Ave., Gilbert, AZ, 85233. Or e-mail them to christianamag@juno.com. She promises to try all the recipes she prints and let you know how they turn out! |
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CANDY
CANES