Fudge

I tasted the caramels again this morning (it takes about a day for the flavor to develop fully).  The orange spice caramels are fantastic – and the jasmine ones are great, as usual.  The coffee caramels came out with a distinctly bitter, slightly burned edge – probably because I caramelized the sugar somewhat before adding the coffee.  I didn’t like it, so I tossed out the batch.  The coffee will have another chance when I make that mocha fudge.

Today’s fudge included:

• coconut fudge (to be dipped in chocolate and topped with an almond tomorrow)
• maple walnut fudge
• chocolate macadamia fudge

I’m a bit worried about the chocolate macadamia fudge.  It’s not setting up correctly; I wonder if I didn’t beat it long enough, or if I didn’t cook it to a high enough temperature?  I’m going to let it set overnight, and then if I don’t like it, I’ll remelt and recook it.  Still, it’s better if you don’t have to manhandle the stuff.  The way I make it, it’s very easy to burn.  I am unfortunately not an expert on fudges and equally unfortunately I do not have an accurate candy thermometer, so tend to rely on an ice water bath.  Once I am re-employed I’m going to get myself an accurate digital probe thermometer of the sort professional chefs use.  Cheap candy thermometers are worse than useless IMO – with candy, 2 or 3 degrees can make a huge difference, but they only read in multiples of five degrees?  And with what accuracy?  I’d rather use an ice bath, or a “real” thermomenter.

But I digress.

I also finished making the button wax forms and poured my silicone mold.   I took a cast cylinder of beeswax, put a button on top, and wrapped the whole thing with acetate to make a smooth, glossy surface for the sides.  I glued them down inside a small candy box and then poured the silicone.  It’s curing now and should be done by tomorrow morning.

I have also taken the bergamot peel out and am drying it in the oven.  Tomorrow a friend is coming by, and since he wants to learn to temper chocolate, I’m doing all the chocolate-dipping stuff that I can tomorrow.

Somehow I feel like I should have gotten more done, but what with a phone screen in the morning and an unemployment eligibility interview in the afternoon, things got broken up more than I’d like.  I also got the chocolate molds done, which took an incredibly long time.