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.
