lessons in mint
Dec. 12th, 2004 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threeplusfireToday's lesson centers around making candy at home. If by chance you decide to use your cute little chrome cuisinart to grind up peppermint candies into more manageable bits because you are tired of beating them in sacks with a rolling pin then take caution. Do not inhale the frosty pink peppermint dust that will rise in wisps from your cuisinart when you open the lid. While the minty clouds will no doubt clear your sinuses and bring you some moment of relief from the congestion you've been fighting all week with luminescent gelllid capsules it will also cause you to freeze in acute and agonizing discomfort. Take heed and do not repeat the mistakes of a nameless cook laboring over a counter full of peppermint and almond treats this fine December day.
On the bright side, I am learning a great deal about the proper melting of chocolate. It must be done slowly, which tries my patience and makes me pace the kitchen waving my favorite spatula while trying to cough up tiny particles of peppermint still lodged in my lungs. I could probably have learned this lesson from a book, but why waste that precious time when one could be experimenting and playing with chocolate? Baking is a more exacting science than cooking, and I am a poor chemist in a strictly scientific measurement. But I do learn from experience how and when to pull the bubbling cream off the burner and invaluable lessons on the need for lower temperatures and time. I have made two batches of peppermint bark, and quite a thick loaf of almond bark.
One day and hopefully one soon I will attempt the making of marshmallows. In such baking matters, I am frequently inspired by my LJ friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seitvonzu who writes of elaborate and delicious baked treats produced all year round. (Can I digress for a moment and mention how peculiar it is to have two LJ friends who married Yankee men named Dan, and yet another LJ friend dating a Yankee boy named Dan? This perplexes me and must be of some great mystical significance.)
While perusing my Christmas wishlist I deicded that if I wasn't going to spead my time reading candy recipes and instead choose a route of exploration and chance, I should probably read about the more interesting history of candy while I recover from any further mint or nut injuries inflicted upon myself. How could I not want to read something like Sweets in which the author professes a great and enduring love for rhubarb and custard candies? Ot The True History of Chocolate written by anthropologists with culinary tendencies?
Aside from this bout of industry, our day has been sweetly free of responsibilities or cares. We have nothing to do but read and sit on couches in our pajam pants, while the faint shimmer of peppermint pink dust lingers in the air.
On the bright side, I am learning a great deal about the proper melting of chocolate. It must be done slowly, which tries my patience and makes me pace the kitchen waving my favorite spatula while trying to cough up tiny particles of peppermint still lodged in my lungs. I could probably have learned this lesson from a book, but why waste that precious time when one could be experimenting and playing with chocolate? Baking is a more exacting science than cooking, and I am a poor chemist in a strictly scientific measurement. But I do learn from experience how and when to pull the bubbling cream off the burner and invaluable lessons on the need for lower temperatures and time. I have made two batches of peppermint bark, and quite a thick loaf of almond bark.
One day and hopefully one soon I will attempt the making of marshmallows. In such baking matters, I am frequently inspired by my LJ friend
seitvonzu who writes of elaborate and delicious baked treats produced all year round. (Can I digress for a moment and mention how peculiar it is to have two LJ friends who married Yankee men named Dan, and yet another LJ friend dating a Yankee boy named Dan? This perplexes me and must be of some great mystical significance.)While perusing my Christmas wishlist I deicded that if I wasn't going to spead my time reading candy recipes and instead choose a route of exploration and chance, I should probably read about the more interesting history of candy while I recover from any further mint or nut injuries inflicted upon myself. How could I not want to read something like Sweets in which the author professes a great and enduring love for rhubarb and custard candies? Ot The True History of Chocolate written by anthropologists with culinary tendencies?
Aside from this bout of industry, our day has been sweetly free of responsibilities or cares. We have nothing to do but read and sit on couches in our pajam pants, while the faint shimmer of peppermint pink dust lingers in the air.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 11:57 am (UTC)do try marshmallows. and for land's sake- do follow dear martha's directions!! don't be cavalier like me and try to change her temp or amount of gelatin... and go by the degree indication (240) and not the "stage" indication (firm ball)... 240 on my candy thermometer is SOFT BALL and if you go any higher you will have a terrible time getting the goop out of the mixing bowl.
lots of experimenting later- i still like the very vanilla (two TABLEspoons) standard version the best :)
your peppermint bark sounds wonderful. that's a particular favorite of mine. i still wish you could have a tree. perhaps you have a window that you could hang some ornaments in front of? then you would at least have the principle of the christmas shiny!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 07:15 am (UTC)I want to roll my marshmallows in cocoa and coconut. That's the dream. :D
I bought a great many piney scented candles, to make the house smell Christmas-y. I am thinking of building a tree out of bows.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-14 07:30 am (UTC)and candy thermometers can be reallyreally cheap. i have one from , i think walmart. it couldn't possibly have been more than 4 dollars. it's bulkier than i would like and i really should get another one- but why mess with success when all i really do is marshmallows?