Exquisite semisweet chocolate covered homemade Payday bars. Rich. Chewy. Salty-sweet. Pure love in a bar form.
I remember when JLo started to make a splash in Hollywood back in the 90s. She was known first as a dancer, then she moved into acting. When she approached singing, everyone gossiped whether she would be a triple-threat. With these candy bars, I move beyond baking and cooking to dip my toes in the confectionery world. While I am no JLo triple-threat, thanks to these candy bars my butt is now approaching the size of hers.
It all started with a craving for peanuts. I went to Costco last weekend and bought an abundant supply of the roasted nuts, a big family-size dual pack. Two big jars. God bless buying food in bulk.
I posted awhile ago about how to make Payday candy bar treats. They are super simple to make and taste like the real thing and for a fraction of the cost. I wondered what it would be like to dip the treats in chocolate and decided to make this my quest for the day.
I whipped up the treats and let them set for about 45 minutes before tipping out of the pan. I put them onto a cutting board and sliced them into 1" strips crosswise, then again in half to form candy bar sized treats. 
I heated 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. It took about 2 minutes to reach a fully melted consistency.
I fully admit that I am not a candy maker. I did not temper anything, and to be honest, I didn't have any of the right equipment. Fondue forks proved helpful in dipping each bar into the chocolate and I used a spoon to smear the chocolate all over each piece. I laid the bars onto a silpat mat to cool and harden. I sprinkled the tops on half of the bars with chopped peanuts for an extra little kick.
The candy bars turned out gorgeous - of course, every parent knows the flaws in their children and I know a few of these babies had aesthetic issues. But, I loved each one equally. Since the bars didn't harden within the first minute (ugh!), I was forced to move them into the freezer for a quick chill (yes, my impatience kicked in).
They came out of the freezer 10 minutes later and I sliced a candy bar in half. It was magical. Chewy on the inside, salty-sweet, peanuty, chocolately. JLo would have been proud.
It was a dirty job but somebody had to do it.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Indulge in a homemade candy bar
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Tasty bits .. orangettes and meyer lemonettes
We all have our faults. Every winter I feel guilty for not utilizing my orange and meyer lemon trees to their full potential. Two years ago I attempted orange marmalade and it turned out a thick gluey mess. Last year, I focused on juicing as much as I could stand to drink. We had extremely high levels of vitamin C for a good solid month ... no scurvy here.
The orange tree is nearly 15' tall, so it produces hundreds of oranges. I picked bowl after bowl of fruit and took it to work and went door to door in my neighborhood (like a madman). This year I want to do better by my trees. Tonight is my first step toward being a better fruit tree owner.
We took a roadtrip today down to Carmel to get out of the house. The day was beautiful and Carmel was relaxing, but all I could think about was how I would attempt making candied orange and lemon peel. After dinner, I rushed Joe home so I could begin whipping up a frenzy in the kitchen. He often hides in the office so as not to see the wicked mess that unfolds.
There were many recipes on how to make candied orange peel, and nearly all of them call for a ratio of 2/1 for sugar to water. I felt extra playful and decided to make 1 pot of orange peels and a 2nd pot of lemon peels. I love candied ginger, so I peeled/cut what I had and added it to the pot containing the orange peels.
Candied fruit peel
aka. orangettes, lemonettes(?), gingerettes(?)
4 oranges or 6 lemons
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
I cut off the top and bottom of the orange then used a sharp knife to cut downward and remove the peel. To remove the majority of white pith, I used a teaspoon to scrape each peel. Cut each peel into 1/4 inch strips.
Place peels into a pan of cold water and add salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain water. Rinse peels in cold water, then cover with cold water and bring to a boil once again and simmer for 20 minutes. Complete 3 cycles of this process. This will help to soften the peels and reduce the bitterness.
After draining for the 3rd time, set peels aside. Add sugar and water to pot and bring to a boil. Add peels back into the pot and bring to a boil once again. Simmer uncovered for about 40-45 minutes. Do not stir -- it will cause the syrup to crystallize. Be careful to watch the pot around the 35th minute or so. The syrup will begin to reduce quickly and you don't want to scorch the peels. Cook until the peels become translucent -- mine went for 40 minutes.
Pour peels into a metal colander to drain. Next, place peels onto a wax paper lined baking sheet and use a fork to separate the pieces so they do not touch one another. Leave on the counter to cool and dry out, about 4-5 hours, or overnight.
At this point you have a couple options. You can roll the peels in granulated sugar (as I did) or you can coat them with chocolate for a wonderful little confection. Either way, you should store them in an airtight container. You can chop them up to use in baking, but I think they would make perfect little dippers for a chocolate fondue -- yum!
Oh, I should mention that the ginger turned out pretty good. I was worried since the recipes for candied ginger show it to be a much longer process. Mine turned out somewhat tough (since it only cooked for about 1.5 hours), but it still tasted dang good.
Crap, it's after midnight. Joe is watching a movie and I promised not to be too long. Will publish this post for now -- nighty night!
You might also like these posts:
Oink! Did someone say bacon toffee?
My take on Big Sur Power Bars
How to make pita chips
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Flavor poppin' belly floppin'! (Jelly Belly makes me happy)
We've all tried Jelly Bellies and created interesting flavor combinations, but have you ever tried Belly Flops
Apparenty, everyone makes mistakes -- even the Jelly Belly Factory. All of the 'mistakes' are tossed together and sold in bulk for those of us who aren't too picky about what their food looks like. I can pick these up locally at an outlet store in nearby Gilroy, but you can also buy them online (see link above).
In most cases the only flaw with the Jelly Belly is the shape, slightly distorted or conjoined with another sibling. The taste however remains perfect, so who am I to complain?
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Oink! Did someone say bacon toffee?
It's no secret that I enjoy a good piece of bacon. And, it's possible (just possible) that I seek to integrate bacon into more recipes than I should. But, how can you resist the smokey rich sweetness that is bacon?
Paula from Wisconsin knows of my bacon fetish and passed along a recipe that may sound bizarre at first glance ... but when you think about it, it just makes sense. Take a nice buttery toffee and add crispy bits of smokey, salty bacon. The combination works well.
The recipe is borrowed from Off the Bone and is easy to whip up. It's been awhile since I worked with candy and I know I've heard Alton Brown give advice on candy making do's and don'ts ... but they escaped me tonight. After I mixed in the bacon I stirred to much or didn't pour fast enough, or maybe I mucked around too much while trying to spread the toffee. Some of the sugar crystallized, but the taste is still good although the texture is not quite right.
My candy thermometer might have been a little off -- I cooked to the temperature specified in the recipe but it didn't seem dark enough. I might go just a bit longer next time.
I really enjoy the buttery salty-sweetness of this toffee. I don't mind the fact that there's meat in it, although I'm sure a few of your are wrinkling your noses. The only warning is to limit your intake of this candy ... I think I've already eaten too much, very rich.
So, any other meat candies I should be aware of? :-)
