The other day Senorita Palomo and myself were watching a Halloween episode of Good Eats that implored us to make chocolate taffy. As I mentioned previously, I have no real sweet tooth, unless it’s for, say, cheese cake, dutch apple pie, or good cannoli. But I have nothing against fun, and pulling taffy seemed like fun.
So Sunday was devoted to taffy (and chicken stock and gyoza, but those are for later posts). All I can say after the experience is: follow the recipe. Our hubris was our downfall. How foolish we were to believe that heating the chocolate mixture to 230 degrees would be sufficient. After letting it cool a bit on the parchment paper, the attempt to fold and form it into a long snake went horribly awry. Dig:
Liz vs. the tar baby
We thought maybe once it was worked a little the mixture would solidify a bit more. No. A subsequent attempt to get the goo back in the pot turned into an embarrassingly cartoonish fiasco. We lost about half the chocolate and it took me a while to scrub the kitchen to its former state, but eventually we did bring it up to 260 degrees, after which it formed quite nicely. Tasted good too. Like extra hard tootsie rolls. I’ll post the recipe as a comment soon. Follow it.
Liz pulling the taffy
4 comments:
I have a atkins diet recipe site/blog. It pretty much covers atkins diet recipe related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Considering a grilled cheese is about the limit of my cooking talents, I'll be passing this blog onto my mother in the hopes she will make me some. You have me hungry for chocolate now!!
I watched the same episode of Good Eats and was, as you, tempted into making the chocolate taffy. I was also tempted after 45 minutes to by pass the 260 degree mark and settle for below but alas, did not. I remember Alton always saying that patience will be rewarded and it was. Problem was, although the taffy turned out in perfect form, I substituted Cocoa powder for the dutch process and ICK! Way too chocolatey. I will try again tonight and with dutch processed cocoa. With your comments, my hopes are high. Tip to those who want to try this, make sure you don't mix up the cocoa types. Dutch Processed is alkaline and not acidic like the regular stuff. The taste is much more mellow and certainly, GOOD EATS. :)
I watched the same episode of Good Eats and was, as you, tempted into making the chocolate taffy. I was also tempted after 45 minutes to by pass the 260 degree mark and settle for below but alas, did not. I remember Alton always saying that patience will be rewarded and it was. Problem was, although the taffy turned out in perfect form, I substituted Cocoa powder for the dutch process and ICK! Way too chocolatey. I will try again tonight and with dutch processed cocoa. With your comments, my hopes are high. Tip to those who want to try this, make sure you don't mix up the cocoa types. Dutch Processed is alkaline and not acidic like the regular stuff. The taste is much more mellow and certainly, GOOD EATS. :)
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