A Chemist's Candy Conundrum

Unsuspecting chemist attempting taffy making

Because of my background in chemistry I normally am not very intimidated by anything in the kitchen. I like to think that if I can synthesize complex organic molecules in the lab it shouldn't be too hard to do whatever is needed in the kitchen. And so when I decided to try making saltwater taffy in preparation for leading a group of seventh graders in doing the same I didn't think much of it. I watched an instructional video, read the recipe, gathered my ingredients and dove in.

 I soon found out that making taffy is tough and I know the old saying is that a poor work(wo)man blames her tools but honestly it would have helped if I had a candy thermometer that could read the temperature accurately. My first batch appeared to be going well until I had the candy out and started pulling it. With my first pull I knew something must be wrong. I know pulling taffy is tough but I only managed about 5 pulls before I was done.

The result was a rock hard candy that had to be cut with a chopping knife rather than a pair of scissors. The candies themselves do not taste bad, although they taste more like caramels then the orange flavour they are supposed to be. If I were to market these candies I would probably give them a "sermon-long" guarantee, they seriously last a looong time in your mouth. 

Disappointing rock hard results

 With a little bit of investigating I found that my candy thermometer was approx 8 C off in reading the temperature. Not good when an exact temperature was needed.

Warning: contents of pan are approx 8 C hotter than they appear

So like any good scientist I delved into some research and read a bunch of peer reviewed journals (aka candymaking and recipe blogs.) I soon determined that the faulty temperature was probably the main culprit for the too hard candy. Also if I needed to quadruple the amount of flavouring I used if I wanted to actually taste the flavouring.

It being only 9:30 pm I figured I had time for a second go. So I gathered my ingredients and set out armed with my improved knowledge. My mixture boiled.... and boiled... and all the sane members of my family went to bed (so sadly no more pictures.)  Finally I thought I had the correct temperature and took my concoction off the stove. I added food colouring and flavour and poured some out to test the consistency. I soon found out that this batch was too cool. So I put it back on the stove and reheated.... and repeated that process several times before I finally decided I might have it right. By now I had several burns on my hands from inadvertently grabbing the metal thermometer (ouch!) I poured the mixture out and waited hopefully. But alas the sugar molecules in the taffy were mocking my labcoat and as I greased up my hands to pull the taffy I soon found out I still had not heated the candy enough as the would be taffy dripped down my arm and turned into an oozy sticky (but delicious!) mess.

Figuring I couldn't make it any worse I plopped it in a container and stuck it in the microwave for 45seconds and poured out the result once again. After some cooling time I once again greased up my now burnt and blistered hands and made an attempt to pull the taffy. I still think the taffy is too soft but by now I was well into the next day and rather tired of this taffy so I stretched it out and cut it up. Not being a huge candylover I am not sure what the correct taste or texture of saltwater taffy is. I do know that with a little bit of refrigeration and a whole lot of icing sugar my taffy manages to maintain a shape. As for the taste it mostly tastes like butter, salt and icing sugar with a hint of orange flavour. For lack of a better example I am going to just go ahead and say that is how it's supposed to turn out until someone with more candy knowledge corrects me.

 (I figure I have a few hours to enjoy my success until they wake up.)

Just a Trifle

My Dad makes a fantastic trifle that we have every year at Christmas. I have loved helping him make this trifle since I was a little girl- especially since he let me sample some of the layers. I save his trifle recipe for Christmas time but since I love trifle so much I have come up with my own Chocolate Raspberry trifle. I love making desserts but since I normally cook only for myself I don't normally indulge unless I have someone to share it with. I made this trifle for a Church potluck where it was enjoyed immensely.  The thing I love most about trifle is that you get an awesome looking dessert that tastes awesome too and is very easy to make. Wanna know just how easy? Here are my simple instructions for chocolate raspberry trifle:

Ingredients:
- 1 box chocolate pudding
- 1 box vanilla pudding
- 1 can raspberry pie filling
- 1 pan of brownies (9x13) Quaker Oats mix is my fave but any brownies will do
- 1 box chocolate mousse
- 1 carton (500mL) whipping cream or 1 tub cool whip
- you will need milk to make all the mixes

Optional but definitely makes the trifle extra delicious as well as gorgeous:
- fresh raspberries (1 or 2 cartons)

Instructions
1. Prepare all the prepackaged mixes according to package instructions, you will need to make some room in your refrigerator for all the bowls of pudding. I also suggest you start with the brownies since they need the most time to bake and cool.
2. Grab your trifle bowl and a couple of spoons and get ready to assemble
3. Trifles have layers (like cakes, parfaits and onions) The order of the layers isn't essential but here is the order I followed to make the trifle in my picture

- brownie

- chocolate mousse

- raspberry pie filling and fresh raspberries

- vanilla pudding

- whipcream

- more brownie

- entire chocolate pudding

- more pie filling and raspberries

- more whipcream

- last of the brownie

- last of the chocolate mousse

- last of the pie filling

- last of the vanilla pudding

- final layer of whip cream

Garnish with more fresh raspberries and some shaved chocolate
(Hershey's Skor Chipits also taste really good in this)
4. After you are done admiring your creation dig out the spoons and bowls and dig in!

Domesticity

I am not an overly domestic orientated person. Sure when I was a kid I went through a Little House on the Prairie phase but my housekeeping skills leave much to be desired. Lately however, perhaps due to sheer boredom I have found myself willingly performing several domestic activities.

One being knitting- I am making a hat, I have actually been working on a hat for my younger sister for quite some time but can't seem to get it right. It has been described as a broccoli, a unripe pumpkin, a fungus and a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion. Perhaps I should have followed a pattern instead of trying to make one up as a went along. That technique might work for scarves but hats are a bit more complicated.

The other domestic activity I have been up to is making applesauce. I remember once as a kid making applesauce from the wild apple trees that grow in the valley on my parents farm. The apples aren't perfect like the ones you may get in a store or from an orchard, they are bumped and bruised and covered in scars from insect attacks, but they are still good enough for applesauce.  I took a few pics of the process, must say the results were quite delicious!

Apples I found in the valley

Cooking the apples, leaving the peels on makes the applesauce pink

Pushing the cooked apples through the sieve to make apple sauce!

End result, YUMMY

I like to leave the peels on when I make applesauce, I think it improves the flavour, it also makes the applesauce pinkish. Since the apples in our valley aren't very sweet I had to add some sugar, and then I put the applesauce in some containers and stored them in the freezer. The process was kinda labour intensive, but also kinda fun.

The other day I was thinking about how I don't mind baking, and making pastry and such. I briefly considered switching careers to become a pastry chef. Briefly being the key phrase. Although I think I could do it and excel, it really isn't my passion. I think the idea came because I am craving a delicacy from my favourite bakery (Culbert's cream puffs!!!) that is closed right now due to damage from the tornadoes that recently hit Goderich Ontario. My brother is friends with the owner and apparently the historic ovens in their bakery may have been damaged and it will likely take longer to repair than originally anticipated. They are also concerned that the new ovens might affect the quality of their pastry. Tragedy of epic proportions if you ask me!!! My longing for this delicious treat, and its subsequent unavailability may have led me to want to be able to create such delicacies for myself but I don't think I would be fully satisfied with this as a career. So instead I will channel any urges to bake towards my friends and family- aren't they lucky.

However my domestic skills really haven't increased that much so I might need someone to take care of the resulting stack of dishes.....