Sweets for My Sweets

I was only going to consume sugar on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To be safe I got rid of the cookies, fudge, candy, and the 20 pounds of English toffee that I made for the holidays. I've not been terribly bad the last few days, but I'm off work for heaven's sake, and the pantry is here. Yesterday I remembered one of my favorite things that I only allow myself once or twice a year--say during the holidays, or on the bleakest and coldest days of winter. The Butter marshmallows!!! 

http://www.butterbakedgoods.com/

In the past I've had their vanilla marshmallows that I always buy for my grandsons who are hot cocoa lovers. I've had cinnamon, raspberry...good. But this year I broke out and bought the Gingerbread ones, and all I can say is throw a couple, or four of these lovelies into your cup and then pour in your cocoa. Truly as the scent of fresh warm gingerbread wafts up, you might moan. Specialty foods stores carry these, or they can be purchased from Butter Baked Goods website. I've made homemade marshmallow and they are not as good. This little bakery makes it completely unnecessary and silly to make your own. They have it down. Oh, and when I say your hot cocoa I do not mean some powdered junk you get from a package. Make it yourself - it's easy. The only hard thing here is for me to write down measurements as I rarely measure anything. Here goes...

Throw a tablespoon or two of Hershey's or better cocoa into a saucepan. Add sugar, honey, or Truvia to taste...if using sugar probably about 3 teaspoons. You must add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and I like sea salt. Add a couple of cups of milk, maybe spike it with some cream and whisk till very hot. Of course then from there you can spice it up with other things like a couple of pinches of cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Kahlua, Grand Marnier, or almost any other booze or coffee is great in cocoa as well. Lactose intolerant? Do the same recipe with rice milk, soy, or whatever. But do get these marshmallows, or if in a pinch whipped cream on top is awfully good too. (And not the tub 'o wip, the real stuff.)

On to toffee. Why, you might say, would anyone need to make 20 pounds of toffee? My answer is, simply, the entire process if really fun.

You need: A very heavy bottomed medium saucepan. All Clad would probably be best, but mine are Cuisinart and work great. And a good candy thermometer. I don't care for the glass ones with the red ball, as they slide around during the boiling making it hard to stir. They also steam up and you can't read them, and then you are in trouble. Get a good metal candy thermometer with a large dial and a clip to hold it to the side of the pan.
Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1/4 Cup water
2 cups raw almonds with skins
2 tsps. vanilla extract (real!)
1 tsp. salt
Fleur de sel
Melted chocolate (My friend Marianne feels this is not enough information...) O.K. I'll admit it, I am not ashamed - I use at least 32 oz. of good milk chocolate. Callebaut is good, but if you don't have use good old Nestle's milk chocolate chips. I've done semi-sweet, it's good, but I think the milk chocolate enhances and the semi-sweet overwhelms the toffee a bit...


NOTE: I like grey sea salt or Pink Himalayan sea salt for the finishing.
              I like Callebaut milk chocolate or Nestles milk chocolate chips (2 bags)


Marble slab, steel prep table, pizza pan, or big sheet pan that has been buttered


Toss your almonds in a food processor for a few seconds. They should be in various sized chips, not too large, not too small, but some will powder up too and that's O.K. as it makes a nice finish. Now set 1/2 cup of the chopped raw almonds by the stove so they are at the ready. In a 375 degree oven roast the other 1/2 cups chopped almonds for about 10-12 minutes for the finish.

Melt the four sticks of unsalted butter over medium heat in saucepan and add 1 cup white sugar and one cup brown sugar. Add 1/4 Cup water and stir in 1 Tbsp. corn syrup. When melted crank the heat to medium high. (My stove has number 6 before HIGH and I use 6, so it is pretty hot, but the heavy bottom on saucepan prevents it from scorching. You don't want to scorch the mixture. Tastes bad.) Have your vanilla and salt measured out next to your raw almonds so everything is at hand. Stir the bubbling candy mixture constantly with a wooden spoon until your candy thermometer reads 240 degrees. (This takes 10 minutes on my gas stove.) Immediately add your 1/2 raw almond chips. Keep stirring without splashing yourself till thermometer reads 300 degrees - mixture will be bubbling hard and should be golden brown and caramel-y looking. At exactly 300 degrees - don't go too soon or it won't reach "hard crack," turn off heat. Add the 2 tsp. vanilla and the 1 tsp. salt stirring it in. It will steam and bubble so don't be afraid. Now pour this mixture right out onto your buttered surface. I don't smooth it out because it's so hot it will spread on its own to about 1/2 inch thick. Let the mixture cool while you melt the chocolate. I do it in a plastic bowl in the microwave, but if you want to be proper use a double boiler. I hit it for 30 seconds and stir, repeat until melted. After the mixture has cooled for 10 or 15 minutes pour on the melted chocolate and spread to edges. Now take handfuls of your roasted almonds and sprinkle all over the chocolate till covered. Finally sprinkle the almonds with your Fleur de sel or Himalayan pink salt. Let cool completely. When cool I poke in random places to begin the cracking, breaking the candy into random size chunks. The toffee may be stored in canning jars, or a tin, or just a large freezer bag.

A warning...this stuff is completely addictive. My friends call it, appropriately, "Christmas Crack." Makes a great gift and is just satisfying as can be to make your own great candy!

Cafe Cody

 I'm going to add a Cafe Cody post every once in a while, and each time I'll include a little background story, some photos and one recipe.

Cafe Cody was my accidental restaurant and a dream come true. It started after I became inspired by a speech given by a representative from the governor's Main Street program. Our little town was going for the Main Street entitlements and I liked the idea of restoring our pure Victorian square. One thing lead to another and I bought a building that was a derelict pool hall. Actually the entire square was in sad shape with broken windows and urine smells from the old stoops. Cosmetic renovations from the seventies had made it even worse visually. Most of the Victorian facades were covered with horrible cedar shake awnings that my dad, a local contractor, had installed and thought quite spiffy back then. My husband and I had completed a number of restoration projects before this, but looking back I'm thinking we were pretty brave!

 

Michael and Jim thinking, "What has she gotten us into this time?"

It didn't take long to strip off the metal facade above and find the details underneath. I hand scraped the entire front and as I was working one day I discovered that what I thought were huge painted boards above the lower windows were actually huge windows too! But one of the best finds was the original doors in the basement. After I stripped them and Jim bought restoration hardware they were gorgeous. We began pulling up vinyl tile floor and found the original pine floor complete with pickle barrel stain. We sanded lightly and sealed and loved them. The remodel took us a full year--our own hands and some help from our friends. We also created apartments above. When the building was a grocery in 1888 the merchants always lived above. My father once told me that on hot evenings everyone took their pillows out and slept on the courthouse lawn.

But I digress...Anyway the idea for the building was to have coffees, some catered in pastries, and I would sell arty gifts and some vintage. Ha! In future posts I'll reveal how this little experiment turned in to a full-fledged restaurant, (with no equipment of course.)

Here's how the cafe turned out:

Cafe Cody

And in the early breakfast hour, a lawyer from the courthouse gearing up for his day, and the "Scrambled Eggs and Don't Cut the Toast Guy."

B R O W N I E S

O.K. On the subject of brownies, I can't just release this recipe into cyberspace without a few caveats. First of all, know that I am a person who has had an intimate relationship with brownies for most of my life. I once went on a quest for the perfect brownie, and for over a year my children came home to every kind of batch imaginable. When I was enduring a terrible grief, I often made bowls of batter and ate that. They never were baked I just wanted to perform the act of putting them together - then I would sit and eat brownie batter till I was under control. So, all this being said, also understand that there are many, many kinds of good and great brownies, and I like several recipes. In this particular one, however, I was going for a texture I remembered from a baker that I loved named Hessie. Hers had high sides that were so chewy that they got stuck in your teeth. They were not caky but more like a cookie chewy and they had plenty of icing. That's what these are like...for the first day. Then they turn into something equally as wonderful after the atmosphere has worked on them. If there were a heaven they would be heaven's fudge at this point. Women on break from their office jobs were known to claw each other for them around three o'clock each day. If we ran out...well...if looks could kill. 

FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS COMPLETELY AND TO A TEE OR I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE...

CAFE CODY KILLER BROWNIES

OVEN 375 DEGREES

Place five fresh eggs and 3 2/3 cups of white granulated sugar into a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for TEN MINUTES.

While the sugar mixture is going:

Melt THREE sticks of B U T T E R (no substitutes) (let cool a bit)

Stir into the melted butter: 1 1/4 cups of Hershey's cocoa

                                          1 teaspoon fresh baking powder

                                          1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

                                          AND 1/2 teaspoon fresh baking soda that's been dissolved in 1 teaspoon H2O

Gently FOLD this chocolate mixture into the sugar/egg mixture. Add 2 teaspoons good vanilla. Do not under any circumstances use fake vanilla. 

Now add 2 2/3 cups good white flour (add a bit at a time pulsing mixer a few times)

We also added 2 cups of walnut halves and gave a brief pulse of the mixer to the whole batch.

Use a rubber scraper to get all the batter into a heavy metal 9 x 14 inch baking pan. Then take the scraper and smash down the center area of batter smushing some batter into high sides.

OVENS are different, but we baked at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. I usually go 32. (If the top stays puffed up when you tap it you probably went too long, but they'll still be tasty.) Time and temp. are part of the science of baking, and truly make a world of difference in cookies and brownies.

When cool ice:

In mixer: 1 stick softened butter, add 4 - 5 cups powdered sugar gradually as you slowly add 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and a good pinch of Kosher salt.

Slather it all on from center up to about 1/4 inch from the sides. Let set for an hour or two. (If you want mocha brownies just add coffee granules to taste to batter and icing.)

If you did this right you will get these: