June 21, 2004
Weekend Update
Hola amigos! 
Yo estoy muy cansada y yo quiero dormir, pero tengo que trabajar... Hey I still remember some of my Spanish! I've had to stop my classes because softball training clashes with it, so when the season stops I will restart my classes.
I made peppermint humbugs over the weekend! I've been dying to try the recipe but first I needed to get a candy thermometer and then I needed a big marble slab to work the toffee. The candy thermometer I got a couple of years ago, and then my sister moved to her new place with a super duper kitchen that has (tada!) a marbletop counter. So, on Friday I begged her to let me play in her kitchen and she very nicely agreed. Thanks June! And, it was right after her semi-annual housecleaning so it was really nice of her to agree to let me mess up her kitchen right after it was cleaned.
To make peppermint humbugs you need sugar, butter, water, glucose, peppermint flavouring, green food colouring, a candy thermometer (optional) and some scrapers/spatulas to work the toffee. Oh, and a big-ass marbletop counter. Bring the first 4 ingredients to a boil, turn the heat down and let it boil gently until it reaches 138C. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can test the temperature by scooping up a small bit of the sugar mixture and immersing it into a jug of COLD COLD water. Depending on the temperature of the sugar mixture it will do various things like form threads in the water, form a soft ball that you can press etc.
Then after that you turn the mixture out onto the lightly oiled marble slab and add in the flavouring and colouring. Then using your spatula/scrapers you start working the toffee (turning it towards the middle) to make it cool. Once it's cool enough to touch you can start pulling it, much like la mian, and twisting it until the toffee begins to harden and whiten. Then you snip it into pieces. Just be careful cos the toffee is BLOODY HOT when you pull it, cos the middle is much hotter than the surface. And you have to work really fast cos otherwise the whole thing will harden and you'll be left with a super-sized mint humbug about the size of a dinner plate.
Man, if I had a digicam or a cameraphone I could put up cool pictures of my sis and I wincing while pulling the hot toffee but sadly you'll just have to imagine it.
Next up: caramel apples!
Also made more ba zhang to finish up the leftover stuffing - I have to say, our skills have improved. The zhangs have increased in size and look more pyramidal now. Only thing is, mine are still a bit too loosely packed. But they sure taste yummy though! :D
Ok, back to work. I have tarried long enough at blogging. Happy Monday!
Posted by scrabbyfoo at June 21, 2004 10:54 AM