Peanut Nougatine Chocolate Truffle Slicing / Sharing Log - A Real Treat !

Often, my creations don't come out as I originally intended. Like this one... 

In the beginning, I intended to make a peanut nougat - but on tasting the mixture, decided it was a bit too sickly sweet on it's own and then transformed it into these slicing bars.

Thankfully, I made a note of exactly what I did / used along the way ! If you have made marshmallows before, you'll find this a breeze.

Actually, I think it would be mind blowing done with pistachio nuts and dipped in white or dark chocolate.... 

This recipe creates quite a large batch. Either 6 large slicing bars, or 4 large / 4 medium or 8 medium. Ideal for Christmas hampers !

Recipe

 Ingredients .... For the Nougatine : 

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar 

150ml corn syrup (or glucose)

150ml golden syrup

2tsp of Frangelico (hazelnut liquer) - if you have any
2tsp vanilla extract

60ml water

150g of crunchy peanut butter - eg Sunpat / JIF
sea salt

125g of white chocolate

200g salted peanuts

Ingredients ...... for the ganache

500g of milk (or dark) chocolate
1 tsp glucose / corn syrup
275g double cream

Belgian couverture chocolate for coating (sorry - I did not weigh how much I used)

You will need liquid glucose. Liquid glucose is very very thick and sticky - not unlike golden syrup I suppose - but totally clear and even stickier still. Most supermarkets stock it in 140g tubes, or you can buy it from Boots The Chemist. Do ask for it at Boots though as it is generally not on display. Alternatively, corn syrup is what is used in most American recipes for nougat. I've just found it on Ebay and Amazon in the UK, so if you are struggling for liquid glucose then you will need some corn syrup.

You CAN use all corn syrup / glucose in this recipe if you prefer. I wanted a golden tint from the golden syrup for this nougat, but all golden syrup would have made it far too sickly sweet. It's seriously sweet as it is ! I'd suggest you invest in some corn syrup...

You WILL need a sugar thermometer. Don't even think of trying this without one - temperature is absolutely critical. Too high and you'll burn the caramel part and too low it'll just never set....

For those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible. Some larger branches of TESCO now also have a small American isle and now stock corn syrup.

METHOD

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside (if using instead of extract). Put the pod itself and the sugar, corn syrup, golden syrup and water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248  to 250deg F. This will take about 15 to 20 mins.

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter and vanilla / frangelico together.

Whip the egg whites to firm peak. With the mixer on full, pour in the hot syrup on to the egg whites. Now mix in the melted chocolate / peanut butter / vanilla / frangelico. Only mix for about 1 > 2 minutes after adding the peanut butter mix. 

Scrape into a well oiled 8" square silicone mould / pan and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Leave to cool and then refrigerate until set.

Remove from the mould and place between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Roll out to approx 14" square. You can now cut this into two pieces, or leave whole and cut later....  I put my nougatine (bottom paper still in place) on top of my tray. The tray I used is a vegetable roasting tray that came from Lakeland. It's very handy and big - also fits perfectly over my sink !

Pulse the salted peanuts a couple of times in a food processor to break up a little, then spread all over the nougatine and press into the surface.

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To make the ganache : scald the cream - ie put in a pan and bring just to the boil. Make sure to stir constantly so it does not catch on the base of the pan.

 Put the chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute to start it softening. Take cream off the heat, and then pour over the chocolate. Add the glucose / corn syrup. Mix with a spatula until all the chocolate has melted and emulsified with the cream. Set aside to cool and thicken. It's ideal if you shove it in the fridge for an hour or two.

When spreadable (a bit like nutella out of a jar - actually - that would be a damn good cheat !), use all of it to spread over the nougatine.

Put in the fridge to harden up a bit for another hour or so.

I then trimmed up the end with a knife and cut it into two pieces.

Dust your hands and work surface liberally with icing sugar. Use the paper to help roll each piece up from the long end, much like a swiss roll. You'll end up with what looks like those marrowbone things for the dog !

Roll out each large sausage and then divide as required. I made 4 great big fat pieces about 8" long and 2" dia, plus 4 smaller ones - approx 6" long and 1" dia.

Wrap each piece individually in cling film / saran wrap and pop in the freezer for an hour or two to harden. They need to be quite firm and stay rigid when you handle them for dipping in chocolate.

When hardened (but NOT frozen solid !) remove from the freezer. Temper some Belgian couverture chocolate - either milk or dark - white will be much too sweet. I have no idea how much chocolate I used - but I'd guess around 500g.

Put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and dunk the whole bar in the chocolate, allowing excess to run off. Don't try dipping these with forks etc - at this size, you've no chance ! The gloves may stick to the chocolate a little, so take fingers straight back off and immediately re dunk.

Place on a silicone baking sheet and allow to harden. The chocolate will harden quickly as the bars are quite cold.

Store and serve the bars at room temperature. Slice with a warm, sharp knife into 1cm / 3/8" thick slices.

Enjoy !

Mum - one is on it's way to you. Oliver and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit from Nanny and Pappy last weekend. x

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2013

Strawberries with Rosewater Marshmallows - A Summer Treat !

Sorry the blog has been so quiet for a while - but truth is that a low carb, low fat diet has had a drastic affect on my frequency of baking......

The good thing about marshmallows is that they are 0% fat - but unfortunately do contain copious amounts of sugar.

Oh well - just one piece and some strawberries for me !

Just as well I've discovered that fresh, homemade mashmallows freeze like a dream. What's more, they come out of the freezer still soft and fluffy (not hard) and ready to eat immediately. Now, that was a surprise.....

NOTE - you DO need a hand held electric mixer (or a stand mixer) to make these

500g caster sugar

250mls water

9 leaves of gelatine

2 egg whites

1 > 2 tsp of rosewater

a few drops of red food colouring (optional)

Separate the egg whites and put them into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Put the gelatine leaves into some water to soften.

Add the 500g of sugar and 250ml of water to a large pan and bring to the boil. 

When the sugar syrup gets to 110deg C, whip up the egg whites to firm peaks.

Keep boiling until temperature reaches 122deg C. You will need a sugar thermometer like this.

Take the sugar syrup off the heat. Wait for a couple of minutes, then stir in the gelatine sheets. NOTE - it will bubble up quite a bit !

Now, with the mixer running on high, pour the hot syrup into the egg whites whilst whipping continuously. It may look a bit soupy to start with - but whip until cool and thickening. You can now whip in the rosewater and a little colouring if required

Pour into an oiled silicone bakeware mould.

For the swirly look, put a few random drops of food colouring on the surface and drag a cocktail stick through the mallow.

Set aside at room temperature and allow to set for 2 or 3 hours.

It will be very sticky - but will remove easily. Cut with a well oiled knife and toss in an equal mix of seived cornflour and icing (powdered) sugar.

Stores for a few days in an airtight container, or freeze.

Oliver and I, August 2013 x

Double Vanilla Fudge - Fabulously Easy Recipe !

 This is a new REGISTERED DESIGN silicone bakeware mould (available from mid March) which we have designed, specially for making bars of fudge, toffee, and Scottish tablet. Each cell will make a bar weighing approx 100g. Pre-sectioned markings makes these bars pretty to package and easy to portion.

Simply pour in your hot fudge /  toffee / candy. Allow to set and then pop out with ease.

By basic fudge recipe is very versatile and quick to make. Do however take extreme care. Hot sugar is ridiculously hot and can cause serious burns.

2 cups (250mls) of caster sugar

125g salted butter

3/4 cup of evaporated milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

12 marshmallows / 100g (Sainsbury's pink and whites)

150g white chocolate

Put all the ingredients apart from the chocolate into a large heavy based pan.

Bring to a rolling boil on a medium heat, stirring continuously. Boil for exactly 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate. Pour into your moulds. Leave to cool and then transfer to a fridge for a few hours.

This recipe is very versatile. You can additionally add a cup of dry ingredients such as broken oreos, smarties.... Try swapping out the white chocolate for dark, omit the vanilla and add some dried cherries and a tablespoon of kirch when it reached boiling point. Bailey works well as does Malibu. Various flavouring extracts and fruit and nut combos. It's simply as versatile as you are.

This recipe makes 8 x 100g bars using this style of mould. However, if you additionally choose to add a cup of dry ingredients such as candies, biscuits, dried fruit or nuts - then expect to get 10 (possibly 11) bars from your batch.

The packaging shown above was very simple to make. I used THE BOXER which is a tool from Crafter's Companion and available to buy on our website for £9.99 along with a selection of stock cards. The Boxer can be used on it's own - but is also compatible with THE ULTIMATE PRO. Just be careful to make sure the card does not slip when using The Boxer on it's own - when used in conjunction with Ultimate Pro, it backs up to a hard straight edge....

Take one sheet of A4 stock card. An A4 sheet is generally 8" / 200mm wide.

Cut a strip of card 200mm long x 90mm wide.

Here, I'm using THE BOXER in conjunction with ULTIMATE PRO. The Boxer can be used to make boxes of many shapes and sizes, but today we're just doing a really easy project to make simple card sleeves for fudge and toffee bars.

Use the scoring tool to score a line across your card strip at 6.5cm

Fold the first crease and then score the next line 2cm down from the first crease.

Repeat with another crease at 6.5cm and a following crease at 2cm. You will be left with some excess card. That's ok - we're going to put some double sided tape on that flap to complete our box sleeve.

Wrap your fudge bar in some cellophane. If you don't have any, clingfilm / saran wrap will do...

As you can see, the sleeve just needs a little strip of double sided tape. Perhaps if you have some nice labels with your name on, you may prefer to use those. Finish off with some pretty ribbon. You can make three of these pretty sleeves from one sheet of A4 card in just a couple of minutes.

Make your gift extra-special - after all, presentation is everything !

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - 15th January 2013