1
sugarbaby
the
SUGAR, BABY! Cross a rock hard candy with a caramel and you’ve got the non plus ultra, in my humble opinion, of candy. If you need a comparable treat to wrap your head around this deliciousness, think of a Sugar Daddy. There’s nothing like that chewy sugar lock-jaw, that filling-extracting, unintentional-drool-producing goodness. Don’t even think about biting down on this when it’s first introduced into your mouth—just let it ride around a bit until it relents just enough for you to get your chew on. The beauty of this treat is that it works just as well as a lollipop as it does a single wrap candy. And with flavor options, you can mix it up with an array of delightful infusions for you to enjoy while your teeth are fused together by that delightful fixative that is The Sugar, Baby! |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Makes 18 candies
sugar
2 cups
xx oz
corn syrup
1 cup
xx oz
unsalted butter
1½ sticks or 12 tablespoons
xx g
salt (plus 1 teaspoon large-flake sea salt for sprinkling on finished caramel)
1 teaspoon
xx g
heavy cream
½ cup
xx oz
vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon
xx g
4 When the sugar syrup reaches 310°F, turn off the heat and add the warm cream. The addition of the cream will cause the caramel to bubble vigorously, so step back until the caramel storm has passed. If the temperature of the mixture has dipped below 275°F, warm the caramel mixture until you reach that temperature and then remove from heat. 5 Add butter, stirring constantly, until the butter is completely melted and has emulsified (i.e., you don’t want any butter floating separately from the rest of the caramel).
1 In a 4-quart saucepan, warm corn syrup and sugar over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has melted.
6 Pour the caramel into a parchment-lined dish and sprinkle with remaining sea salt. Score the caramel while it’s still warm so that you can break it into even pieces when it’s completely cool; alternately, you can cut pieces while the candy is still a little warm and malleable. Allow to set until completely cool, about 1 hour. Snap into 1-inch squares along your score lines and wrap in pieces of parchment. The caramels will keep about 2 weeks.
2 Raise heat to medium-high/high and clip on your candy thermometer. Heat to 310°F. 3 In the meantime, heat the cream and the vanilla bean paste together in a small saucepan until they just begin to simmer. You can also microwave the two in a nuke-safe bowl for a minute. Keep warm.
2
sugarbaby
3
sugarbaby
the
SUGAR, BABY! Cross a rock hard candy with a caramel and you’ve got the non plus ultra, in my humble opinion, of candy. If you need a comparable treat to wrap your head around this deliciousness, think of a Sugar Daddy. There’s nothing like that chewy sugar lock-jaw, that filling-extracting, unintentional-drool-producing goodness. Don’t even think about biting down on this when it’s first introduced into your mouth—just let it ride around a bit until it relents just enough for you to get your chew on. The beauty of this treat is that it works just as well as a lollipop as it does a single wrap candy. And with flavor options, you can mix it up with an array of delightful infusions for you to enjoy while your teeth are fused together by that delightful fixative that is The Sugar, Baby! |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Makes 18 candies
sugar
2 cups
xx oz
corn syrup
1 cup
xx oz
unsalted butter
1½ sticks or 12 tablespoons
xx g
salt (plus 1 teaspoon large-flake sea salt for sprinkling on finished caramel)
1 teaspoon
xx g
heavy cream
½ cup
xx oz
vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon
xx g
4 When the sugar syrup reaches 310°F, turn off the heat and add the warm cream. The addition of the cream will cause the caramel to bubble vigorously, so step back until the caramel storm has passed. If the temperature of the mixture has dipped below 275°F, warm the caramel mixture until you reach that temperature and then remove from heat. 5 Add butter, stirring constantly, until the butter is completely melted and has emulsified (i.e., you don’t want any butter floating separately from the rest of the caramel).
1 In a 4-quart saucepan, warm corn syrup and sugar over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has melted.
6 Pour the caramel into a parchment-lined dish and sprinkle with remaining sea salt. Score the caramel while it’s still warm so that you can break it into even pieces when it’s completely cool; alternately, you can cut pieces while the candy is still a little warm and malleable. Allow to set until completely cool, about 1 hour. Snap into 1-inch squares along your score lines and wrap in pieces of parchment. The caramels will keep about 2 weeks.
2 Raise heat to medium-high/high and clip on your candy thermometer. Heat to 310°F. 3 In the meantime, heat the cream and the vanilla bean paste together in a small saucepan until they just begin to simmer. You can also microwave the two in a nuke-safe bowl for a minute. Keep warm.
2
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sugarbaby
florentiner a la
MAMA There’s a famous café in Bavaria, Café Reber. Just thinking of it makes me all verklempt. I went with my mother when I was a kid. It’s in a beautiful town, Bad Reichenhall, nestled at the foot of the Alps, around the corner from my family in Bergen. It’s the home of the famous Mozart Kugel. That would be enough to land this lovely sugar-filled boîte on my all-time-favorite list. But it’s also where you can get bags of Florentiner bruch (broken pieces of Florentine). Oh goodness gracious me, you could be selling these out of BP headquarters and I’d still go and buy them up (I’d be full of righteous anger and I’d be carrying a picket sign, of course).
The Florentine cookie is Italian in background but is imagined spectacularly by Austrian and Bavarian
bakers. My mother, healthy and strict woman that she was, would scarf a bag of Florentiner bruch faster than you could say “bulgur wheat and kale.” |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Makes 44 cookies
1 Grind together the sliced almonds, flour, and salt in a food processor. You do not want to pulverize the almonds into a flour: there should be some nice bits of almond still visible. 2 In a saucepan, combine sugar, honey, cream, and butter over low heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. 3 Raise heat to medium high/high and clip on candy thermometer. Heat to 234°F. 4 Remove from heat and immediately stir in the almond/flour mixture. Wait a few minutes, and then stir in the almond extract. 5 While the batter is still warm and pliable, scoop the batter onto a parchment-lined sheetpan. I use a teaspoon scoop. Space the cookies a few inches apart; they’ll spread as they bake.
4
2 cups
xx oz
flour
4 tablespoons
xx g
salt
1 teaspoon
xx g
sugar
1 cup
xx oz
heavy cream
3 tablespoons
xx g
honey
1⁄8 cup
xx oz
unsalted butter
1 stick (8 tablespoons)
xx g
almond extract
1 teaspoon
xx g
bittersweet chocolate
4 ounces
xx oz
7 While the cookies cool, microwave the chocolate in 30-second bursts in a microwave-safe bowl. Continue until completely melted, stirring the chocolate between each session.
6 Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.
sugarbaby
sliced, blanched almonds
8 Drizzle chocolate over cooled Florentiner.
5
sugarbaby
florentiner a la
MAMA There’s a famous café in Bavaria, Café Reber. Just thinking of it makes me all verklempt. I went with my mother when I was a kid. It’s in a beautiful town, Bad Reichenhall, nestled at the foot of the Alps, around the corner from my family in Bergen. It’s the home of the famous Mozart Kugel. That would be enough to land this lovely sugar-filled boîte on my all-time-favorite list. But it’s also where you can get bags of Florentiner bruch (broken pieces of Florentine). Oh goodness gracious me, you could be selling these out of BP headquarters and I’d still go and buy them up (I’d be full of righteous anger and I’d be carrying a picket sign, of course).
The Florentine cookie is Italian in background but is imagined spectacularly by Austrian and Bavarian
bakers. My mother, healthy and strict woman that she was, would scarf a bag of Florentiner bruch faster than you could say “bulgur wheat and kale.” |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Makes 44 cookies
1 Grind together the sliced almonds, flour, and salt in a food processor. You do not want to pulverize the almonds into a flour: there should be some nice bits of almond still visible. 2 In a saucepan, combine sugar, honey, cream, and butter over low heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. 3 Raise heat to medium high/high and clip on candy thermometer. Heat to 234°F. 4 Remove from heat and immediately stir in the almond/flour mixture. Wait a few minutes, and then stir in the almond extract. 5 While the batter is still warm and pliable, scoop the batter onto a parchment-lined sheetpan. I use a teaspoon scoop. Space the cookies a few inches apart; they’ll spread as they bake.
4
2 cups
xx oz
flour
4 tablespoons
xx g
salt
1 teaspoon
xx g
sugar
1 cup
xx oz
heavy cream
3 tablespoons
xx g
honey
1⁄8 cup
xx oz
unsalted butter
1 stick (8 tablespoons)
xx g
almond extract
1 teaspoon
xx g
bittersweet chocolate
4 ounces
xx oz
7 While the cookies cool, microwave the chocolate in 30-second bursts in a microwave-safe bowl. Continue until completely melted, stirring the chocolate between each session.
6 Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.
sugarbaby
sliced, blanched almonds
8 Drizzle chocolate over cooled Florentiner.
5
sugarbaby
this is not
Your Grandmother’s Mail-Order
NUT LOG
The holiday season! That festive time replete with joyful singing, copious amounts of alcohol, and hour-long hunts through the trash for missing gift receipts. How would we cope with such a divinely stressful time without processed mystery food available only from November 12th to January 2nd but with an unnatural shelf life longer than a fossilized trilobite?
The fruit cakes, the soft, processed cheez-food ball, and the amorphous nut log, to name just a few, are
foods most humans would ordinarily shun, like that boot on the porch with the superior traction waffle sole that’s now ruthlessly encrusted with canine caca. Yet during the times that are most merry, we will invest precious high-quality family bonding hours devoted to sitting in a dark corner vanquishing indestructible holiday fodder. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Makes 18 candies
For the maple fondant granulated sugar
1½ cups
xx oz
maple syrup
½ cup
xx oz
water
½ cup
xx oz
egg whites
2
room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons (½ stick)
xx g
salt
½ teaspoon
xx g
cornstarch
2 tablespoons
xx g
For the Super Crunchy, Salty Nuts sugar
3 cups
xx oz
water
½ cup
xx oz
salt
1 teaspoon
xx g
lemon juice
½ teaspoon
xx g
baking soda
1 tablespoon
xx g
mixed, roasted, and salted nuts
3 cups
xx oz
MAKE THE MAPLE FONDANT
1 In a large saucepan, combine sugar, maple syrup, and water over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. 2 Brush down the saucepan sides with a damp pastry brush, clip on the candy thermometer, and heat to 245°F. 3 While the sugar/maple syrup is heating, whisk the egg whites in a stand mixer with the salt until they are foamy. When the syrup comes to temperature, carefully pour it down the side of the bowl and into the beaten egg whites. Increase the mixer speed to high and whip for two minutes. 4 Switch the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment and with the mixer on medium speed, slowly add the butter and the two tablespoons of cornstarch. Increase the speed to high and beat the fondant until the bowl is cool and the fondant thickens. You’ll notice that the mixture will rise and then fall with the addition of the butter. This is normal. 6
sugarbaby
7
sugarbaby
this is not
Your Grandmother’s Mail-Order
NUT LOG
The holiday season! That festive time replete with joyful singing, copious amounts of alcohol, and hour-long hunts through the trash for missing gift receipts. How would we cope with such a divinely stressful time without processed mystery food available only from November 12th to January 2nd but with an unnatural shelf life longer than a fossilized trilobite?
The fruit cakes, the soft, processed cheez-food ball, and the amorphous nut log, to name just a few, are
foods most humans would ordinarily shun, like that boot on the porch with the superior traction waffle sole that’s now ruthlessly encrusted with canine caca. Yet during the times that are most merry, we will invest precious high-quality family bonding hours devoted to sitting in a dark corner vanquishing indestructible holiday fodder. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Makes 18 candies
For the maple fondant granulated sugar
1½ cups
xx oz
maple syrup
½ cup
xx oz
water
½ cup
xx oz
egg whites
2
room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons (½ stick)
xx g
salt
½ teaspoon
xx g
cornstarch
2 tablespoons
xx g
For the Super Crunchy, Salty Nuts sugar
3 cups
xx oz
water
½ cup
xx oz
salt
1 teaspoon
xx g
lemon juice
½ teaspoon
xx g
baking soda
1 tablespoon
xx g
mixed, roasted, and salted nuts
3 cups
xx oz
MAKE THE MAPLE FONDANT
1 In a large saucepan, combine sugar, maple syrup, and water over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. 2 Brush down the saucepan sides with a damp pastry brush, clip on the candy thermometer, and heat to 245°F. 3 While the sugar/maple syrup is heating, whisk the egg whites in a stand mixer with the salt until they are foamy. When the syrup comes to temperature, carefully pour it down the side of the bowl and into the beaten egg whites. Increase the mixer speed to high and whip for two minutes. 4 Switch the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment and with the mixer on medium speed, slowly add the butter and the two tablespoons of cornstarch. Increase the speed to high and beat the fondant until the bowl is cool and the fondant thickens. You’ll notice that the mixture will rise and then fall with the addition of the butter. This is normal. 6
sugarbaby
7
sugarbaby