Gus's Fried Chicken

So after several visits to Memphis I finally got to have the complete Gus's Fried Chicken experience.  I had this fabulous chicken once before as take-out.  It was everything that people said.  Crispy, spicy, juicy.  Since this was probably going to be my last chance though I got to actually eat in the restaurant.  The chicken was still just as fabulous as before.  The sides however were disappointing, okay, but nothing to write home about.  Still it was a nice way to say goodbye to Memphis.

The Grown Up Ice Cream Sandwich

So today was really dreary in Charlottesville, VA.  It was kind of cold and it drizzled most of the day.  Needless to say, we found something to do that was indoors.  The answer to our prayers came in the form of Michie Tavern.  So not only did we get an all you can eat lunch with some really tasty fried chicken and traditional veggies (gotta love those stewed tomatoes) but our day was brighten considerably when we ordered dessert.

The Olde Fashioned Ice Cream Sandwich was billed as fudge cookies with vanilla ice cream that was topped off with a hot fudge sauce.  This tasty treat is what was delivered to our table.  It was soooooooo good that I admit, I ate too much and didn't really want to stop. 

The more I thought about it I realized that I could probably recreate this tasty treat with the fudgy cookies that I make and the hot fudge sauce.  I can hardly wait to get home and give it a try.

Not Enough Time...

So things are getting a little crazy around here.  I think it has something to do with the fact that we have company, there are orders to be made and shipped out, packing to be done for a mini vacation to the cold and snow, and samples to be made and sent out.

The great news is that we got our first orders from Out of the Box Sampler customers!  I'm sure that they are going to love the Chocolate Creme Caramels and the Bacon Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies as much as we all do.

Even better news is that we're going to Virginia for some family time!  My sister even called this morning talking about trying out tubing down the mountain (I'll be sure to post pictures of how that one turns out). 

And of course its time to start making samples for March.  We decided on making some really tasty candy for next month's box.  Be sure and check it out when they go on sale March 2nd!

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Bread

So its been a while since I've posted any of my adventures in the kitchen and I admit it I've been slacking on taking new pictures. 

I did make some amazing coffe caramels with black lava sea salt.  I wasn't entirely sure how they would come out since I was adapting the recipe that I had used for the green apple caramels.  The only thing that I think would make them better would be to leave out the cinnamon.  Then again there are millions of people that like cinnamon in their coffee so maybe I should leave it. 

My other experiments revolve around the title of this post, Strawberry Bread.  It sounded like something a little different without completely jumping off the tried and true so I figured that I would give it a shot.  Once I really got started on making it I realized that the batter is more like that of a pound cake.  Only there's none of that pesky egg separation and beating egg whites.

Anyway...I made the bread and completely forgot to take pictures while I was doing so.  To make matters worse I didn't have a chance to take any of the finished product either since it was gone in minutes.  The end result is a bread that tastes more like a cake with chunks of strawberry throughout.  I even used my sister's suggestion of dusting the loaf pan with sugar to create a sweet and slightly crunchy crust. 

So, I just had to make another one (for picture purposes only of course).  As I was going through the cabinet to get the baking powder I came across some unused chocolate chips (I know, I know, chocolate abuse).   Which led to the change of the title to include the chocolate chips.  I haven't taken the pictures of anything yet but I promise that I'll get to those in the morning so that I can share it sweet crusty goodness. 

I think for now its going to be more baking and less candy making.  That is until I come up with some idea that I can't get out of my head until I try it...

Inspiration and Insomnia

So I've been trying to think of new things to try out and it has caused a rush of ideas.  They range anywhere from lavender flavored lollipops to cayenne fudge.  Some of them have been really great ideas and some are just plain wierd.  The problem is when you go to sleep thinking about lollipop flavors and keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking about....lollipop flavors. 

I keep writing the new ideas down and trying to figure out the amounts and everything.  Eventually I'll get around to making some of them, but since I can only make one thing at a time its slow going.  Stay tuned for the next experiment, you might be surprised to see what my sleep deprived brain has come up with...

Green Apple Caramels

Heady with my (albiet first) success of making caramels I came across an brilliant idea.  Doesn't everybody love Granny Smith apples with caramel?  Why not combine the two into a tasty little bite? 

Which leads us into the kitchen with the leftover ingredients from the night before to conquer candy making once again.  I pulled out all of the pots that I would need and began.  In the first small pot I put the apple cider on to boil and reduce to concentrate the flavor.

So far, so good.  While that was getting started I put the cream and butter in another pan to heat up before adding a couple of cinnamon sticks.

With those two things out of the way I measured out the sugar and corn syrup and put it all on to start caramelizing.  This is where I knew (from my extensive one time success experience) the waiting would begin.  Completely full of myself I took my eyes off of the sugar and started cleaning up the mess that I had made so far. 

This would be where the tragedy begins.  Looking at my once faithful candy thermometer every few minutes to check its slow progess I continued with the cleaning.  When I looked into the pot and saw that it was beginning to brown I began watching the pot (and yes, it did boil).  Keeping one eye on the browning sugar and one on the mercury of the thermometer the sugar continued to get darker.  And darker.  This is where I'm sure the blame cannot rest entirely on my innocent shoulders.  The no longer faithful candy thermometer was a good 20 degrees from where it should have been while the sugar got really dark and burned.  That's right, I killed the sugar and made the kitchen smell like it was on fire.

After the stinky pot was in the sink and full of water I bravely decided to try again.  I could hardly waste my cider reduction and cream after all.  With determination I got another pot and started measuring things out for a second time.  I stirred it until the sugar melted (again) and watched with an eagle eye as it began to bubble.

No longer trusting my thermometer I decided that I would just pull it off when it looked golden brown and delicious.  Since I was still feeling a little shaken up from the recent sugar murder I didn't even attempt taking a picture when it reached golden deliciousness.

Once it was time to add my cream mixture I was feeling a little more confident and decided that I had to reconcile with my wayward candy thermometer.  I even was confident enough to take one picture while I was waiting for that magical 250 degrees.

Once it was finally there I quickly poured it into the waiting buttered pan.

Which of course began the wait for it to cool enough to turn out and cut into pieces.  Once the long wait was over I pulled out the wax paper and spray (see my blog on Chocolate Creme Caramels for A Lesson on Buttering Every Surface).  Using my hard won knowledge I began slicing with the pizza cutter and was rewarded with several pieces of caramel apple joy.

Chocolate Creme Caramels

Even though the title of this post is Chocolate Creme Caramels I think that it should really be A Lesson in Buttering Every Surface.

It really all begins with the decision to try to make candy.  This is something that I have tried before, several times, to no success.  I have tried to make fudge only to end up with a hard, grainy brown block or a goopy mess that had to be salvaged on ice cream.  Whenever I have mentioned my inability to create candy confections I am usually bombarded with "have you tried this recipe" or "there's this foolproof recipe you should try".  Needless to say those recipes were foolproof right up until they fell into my hands. 

And so, with determination I headed to the store to procur the ingredients to give this candy making thing another shot.  With my latest foolproof recipe at hand I put the pot on the stove and began pouring things in.  With all of the components cooking I slipped the trusty candy thermometer to the side and began stirring. 

This was only the beginning of what turned out to be a very long process.  I stirred and it was still pale.  I stirred some more and it was still pale.  I stirred even more and guess what?  It was still pale.  Finally after about 30 minutes (which really should have been included in the recipe) it began to darken ever so slightly.

So, I kept stirring and checking the termometer (that wasn't really moving up any).  Finally after another 30 minutes or so it was almost there and had the lovely caramel color that I had been waiting so patiently for.

Now all I had to do was wait for that magic 250 degrees.  Once it was (FINALLY) there the pot was swiftly pulled off of the heat and I could stir in the chocolate.  Those chocolate creme caramels were almost ready to pop into my mouth.  At least that's what I thought and what the recipe claimed.

Well, I poured my gooey (and hard earned) mixture into the buttered pan and began waiting (eagerly) for it to cool.

So now here we are waiting (and hoping) that everything will set up correctly.  I sat down to finish watching a movie and work on that laptop cozy that has been taking forever to finish (its knitting, therefore I am SLOW, but that's another story).  Finally (finally) its cool and set up so that it can be "turned out onto a clean work surface".  Wax paper is clean and shouldn't stick right?  WRONG!!!

Armed with a buttered chef's knife, as instructed, I try cutting the caramel into squares.  Only to discover that either my butter isn't stick proof or that these things are stickier then advertised.  Not to be discouraged, especially since this is the closest I've come to success with candy making, I improvise and put the trusty pizza cutter into lubricated play.  Haha, it works wonderfully, better then I imagined, or so I thought.

That little wheel cut through like, well, a hot knife through butter.  Thinking that this should be easy from here on out I cut wax paper for wrapping each one.  That was simple.  Getting the caramels to come apart from each other was not.  Now, you might be asking "Why did she say that this should be A Lesson in Buttering Every Surface".  Here's the answer, the unbuttered side of the caramels that were turned out onto that "clean work surface" decided that they were hugely attracted to it.  "But you put it on wax paper..." you say.  Uh-huh, that's right, it stuck.  It stuck like glue and had to be peeled away, each little piece at a time.  Lesson to be learned here?  Butter the work surface next time.

Somewhere around 1:30 AM (I'll never start this process after 9PM again) all of the pieces were unstuck from each other and from the wax paper and individually wrapped. 

Not only are they delicious but I FINALLY (yep that's right), FINALLY made candy!