Non-crystalline candy day involved many types of caramel like confections. We made peanut brittle, English toffee, and soft caramels that would later be dipped. The picture to the left shows all that I made on this particular day. The trickiest part about these types of confections is making sure you get the right balance between caramelization and texture. I struggled with cooking the soft caramels to the right texture. Initially they were hard as a rock, but a second time around I cooked them less and achieved that chew. The caramels were cut then dipped in tempered dark chocolate and garnished as desired. I just sprinkled salt on top or made a crease. For me, the tastiest confection was the English toffee. Made right it was really crunchy and had a nice buttery taste.
To the right is the variances in color for the peanut brittle. I am always amused by the simple process of caramelization but how different people cook caramels to different degrees. Even though chef did a demo for all the confections and each one had a certain temperature that needed to be reached, my classmates and I each had our variances in the cooking process. It just goes to show how something as seemingly simple as cooking caramels can actually require great skill and an eye for the transformation of sugar brought on by heat.
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