Sour Patch Kids!?!?!

So I know that you can make just about anything homemade, case in point are the marshmallows, but Sour Patch Kids?!?! These have just jumped themselves up to #1 on my list of things to try next. I luv sour patch kids.

Everything below is stolen word for word from dirt-cake

First you must make pâté de fruit, which is essentially sweetened and gelled fruit juice. I prefer using Vitpris, a type of french pectin, but apple pectin works fine.

Pâté De Fruit

Fruit Puree 2200g

Sugar 1500g

Sugar 300g

Vitpris 300g

Citric Acid 1/2 tsp

1. Bring the Puree and 1500g of sugar to a boil.

2. Mix together the 300g of sugar and the 300g of pectin. Slowly sprinkle the pectin mixture into the puree, whisking constantly.

3. Continue to cook until puree has thickened. Test a small amount of mixture for doneness by making a teaspoon size mound on a cold plate. If the mixture is still extremely tacky keep cooking. If the mixture is only slightly tacky it is ready.

4. Turn off the heat and sprinkle in the citric acid. Stir to distribute evenly.

5. Pour onto a plastic lined halfsheet and cool.

So now you have your glorious cooled pâté de fruits!! A word on types of fruit puree. Bananas and pineapples have an enzyme in their flesh that counteracts the gelling caused by heating pectin. I have used banana in combination with another fruit puree and it has just taken more pectin to make it gel, but nevertheless now you know!! and knowing is half the battle...

Cut your pâté de fruit into whatever shapes you desire. Usually I toss pâté de fruit in organic sugar before adding them to cookie plates. I find that granulated sugar is too small of a sugar crystal, and sanding sugar is too large of a sugar crystal for coating the gelees. Organic sugar falls right in the middle and works nicely. For the sour part I take a teaspoon of citric acid and add organic sugar to taste. A little really goes a LONG way as I found on my first trial dredge in the sour mix was WAY too sour! (sorry to all of my testers!) Once you have found your sour balance toss your pâté de fruit and serve!!

note: Don't toss all of your pâté de fruits in sugar if you aren't going to use them immediately. The sugar tends to pull moisture from the pâté de fruits and makes a sugary syrup that I wouldn't call camera ready!

Homemade Marshmallows

I first saw these about a month ago on the Baking Bits blog and I planned on making them when we opened up our hot chocolate we got on our honeymoon. We'll with the fair starting this weekend I knew it was prime time to make some marshmallows and hot chocolate even if it is still 80 degrees most of the time. These made a TON of marshmallows. The other guesses are around 36, but I cut the main square into 36 and then cut each of those 36 in half and the marshmallows were still pretty big. I plan on leaving some of them out and throwing the rest in the freezer so I have yummy marshmallows all winter long yum.

Stolen from Baking Bits

Homemade Marshmallows

.75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of Knox gelatin)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Line 9 x 9-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
Pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add in the vanilla extract beat to incorporate.
Scrape marshmallow into the prepared pan and spread evenly (Lightly greasing your hands and the spatula helps a lot here). Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set.
In a shallow dish, combine equal parts cornstarch and confectioners’ sugar. Remove marshmallow from pan and cut into equal pieces with scissors (the best tool for the job) or a chef’s knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners’ sugar mixture.
Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Roses

A year and a half ago I took 2 Wilton Cake decorating classes and a few other classes along the way. One of my favorite classes was the edible flower class. We learned to make flowers on lolly pop stick. You can let them dry and they will last forever or until your cat knocks them over as was the case with the ones I made. Ok maybe not forever, but Maxine, our teacher had ones from over a year before that still looked great.

The fondant ones are pretty, but lets be honest, fondant tastes like yuck. One of the woman's hubbies was waiting for her watching and we convinced him to try some. Spit it out like a little kid trying asparagus for the first time (who am I kidding, I still spit that crap out). The colors are pretty, but fondant can be a pain to work with and what fun is making something if you can't taste test along the way?

The chocolate ones on the other hand are pretty and yummy all at the same time. Ever wonder how to make tootsie rolls, follow this recipe and don't make them into flowers. They're as close to tootsie rolls as you're gonna get. So, my recipe is scribbled on a torn out piece of someone elses notebook paper and while I could follow it because it's so easy, I still can't figure out why at the bottom I randomly wrote "gum tex 1/2 teaspoon." I can only guess that this is what you add to the fondant, but how much fondant? You're guess is as good as mine because there is no direct mention of fondant and the top says "Chocolate Flowers." Ahh the joys of scribbling recipes while your trying to learn and make the stuff in a limited amount of time.

So ... I found a far more detailed recipe than 1pkg chocolate waffers, 1/3 cup corn syrup, melt, mix and put on wax paper. While that explains it, the recipe below stolen from Whatscookingamerica.net is a little more detailed to say the least. And the directions are far better than the "make a blob with a point on the top" instructions I wrote down. So... here you go. I'll post my own pics tomorrow after I make them.

But, before I do ... wanna see my Care Bears Cake I made in our buttercream fondant class?
Note: please ignore the heart on the nose. I was struggling with the heart and Maxine came in and turned it into an off center heart with a rodolf dot next to it.


Chocolate Clay Roses

10 ounces semisweet chocolate (coarsely chopped chunks or chips)
1/3 cup light corn syrup

In a shallow bowl, melt the chocolate in microwave for 2 minutes; stir. NOTE: Be careful so that the temperature does not exceed 100 degrees F. If chocolate is not completely melted, return to microwave for 30 seconds at a time and stir until smooth.

Add corn syrup to the chocolate and mix well (scrape all the corn syrup into the chocolate with a rubber spatula). Using a rubber spatula, stir and fold mixture, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl well, until no shiny syrup is visible and the mixture forms a thick ball. Pour mixture onto a waxed paper sheet and spread with the spatula until it's about 1/2-inch thick; let it sit and stiffen, uncovered, for about 2 hours. Use at once or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Making Chocolate Roses:

Knead a handful of clay at a time on a work surface until it is soft and pliable like Play-Doh.

Roll dough into (12) twelve 1/2-inch diameter balls of clay. Place the balls on waxed paper or plastic wrap about 1-inch apart. Using your fingers, press in the center and then on either side, flattening the disk into 1-inch flat disks about the size of a quarter (leave the top edge thin than and bottom edge. Repeat with the remaining disks.

Remove one dish and curl it into a "teepee" shape, narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, (this will be the center of the rose. Wrap the next disk around the opening of the teepee and the third disk at the back of the teepee - this is the rose bud. Continue adding disks which will look like petals. Continue adding petals, placing them in between slightly lower than previous row. For a fuller flower, continue adding petals in this manner. As you form petals, you gently roll or curl the right edge of the petal downward. Pinch off any excess chocolate clay at the base of the rose to make more balls.

NOTE: If the clay balls or petals become too soft from your body heat, let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. To periodically cool you hands, grasp a cold glass. (this does become a problem so keep this in mind ... one of the girls hands were so warm she simply could not work with the chocolate)

Roses will harden after a few days and can be saved by storing in a cool, dry place.

NOTE: To make larger roses, make larger chocolate clay balls.