There once was a Le Creuset pot,
Whose insides were blackened a lot,
When a cook disregarded
To stir constantly when prompted –
Please learn from her: stir more often than not!

You and I both know that candymaking requires way more attention than say, a casserole or whatever you cook in that Set-it-and-Forget-it Ronco thing you got for Christmas. I don’t have to tell you that. But I do have to tell me that.

It’s what I like to call Recipe Performance Fatigue. After making a recipe a dozen times, you start to get a little lazy with it. Ingredients are skipped, corners are cut. The beauty of cooking is that most of the time, your dish will still be fabulous despite the RPF tendencies you gravitated toward while making it. But candymaking doesn’t have room for all that corner-cutting. This is especially true when you’re making caramels and are dealing with sugar that boils and bubbles like the contents of an active Hawaiian volcano.

RPF is how I skipped the part about “stirring constantly,” ultimately leading to the stubborn black circle of carbon lining the bottom of my beloved enameled pot.

But I will say that the Le Creuset pot’s demise wasn’t in vain. For one, I’ve been scrubbing and soaking it for a couple of weeks and it seems to be slowly helping in lifting out the blackened mess. And to my surprise, the batch of caramels set up beautifully, glistening and cracking in all the right places when you cut them. And they were lacking any foul taste that would hint at my kitchen debacle. It was a Christmas miracle, so much so that I had to sprinkle them with fleur de sel — delicate flakes and tiny cubes that would come as close to snow as Southern California would allow. RPF, eat your heart out! Now, back to scrubbing my pot.

(Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.)

For this recipe, you will need a candy thermometer or a digital thermometer that can read higher than 250 degrees. If you don’t have a Le Creuset pot, any heavy-bottomed pot will do. Just be sure to stir constantly so you don’t have to write cheesy limericks about your candymaking exploits (refer to top of post). The following recipe yields a chocolate caramel with a soft, buttery chew. The recipe that inspired it is from Epicurious, which yields a harder caramel with a heartier chew.

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS WITH FLEUR DE SEL
Adapted from Epicurious
Yield: 60 to 80 caramels (depending on how you cut them)

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 10 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips (up to 60 percent cacao)
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Fleur de Sel

1. Line a 9 x 11 (or smaller) rimmed baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Add cream to a small pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from burner and add chocolate. Wait about a minute, and then stir mixture until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth and creamy.
3. In a Le Creuset pot over high heat, add sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Let pot boil for about 10 minutes, or until sugar is a deep amber color.
4. Slowly stir in chocolate mixture. At this stage, the pot will steam violently like you’ve made it angry or something. It’s cool, you’re doing it right.
5. Stir mixture constantly as you gauge the temperature of the pot’s contents. When it reads 243 degrees, remove the pot from heat and stir in the butter to finish.
6. Pour caramel into prepared pan (but don’t scrape the pan, it’s hot!). Let it sit for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle the Fleur de Sel over it. Cool completely.

To cut: Remove caramel slab to a cutting board and peel off paper. Cut slab into squares. If caramel is a little hard to work with, you can pop the slab into the freezer for a minute and it will be easier to cut. Wrap each caramel individually with wax paper squares. Caramels keep at room temperature in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.

Am I too late for this bandwagon?

If bacon has left the building and ham is the new swine product of choice, then I’m totally running a little behind on the up-and-up here. It’s like I got the memo that bacon was on the out, but I tossed it into a pile of other memos that include not wearing acid wash jeans after 1986 and how Pluto isn’t a planet anymore. Bacon is so last year, the memo says. Artisanal ham is what we’re supposed to be doing now. But guys, I dunno about this. The 80s can have its acid wash, but as for bacon and Pluto, I can’t let go. Not yet.

Pluto was that odd-tastic planet that was too faraway to see or understand until a few years ago. And apparently, scientists didn’t like what they saw, so it was hastily snipped out of textbooks and disowned by the planetary family. All because it was a “dwarf” planet. Harsh.

And bacon! What has it ever done to us to make us want to drop it like a hot potato? This bacon thing, to me, is not a fling. There is still so much to explore before we throw in the towel.

Fortunately, there are others that feel the same way with both Pluto and bacon. And if any of you bacon/Pluto fans are out there in hiding, you’re not alone. But we are indeed fighting an uphill battle, one that we may ultimately lose. But on the bright side, we can still keep bacon and the former ninth planet in our hearts. Pluto may have been nixed, but there’s still time for bacon to realize its full potential. And, if the meat candy’s decline is ultimately imminent, so be it. We tried.

But let’s send bacon out with a bang, shall we?

I guess the only thing I can contribute here is a better-late-than-never bacon recipe, with the breakfast meat rolled into a chewy caramel. Salty, sweet, chewy and sticky, with a crunch. It’s bacon in it’s most familiar forms, suited for war, ready to take on the inevitable uphill battle.

BACON CARAMELS
Yield: 80 to 100 caramels

• 14 strips thick cut bacon
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay bacon strips on sheet and bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towel-lined plate to cool. Crumble 5 to 6 strips of bacon and leave the rest in strips.

2. Line an 9×13 (or larger!) rimmed baking sheet with parchment. In a heavy-bottomed pot (I love my Le Creuset), add sugar, water and corn syrup over medium-high heat. Let mixture bubble and stir occasionally, to evaporate water. Sugar will begin to caramelize and turn a lovely shade of amber.

3. Use a thermometer to monitor caramel. When it reaches 320 degrees and is golden brown in color, slowly whisk in cream, butter and vanilla, until completely combined. When caramel reaches 243 degrees, remove from heat and pour into lined baking sheet. Cool for 15 minutes, and add bacon strips. Cool further, until caramel is pliable and easier to handle.

4. Roll caramel and bacon strips jelly-roll style once, and trim off excess. Continue to roll and trim until you’ve finished off the pan. Cut the bacon caramel logs into bite-sized pieces. Top with reserved bacon bits.

Serve on a platter, or roll in wax paper. Keep refrigerated, but let come to room temperature before eating.

P.S.: Short posts this week and next because I’m in vacation mode. I’ll be back in full swing at the end of September, when hopefully, I will have moved into a new home. Thank you always for reading!

– Cynthia Furey

By far, the recipe on this blog that’s received the most attention is the one for s’mores cupcakes. And why not? They’re certainly eye-pleasing, and they contain all of the essential campfire ingredients minus the “Survivor”-esque wilderness trek (an experience that’s harrowing for some, I’m sure).

Anyhow, in that particular post, I mentioned that the frosting can be used as a crème with strawberries or peach slices for a twist on the fruit ‘n cream concept. Forgive me if I’m drilling this idea into your memory by ways of yet another mention, but I really must insist. Especially when strawberries are involved.

When you pair strawberries and marshmallow crème (and we’re not talking the jarred marshmallow stuff), you’re getting two kinds of sweet. From the strawberry, there’s the light, floral sweetness the fruit tends to yield when fully ripe. The marshmallow crème offers more of an unnatural sweetness, like the stuff that was in the potent candy you used to be addicted to when you were a kid. It’s a fantastic combination, especially for those of us trying hard to keep our childlike qualities with every facial wrinkle we earn. These little nuggets of heaven satisfy both our inner kids and the grown-ups we’ve become.

Now, I don’t mean to wax poetic about marshmallow strawberries (because it makes me sound, and feel, like a total weirdo), but I can’t seem to better explain why I really love these little treats. So here’s the simple version of what I’m trying to say: They’re just awesome.

I call them tortured strawberries, because you do have to torch them, albeit very lightly. But they don’t look the least bit tortured, do they? They look kind of snug, all swaddled into little pillowy bundles. I bet they actually like being torched. Perhaps they would be willing to suffer even more agony by a sprinkling of crushed Oreo cookies or a drizzling of caramel. The possibilities are far too much for me to handle right now.

On second thought, perhaps the one being tortured in all of this is me.

(Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe)

It might be fun to have your friends dip and torch their own strawberries. Use skewers, a communal bowl of marshmallow crème (recipe below) and a small blowtorch to pass around the table. These strawberries don’t keep too well (the moisture from the strawberries makes the crème separate from them if left in the fridge too long), so eat them as soon as possible. Though, that last part may not be a problem for you at all.

TORTURED STRAWBERRIES (STRAWBERRIES IN BRULEED MARSHMALLOW CRÈME)

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch salt
• 1 pound strawberries, rinsed and dried

Procedure:
1. Add egg whites and sugar to the stainless steel mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Using whisk attachment, whisk on medium-high speed until sugar is incorporated and whites form soft peaks, about 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add in cream of tartar, vanilla and salt. Whisk on high speed for about a minute or so. Crème is done when it’s glossy and holding stiff peaks.
3. Dip and swirl a strawberry into crème. Using a blowtorch (or gas burner, if you are using skewers), brown crème as desired. Place on serving plate (or in mouth!) and serve immediately.

– Cynthia Furey

The plan was to finish 340 caramels, 120 mint brownies and 120 Italian rainbow cookies, all packaged and boxed, by Sunday evening.

First up: the caramels. My chosen cooking utensils: Le Creuset pot, candy thermometer.

The Le Creuset pot is a godsend when it comes to making caramel. Nothing sticks to it, it conducts heat evenly with no hot spots, and it is very, very easy to clean. Come to think of it, everything I’ve ever cooked with it (Mark Bittman’s No-Knead Bread, beef burgundy, etc.) has turned out beautifully. Amazing.

I used a standard caramel recipe, adding some vanilla to the mix for some extra flavor. (Click “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.) The tricky part in making caramel is watching the temperature as the sugar boils. Ideally, I wanted soft caramels with a bit of a chew to them, so I settled at taking the caramel off of the heat at 243 degrees – a tiny bit higher than soft-ball stage.

In the end, there were two baking sheets full of caramel. I left them out overnight to cool and harden, and it was off to bed. (Click on “Read the rest of this entry” below for more)

CARAMEL

Yield: 120-150 caramels, depending on size

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
a splash of water

Procedure:
1. Prepare rimmed cookie sheet or baking pan with cooking spray. Line parchment paper over pan.

2. In a small saucepot over medium heat, combine cream, butter and vanilla. Stir as needed. Mixture is ready when butter has melted completely. Set aside.

3. In a 3-1/2quart Le Cresuet pot or two-quart stainless steel pot, add sugar, corn syrup and water. Heat mixture over high heat until sugar is dissolved.

4. Continue to cook mixture over high heat. Keep sugar at a rolling boil until it starts to take on an amber color. Add cream and butter mixture slowly to boiling sugar. (There’s gonna be some steam, and it’s going to look a little scary.) Whisk caramel until everything is combined.

5. Using a candy thermometer or a digital thermometer, keep track of caramel temperature. When caramel reaches 240-243 degrees, remove pot from heat.

6. Quickly (but carefully!) pour contents into prepared pan. Let caramel cool overnight.

7. After cooling, remove caramel onto a cutting board, Cut strips and pieces of caramel from slap, wrap with wax paper or package however you like. Enjoy!

– Cynthia Furey