Alas, Alack

Disaster strikes in the house of Dan. Nothing major, just a problem with attention to detail. I made some caramels this afternoon and at first they were coming along terrifically. They are fleur de sel caramels, caramels that have a little bit of hand harvested sea salt (la-dee-da!) in them which I think would really hit the spot with the salty/sweet crowd. I set everything up before I started since I knew when making caramels you're dealing with really hot stuff and it's best to have all your ducks in a row before you get going. Well, it just so happens that I measured the salt wrong. It calls for just 1/2 tsp. I tripled that and having tried some, all you taste is the salt. There's still time in this day to do it again.

I also made some peppermint bark today. That's easy, but I didn't like the proportions that the lady suggested I use. I decided I needed to add a bit more chocolate, so I need to go back and pick some more up, but I needed to go out anyway. I think I'll pick up some fixings for another kind of bark to take the pressure off feeling like I have to do too much. That's easy and you can have plenty in no time.

Dave P came over to borrow a tool and so he sampled two of my concoctions. He really dug the brittle, especially when it was rolled around the malt ganache. I think these are going to be the best tasting thing I make this year. The other one reminded him of suntan lotion. I gotta say having heard him say it, I agree with him, but it's very tasty. Think pina colada in a chocolate.

This brittle was very cool to make. You boil sugar until it hits 300ºF then add some baking soda. It bubbles up like a kid's volcano science project. You then poor it immediately onto a pan and it sets up looking like an alien world. I broke this up and now I'll roll the malt ganache in this. It's very tasty and very cool.

The rest of the day will be spent making up a few more barks, another try at the caramels, and if all goes according to plan, I'll have some almond candies completed and the malt ganache chocolates completely done too.