English Toffee, Attempt No. 1

Dear readers,

In California, I worked at a market that sold 8 ounces of a particular candy, for $11.95.  To my amazement and disgust, we could not keep it on the shelf.  Out of contempt for its already-rich manufacturers, I won't call it by name, and instead I have taken up the challenge of reverse-engineering the recipe for the benefit of the common people.  That's right, I'm like the Robin Hood of sweets.  Where's my little green outfit, complete with a feather in my pea pod shaped hat?  Mom?  Or maybe just a green apron...I digress:

The product in question seemed to have the consistency of a warm caramel candy, but the flavor and opacity of what I think of as toffee.  To the lab!  The computer lab, that is, to discover the difference between caramel and toffee. It seems, according to the internet, that caramel is made with sugar and milk cooked to whatever hardness on the candy hardness scale, in contrast to toffee, which is made with sugar and butter OR, as the candy hardness scale suggests, it has everything to do both with the dairy ingredient as well as the temperature to which its cooked.

In the pursuit of our illusive half-caramel, half-toffee, I scrapped the temperature-sensitive definition and grabbed the butter and got started...

Using a simple recipe from the webtubes that did not include corn syrup (it's bad enough for you, without using corn syrup - this stuff has always freaked me out), I simply decided not to cook the butter/sugar/water mixture to the "toffee" temperature of between 300-310°F, but instead to somewhere between soft and firm ball (234-248°).  The results were good but not soft enough, but still delicious!

I will include the final recipe!  In the meantime, does anyone have a foolproof muffin recipe?

When it rains, I pour! Meringue batter, that is.

Dear small but appreciated reading public,

The Southern Montana world of seed potatoes has been quiet this week, and thus I've been in the kitchen, cooking for my family, and baking for fun.  After completing my morning chores and seeing to all the animals, I sat down with my well-loved and highly coveted 1967 edition of the Joy of Cooking in hopes of finding a new challenge.

After a long battle (four minutes or so), I settled on Almond Meringue Rings even though they're marked as a traditional Christmas recipe (Mom, were you depriving me?).  Between souffle, whipped egg white pancakes, and meringue, egg while manipulation seems to have quite a reputation for being difficult to master.  Perhaps my lineage of bakers has allowed me to never falter in my conquests of egg white-specific recipes?  Or, maybe I'm just lucky.  Either way, I'm darn proud to post the Joy of Cooking's recipe and call it a success, especially with my addition of a solid pinch of kosher salt.

Enjoy!  Feel free to post questions if you'd like to make this recipe for yourself and are intimidated (as I was) by the fear-inspiring eggs.  *I will also say that there's no way I could have made them into the rings they're named for.  Does anyone know what that's all about?

Almond Meringue Rings

Preheat oven to 300°

Chop:
     1/4 lb sliced almonds and toast lightly
Whip until stiff but not dry:
     2 egg whites
Add gradually, beating constantly:
     1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
Beat mixture with electric mixer for about 15 minutes on med-high setting.  Mixture develops some memory and looks smooth and glossy.
Fold in:
     Toasted almonds
     1 teaspoon vanilla
     Pinch medium grain Kosher salt

*Shape batter into rings on a well greased cookie sheet and bake until rings just begin to color (I found this to be approximately 35 minutes).

This little guy thought they smelled so good, he waited patiently outside until I pulled them out of the oven.

Parting note:  You'd better put all the batter in the oven right after you're done mixing it.  A little bird (definitely not the Little Bird of Experience) just told me that they're turn out flat and awful looking if you let the mixture sit...