The August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!
I'd have to say I was really excited to start this month's Daring Bakers' challenge because it was co-hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, Lisa! Aside from that, I'm a certified chocoholic so the theme was definitely close to my heart...chocolate, yum! Well actually it was candymaking, but I was going to make chocolate candies that's for sure. We were only required to make two types of candies, one of them a filled chocolate and the other one, whatever we wanted...then I guess I can make 2 chocolate candies!
Did I mention I live in the tropics? Aside from really beautiful beaches, coconut trees and the bluest blue skies,we also have really high humidity...now what does that have to do with this challenge? Everything!! I tempered my bittersweet couverture chocolate, but the humidity was terrible...it ruined my hard work, I tried working at night and also early morning to avoid the really humid hours of the day, but it still got me. I wanted to throw in the towel and not paticipate this month, but then that wouldn't speak well of me...a so-called DARING baker, so I persevered. And these are the products of my sweat and tears (no blood, thank goodness!)
The mandatory part of the challenge: Filled Chocolate Bonbons, I made mine with pastillas de leche (sugar candies) filling. This tasted so good, I had to stop myself from eating them all! I will make a separate post for the recipe of this yummy Filipino candy.
Chocolate Bark which I made with tempered Bittersweet Couverture Chocolate, chopped walnuts, golden raisins and dried cranberries. It looked very nice, but the chocolate was so nervous it was sweating...blame humidity!
Violet Crumble and Crunchie are two of the yummiest chocolate bars when I was a kid. Sadly, I don't see them in the supermarkets anymore, so I had to make it because I missed the taste so much. This was the thin version, I made a thicker version but it didn't turn out as well. Thank you Lisa and Mandy for this very delicious challenge. So what did I learn from this? I should have an air-conditioned kitchen! Just kidding, but yes--I think if I really want to work with chocolates in this humidity I'd have to do that. Oh and do drop by the other Daring Bakers' blogs for more yumminess!
21 comments:
Wow absolutely love it...well done on the challenge
Yum! These candies look delicious! I'm so impressed that you found time to make more than two.
Looks great, delicious!!
I'm so glad you joined in on the challenge! All of your candy looks awesome - love the pastillas de leche bonbons (my bonbons were completely ruined by the humidity here..so I hear you on that!) Love your chocolate bark, it's gorgeous, and I made a thinner sponge also, although I wish I knew abour that Violet Crumble like recipe prior to making mine! You rocked this challenge, but you rock them all :)
They all look delicious! Those colors, I can even smell them!
Great job on the candies - even the humidity challenged chocolates. They all sound great, and I think I might suffer through less than shiny chocolates for some time in the tropics...!
Way to combat the humidity and come through with some really delicious looking candies! Absolutely awesome work. As alway! :)
your chcocolates for the challenge looks amazing! chcocolate is always hard work! but is the best!!!!!
Despite the humidity, your candies look amazing! I'm looking forward to you Filipino recipe, cause it looks really good :) Your chocolate bark is gorgeous and I love your photos!
Thanks for leaving a lovely comment on mine :)
Hats off to you for not giving up..
I love all your amazing creations
Just imagining Pastillas de Leche inside a chocolate makes me drool! Now, I won’t be able to get that off my mind. :)
~ ray ~
They all look delicious! The chocolate barks are calling my name!
Thumbs up for the beautiful results despite the humidity issue!
Thanks for taking part in the challenge, humidity and all!
Your chocolates look great :)
Congratulations on battling the humidity! Your chocolates and honeycomb look fantastic. My eyes lit up at the sight of the pastillas de leches - I'll have to give them a go when you post the recipe.
Honeycomb's fantastic, isn't it? I'm a big fan of Crunchies too. Yours looks better though!
You continue to amaze and astonish me! Wow, I can say enough about your pictures and creations here. They are simply amazing and I could scarf down every last one of them. Is there anything you can't do? Just wondering:)
All your candies look great, but I'm especially impressed with the pastillas! Love that you made so many different kinds of candy for this challenge!
Wow, well done on your heroic efforts. The first 25 years of my life were spent in the tropics, I know exactly what you're talking about when it comes to humidity and chcoolate! The candies look fantastic even if they are a little "glowing".
A great challenge! Very well done! I particularly like the honeycomb.
cheers,
Rosa
Great job
one advise I got from a cake decorating seminar was to have a de-humidifier, to protect your candies , chocolates and icing. But nevertheless, you got it! I'm actually drooling over your yummies!
yummy....i love chocolates specially with the honeycomb inside, I have to try cooking some homemade honeycomb, never ventured yet on candymaking...hmmmmm! Violet Crumble...yum!
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