Domestic Goddess Failure
Yes, I have them. (Not infrequently.)
Obviously my new place could not be called home until I had christened the (tiny) kitchen with some baking, and a friend is hosting an Australia's Biggest Morning Tea on Friday so I had a good excuse. I decided to make caramel slice, because it is really not as much effort as it seems, and it's always worth the pain. I have used a couple of recipes over the years, and this time I decided to try this one from Bill Granger. So I made the base, and it turns out that my new fan-forced oven heats very unevenly. Okay, lesson learned -- rotate the pan. Then of course I burnt the caramel, and was mystified because it had never even come to the boil but suddenly had burnt bits. Also, my new gas stove is incredibly touchy. Naturally I had bought two tins of condensed milk because I nearly always burn the caramel first go, but in the middle of my strop I decided to check the internet before I chucked it all out. Somewhere I found an ingenious piece of advice: just sieve the caramel. Of course! Sieve out the burnt bits! I put the caramel back on, got it to a boil, got it thicker although it still seemed too thin, and then sieved it onto the base where it came out luscious and thick. And even though I knew it was a bad idea to stick my finger into a spoonful of cooked sugar, I did it anyway. OH MY GOODNESS. This caramel was absolute heaven! It is the extra butter that does it. Anyway, the slice is back in the oven, and oops, I forgot to rotate the pan! The caramel got very brown. Then, and this is the really stupid bit, I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate for the topping, because I buy it on special especially for baking with so that's what I had. But I forgot that the chocolate would be naked here, not mixed in anything. Result: a thin layer of bitterness that completely overwhelms the rich caramel beneath. Oh well, at least the biscuit base isn't bad. I'll take it to the morning tea but shan't own up to its creation.
In happier news, I have almost finished knitting my first scarf! Dreading having to cast off, though.
Obviously my new place could not be called home until I had christened the (tiny) kitchen with some baking, and a friend is hosting an Australia's Biggest Morning Tea on Friday so I had a good excuse. I decided to make caramel slice, because it is really not as much effort as it seems, and it's always worth the pain. I have used a couple of recipes over the years, and this time I decided to try this one from Bill Granger. So I made the base, and it turns out that my new fan-forced oven heats very unevenly. Okay, lesson learned -- rotate the pan. Then of course I burnt the caramel, and was mystified because it had never even come to the boil but suddenly had burnt bits. Also, my new gas stove is incredibly touchy. Naturally I had bought two tins of condensed milk because I nearly always burn the caramel first go, but in the middle of my strop I decided to check the internet before I chucked it all out. Somewhere I found an ingenious piece of advice: just sieve the caramel. Of course! Sieve out the burnt bits! I put the caramel back on, got it to a boil, got it thicker although it still seemed too thin, and then sieved it onto the base where it came out luscious and thick. And even though I knew it was a bad idea to stick my finger into a spoonful of cooked sugar, I did it anyway. OH MY GOODNESS. This caramel was absolute heaven! It is the extra butter that does it. Anyway, the slice is back in the oven, and oops, I forgot to rotate the pan! The caramel got very brown. Then, and this is the really stupid bit, I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate for the topping, because I buy it on special especially for baking with so that's what I had. But I forgot that the chocolate would be naked here, not mixed in anything. Result: a thin layer of bitterness that completely overwhelms the rich caramel beneath. Oh well, at least the biscuit base isn't bad. I'll take it to the morning tea but shan't own up to its creation.
In happier news, I have almost finished knitting my first scarf! Dreading having to cast off, though.