EDF Cooking Contest--Cranberry Challenge

[KFCandKoolAid]

i'm not a big cook but i can't wait for the cranberry stuffing on thanksgiving. the entries so far look great.

[SamIAm]

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i'm not a big cook but i can't wait for the cranberry stuffing on thanksgiving.

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What do you usually have in your cranberry stuffing? I'm having a mock-thanksgiving this weekend for my in-laws. (We're going to my parents for the real deal.) I'd be happy to try to incorporate more cranberry into the bird. For the sake of the EDF CookingContest. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[KFCandKoolAid]

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i'm not a big cook but i can't wait for the cranberry stuffing on thanksgiving.

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What do you usually have in your cranberry stuffing? I'm having a mock-thanksgiving this weekend for my in-laws. (We're going to my parents for the real deal.) I'd be happy to try to incorporate more cranberry into the bird. For the sake of the EDF CookingContest. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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looks like i'm a little late on the reply :/ my sister-in-law makes pretty much a basic stuffing and throws in some cranberries. there's just something about cranberries in stuffing that i think is delicious.

[SamIAm]

I'm making a mocksgiving dinner for Greenbird's family this weekend, since we're driving up to my family on the big day. I haven't decided how/if I'm going to work in cranberries for the meal, but I'll serve a bunch of cranberry candies with coffee after.

Here's the first:

<font color="red">Cranberry Truffles</font>

10 oz Semisweet chocolate
3 T Butter
1/2 C Whipping cream
1 T Corn syrup
3/4 C Cranberry juice
1 C Dried cranberries
1 C Sugar
1 C Dried cranberries
2 C Cocoa
2 C Powdered Sugar
8 oz Semisweet chopped fine

Chop the chocolate fine.



Melt it in the microwave, bring the cream &amp; syrup to simmer, and mix with cranberry juice.



I experimented with the cranberry juice, trying to get enough cranberry flavor in the ganache. Eventually I added the third quarter-cup, as listed in the ingredients above, but I think that might have been a bit too much liquid. Pour the (too liquidy) ganache into a pan to cool evenly in the fridge.



Meanwhile, process the sugar with the dried cranberries.



The dried cranberries gave me a good idea of how to add more cranberry flavor to the ganache while also absorbing some liquid; process ANOTHER cup of dried cranberries, and whip that into the ganache. (Honestly, I think whipping the ganache was the biggest improvement for the texture, but letting the dried berries sit probably helped, too.)

Use two teaspoons to form into ~2teaspoon balls. Don't worry about roundness at first; just get them sized.



Afterwards, roll them into balls. Get your cranberry sugar, powdered sugar, and cocoa out, along with a final resting place for the truffles.

Chop the other pile of chocolate, and set it up in a double boiler to temper; you never want it to go much above melting point, so it'll solidify nicely when it cools.



Use an ice cream scoop to hold a bit of chocolate, roll a ganache ball in it, and then roll the ball in a powder. Eventually your ice cream scoop will look pretty awesome.



Mmm. Clumps of dirt.

[Ron Burgundy]

mmmmm I love those balls Sam. Very nice balls.

[SamIAm]

I tried to make Cranberry Jelly candy, but it didn't work at all. I thought I'd share this failed experiment in case anybody had any ideas what went wrong, or at least so you may beware the road I traveled.

I was mostly following an Alton Brown recipe for "Acid Jellies" here. I figured I could replace the lime/lemon juice with cranberry juice, and the lime/lemon zest with orange zest and pureed dried cranberries. Sounds good, right?

Ugh. I don't know what went wrong, honestly. Maybe my packs of gelatin were bigger than his packs of gelatin. Maybe the cranberries added their own pectin, making it even thicker than normal. Whatever happened, the texture of these things was awful. Like eating rubber. Made for pretty pictures, though. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Combine the gelatin and juice in a pot w/o heat. In a second pot, bring sugar to 300 degrees.



Pour the syrup into the gelatin and stir like crazy.



Pour the mixture into a pan to cool. After a couple hours, turn onto a cutting board.



Use a pizza cutter to cut into little cubes.



Roll in sugar.



Try to eat one. Spit it out. Throw the rest away. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[SamIAm]

This one worked better. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

<font color="red">Cranberry Taffy</font>

1 C Dried Cranberries
2 C Sugar
1/2 t Salt
1 C Corn Syrup
1 C Cranberry Juice
1 t Vinegar
1.5 T Butter

Puree the dried cranberries. Add all of the above to a pot except the butter.



Bring to a boil, cooking till 260 degrees.



Remove from heat and stir in butter. Pour into a pan to cool.



When it's cool enough to handle, remove it and start pulling! It'll start out pretty dark.



As you go, it'll take on more and more air, and get lighter and shinier.





DO NOT put it down on your inlaws' kitchen table to take a picture. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET IT OFF. I'm serious. 10 minutes of worried scraping and 5 minutes of worried scrubbing to get the last bit of this stuff off. (No, I never told them what happened.)

Anyway, as you pull, eventually it'll get so hard you can barely stretch it. Cut it into 8ths, rolling each piece into 1" thick strands. Cut those with scissors into 1" pieces.



Roll in wax paper.

[Ron Burgundy]

Try making the jelly with agar flakes instead of gelatin. It's what I use to make gelees.

The taffy looks good. I like anything that would piss off a dentist! How long did it take to indiviually wrap them all? I think I'd be too lazy for that part.

[Mermade]

From Sam's Thanksgiving thread...

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I forgot to mention, for dessert we had cran-raspberry jam on ice cream and cranberry truffles and cranberry taffy. But that's a story for a different thread.

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Hey! Are you holding out on us? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[SamIAm]

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How long did it take to indiviually wrap them all? I think I'd be too lazy for that part.

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Honestly, it wasn't hard at all. There were probably 75 taffies, and it took 10 or 20 seconds each.

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Hey! Are you holding out on us? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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At this point in time, I can neither confirm nor deny the delivery of 130 lbs of jars for the Great Jamming Project of 2007.