Best Part of Bridge Mix

Remember bridge mix? My favorite part is the malted milk balls, crunchy and tender and malty. Mmm. Then I like the chocolate-covered raisins. The round things with the jelly inside are good, too. The peanuts? Someone else can eat those.

Malted milk, the powder, was originally invented by Englishman James Horlick after he moved to Racine, Wisconsin! The original name was "Diastoid," but in a flash of marketing foresight, he trademarked the name "Malted Milk" in 1887. The powder was intended to be a non-perishable, high-calorie food supplement for infants and invalids. It gained popularity when arctic explorers began packing it on their trips, and was soon consumed for its taste rather than its nutritional qualities.

If I've rekindled a long lost taste in you for malted milk, maybe you'll want to try your hand at this recipe for Chocolate Malt Cake from thebakingpan.com!

Ganache with Panache

That rich, smooth, glossy coating that makes cakes and candies (nearly) too pretty to eat? That's ganache! Is it a frosting, or is it a candy? It's both! Ganache is two treats in one.

According to Wikipedia, the first ganache was a result of a happy accident, when an apprentice spilled cream on some chocolate he was chopping. Ganache means "fool" -- the epithet that the master chocolatier exclaimed!

For such a versatile compound, Ganache is made with relatively simple ingredients: hot cream and chocolate. The character of the ganache will depend on the type of chocolate used, the proportion of chocolate to cream, and how much the mixture is beaten.

Check out the Joy of Baking for an in-depth article that describes frosting a cake with ganache, as well as whipping the confection into truffle filling.

The Candy Man Can

Homemade candy. You can always tell the difference, can't you? Candymaking involves many skills. Tempering chocolate. Watching the thermometer like a hawk. Keeping your family members from licking things until you're done. But the results are always worth it. And unless you bungle the job really badly, someone's always willing to eat your mistakes!

The Land O' Lakes website has over ninety candy recipes posted. Look at this amaretto truffle bar. Don't you want it? Right now? (Seriously, someone make this.) If you're thinking about entering the candy category this year, cruise on over to Land O' Lakes for some inspiration. (And if you happen to make a batch of mistakes, I know a group of people on Perimeter Road who would gladly take them off your hands.)