Cob loaf dip for Mr 100 Skulls

Today's recipe is a request by Mr 100 Skulls. This appetizer is easy and delicious to make for any party. When Mr T (my boyfriend) and I moved out together we had a small get together with our old house mates and I made this dip. When the party first started, it just sat there as though no-one knew what to do with it, it wasn't until one of the boys asked "what's this?" and gave it a taste that it began to be eaten and no-one else ate anything else until the whole cob was gone! Ever since, Mr T's BFF (Mr 100 Skulls) has asked me for this recipe, so what a better way to give it to him without him losing it than putting it right here?!

This recipe is super cheesy and super bacony- nom nom nom! Feel free to cut down the cheese as it may be too much for the weaker cheese eaters.

So here we go...

Cheese and Bacon Cob Loaf Dip

250 g bacon (diced) - you can use the bought bacon pieces instead if you're lazy! :P

1/2 an onion (diced)

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp crushed garlic (optional)

250 g Philadelphia cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup tasty cheese + extra for topping

1/4 parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 200^oC. Cut top off the Cob loaf and pull out the insides, spray with olive oil spray and place in oven for 10 mins.

A cob loaf in case you can't remember what it looks like ( I used a multigrain sourdough)

Pull all the guts out of the loaf and place it on the tray.

Fry the bacon, garlic and onion in the oil until the onion is translucent and tender. Add the sour cream and make sure you scrape up all the bacony goodness that may have stuck to the bottom of the saucepan. Add the cream cheese, tasty and parmesan and stir over heat until combined and cheese is melted. Pour the cheese mixture into the cob loaf and top with extra tasty cheese. 

Loaf is full of cheesy goodness.

Bake for 15 mins or until the cheese is browned. If the cob insides are toasted enough take them off the baking tray prior to baking the cheese-filled loaf and set aside until needed.  

Yummo!

 Use the bread pieces to dip into the cheese and bacon dip. Enjoy! :)

I got a candy thermometer!

I have always wanted a candy thermometer and despite them only costing around $10 to purchase, I never got around to buying one...until yesterday. So, what is the logical thing to do when you have just purchased yourself a new shiny candy thermometer? That's right, make candy! I actually wanted to make torrone which, as most of you would know, is an Italian nougat. The reason why I didn't make this delicious treat is that I wanted to make it for gifts at Christmas and it's best to make torrone within two weeks of eating it. So, I searched for a longer lasting candy treat and found taffy, now, I have no idea what taffy is meant to be like being Australian and all but the definition of taffy is:"a candy similar to toffee made from sugar or molasses and pulled until glossy" (from Google dictionary). Looking at recipes, it sounded easy enough and the pulling part sounded like a bit of fun so I thought "let's give it a go"! I decided on a butterscotch taffy as my partner loves butterscotch a lot more than peppermint. The recipe I used was based on the ehow.com recipe.

My new candy thermometer! Yay!

Now, the first time I made the butterscotch taffy, it turned out really hard and was almost impossible to pull (my partner and I played tug-O-war with it for a bit and it was really tough). The resulting taffy was delicious but was rock hard and basically inedible. I also had the great idea to wrap them in cellophane which turned out to be terrible as the taffy stuck to the cellophane and would not come off. So, with this knowledge, I tried again. The original method I was following took the taffy to the "soft crack" stage (135 C or 275oF) which, I think, was the  main problem and the reason why the taffy ended up so jaw breakingly hard so the second time I only took it to the "hard ball" stage (125oC or 260oC) which resulted in a softer, chewy taffy. Using the lower temperature also allowed for more pulling which turned out to be quite fun and actually a bit of a stress release, it also gave the taffy a nicer more melt-in-your-mouth texture.The second time around I wrapped the taffy in a strip of baking paper and then wrapped it in a square of cellophane to prevent sticking you can just wrap the whole thing in baking paper or waxed paper but I thought it looked nicer with the cellophane. The second batch was delicious, chewy and exactly what I had imagined taffy would be like, it was well worth the re-try.

After making the taffy, I found that my hair smelt like butterscotch all day so be prepared to smell delicious for the rest of the day if you makes this! 

So, here we go...

This recipe made about 80 1 cm x 2.5 cm pieces.

What you need:

50 g (4 tbsp) corn flour

400 g (2 cups) brown sugar (firmly packed)

90 g  (4 tbsp) butter 

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup glucose syrup

1.5 cups water

2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put a large flat baking tray into the fridge to cool.

2. Mix corn flour and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Add butter, glucose syrup, salt and water and mix until well combined. As I put in the glucose syrup I tasted some (surely it's just like a sugar syrup right?) but it surprised me and did not give me that woah-this-is-crazy-sugary feeling. Glucose syrup is actually a fair bit less sweet than normal sugar. The reason for this is that normal granulated sugar is made up of sucrose disaccharides and sucrose is actually 20-30% sweeter than glucose- just an interesting fact for you all. At this stage it looks like a mud puddle! :P

Looks like a mud puddle with butter in it!

3. Place the thermometer into the pan and heat the mixture on medium stirring until the butter is melted. Simmer the mixture until it gets to the "hard ball" stage (125oC) after the mixture has reached 100oC stir continuously, (it can take quite a long time for the mixture to reach 125oC (~30 mins), so I used that time to cut out the wrapping). At around 100oC the mixture will start becoming quite thick and will look darker in colour and by 135oC the mixture will be quite "gummy" as in it looks like chewing gum as you mix it (that is, if you take it to 135^oC but I highly recommend only going to 125^oC).

At 100^oC, thick and dark in colour

At 135^oC, gummy and blowing bubbles, very thick

4. Once the mixture has reached 135oC remove the saucepan from the heat and add the vanilla extract (it will bubble a fair bit so be careful). 

5. Pour the mixture onto the cooled flat baking tray and allow it to cool so that you can handle it without burning yourself.

 It's very thick to pour and quite stretchy.

6. Grease your hands and pull the taffy, stretching it and folding it over itself several times until it becomes too difficult to go on. You will see the taffy becoming porous and less glossy and you may also see air bubbles being incorporated into the mix, this is what you want. 

7. Pull the taffy into a long rope with ~2 cm diameter and cut with scissors into 2 cm portions. Leave these on a non-stick tray for approximately 30 mins before wrapping in your wrapper of choice (baking paper or waxed paper is recommended) and twisting the ends to close.

8. Store the taffy at room temperature in an air tight container. It will last 2 months. 

9. Enjoy! 

Have you ever tried taffy? What is your favourite flavour? Do you like soft or hard taffy? 

Stay tuned for next week which will be part one of the wedding cake saga...