Episode 4 Sweets Made Simple

-I'm Kitty Hope.

-And I'm Mark Greenwood.

And although we've been married for ever...

Our first love is sweets.

I'm going to have another one.

Over the last ten years, we've built a business devoted to

rediscovering the best of British confectionary.

Whether we're at home or at work,

we're always on the lookout for new and exciting treats.

Do you like it or hate it? Bet you hate it, I love it!

And we never miss a chance to try them out on the people we love.

No.

But now we're going to show you how to make our favourite confections,

right there in your own home.

With sweets, the possibilities are endless.

And it doesn't have to be complicated.

Learn a few simple techniques and you're on your way.

Making sweets is the perfect way to spoil yourself, family and friends.

And it's something that anyone can do. This is Sweets Made Simple.

There's nothing that gives me more pleasure than the look

on someone's face when they bite into a sweet that I've made myself.

Sharing out the results of a day melting sugar

and drizzling chocolate is incredibly satisfying.

Look at that!

So today we'll be giving away our ideas for treats that

you won't be able to resist sharing with your chums.

We're making the stickiest fruit and nut nougat you've ever seen.

And a fudge bursting with coffee and ginger cake.

It's fab.

I'm making the simplest of pear crisps.

And you'll be longing to hang your bonnet

on our cherry chapel hat pegs.

It's going to be really difficult for you to keep your hands off them.

But first, it's time for bubbles.

No, not champagne.

You might call it honeycomb, puff candy, or even yellow man.

But where I'm from we call this yummy confection something

totally different.

This is my recipe for the explosion we Mackems call cinder toffee.

Cinder toffee is the simplest thing

in the whole world to make.

It's also incredibly dramatic.

First, add 75g of granulated sugar to a high-sided pan.

Now add one of my essential sweet-making ingredients,

golden syrup, 25g of that.

These squeezy things, much easier to use than the old tins,

but I do rather like the old tins,

I have to say.

There's something rather romantic about an old tin of syrup.

Liquid glucose goes next.

There is...

SQUEAKING

Noisy...and quite difficult. It's quite strong stuff.

Mr G, would you come and be the muscle man

and do my liquid glucose for me, please?

Yep, I can do that.

I need a generous squidge. I need 100g, please.

Okey-doke.

'Liquid glucose is what we confectioners call

'inverted sugar.

'That just means it won't crystallise

'and helps give the cinder toffee its chewy texture.'

Tablespoon of water, in the pan.

Pop it on the ring. Keep it on a low to medium heat.

And the most important thing that you need to know right now is -

don't fiddle.

Let it mingle and just look at it lovingly.

-What are you reading?

-A book on sheds.

It's a book on sheds?

Not really, it's a really interesting book

about food and cooking.

-That's it.

-That's it.

Whatever you do, do not walk away from this,

because it will suddenly just go pfff - marmalade colour.

Don't go and do your nails, don't have a bath.

Just keep your eye on the pan.

No need for a thermometer here. We're just looking for colour.

After about 15 minutes, your sugar will have dissolved

and it starts going a gorgeous marmalade colour.

Once it's reached the right shade, it's time for the crucial ingredient.

Bicarbonate of soda. Level tablespoon.

Make sure your whisk is ready.

Cos it's all going to happen at once!

OK, going in for the kill.

Bicarbonate of soda is fast.

Bicarbonate of soda reacts with the syrup, creating millions of

air bubbles full of carbon dioxide.

This gas is eventually trapped by the cooling syrup, creating

a splendid honeycomb structure.

Get your balloon whisk in, and it will come up to the top of the pan

like the most amazing, fantastic volcano!

Pour it into the lined tin.

And it's oozy, lava, volcanic eruption - look at it.

You can see the bubbles starting to rise.

That is a fabulous cinder toffee.

Don't put your finger in while it's hot because you will burn it.

Leave for about 30 minutes, by which time it will be brittle

and ready for hammering.

It's sticky and it's lovely and it's like a great, big, golden sunshine.

Use a toffee hammer, or any hammer, really,

to break it into bite-sized chunks.

Who were you thinking that was, when you did that?

Ooh, it's all squidgy and lovely and...cor!

That's really nice, really lovely.

Once you've mastered the art of the glorious cinder toffee,

you can start playing with it a little bit.

You could dip it in chocolate.

But the way we like to eat it is, I suppose an Australian way -

that's hokey pokey, and that's with ice cream.

Hokey pokey ice cream is one of my all-time favourite desserts.

I need a spoon.

Unfortunately, Mr Greenwood, I could only find one spoon.

So you can't eat yours, so I'll just eat mine on my own.

Mmm. It's lovely.

'Oh, come on, Miss Hope, I thought this was all about sharing!'

-That's lovely.

-And it really sticks to your teeth in a very good way.

No.

Cinder toffee is one of those things that looks impressive

although it's easy to make.

So feel free to show off and share with your mates.

Our next recipe is a little more time-consuming

but worth every ounce of effort.

I think home-made fudge makes a lovely present or just

an alternative to nibble on with a coffee.

'I love making fudge, and so does Alison Abernethy.

'She makes her award-winning fudge in the rolling countryside

'of Northern Ireland, 20 miles south of Belfast,

'and she's someone I've been longing to meet.'

-Morning.

-Hello.

-Hello, hello!

'It's impossible to visit Alison without being offered

'a square or two of her fudge.

'The key ingredient of which is butter,

'made right here on her farm.'

-It smells amazing.

-Can you smell the butter?

-Oh, yeah!

-Yeah, you can REALLY smell the butter.

-That is amazing. I can't stop smiling.

-Really smooth.

Yes. Because we're using our hand-made butter,

I adapted the recipe to put more butter into it

so that people would get that nice, smooth, buttery taste.

-It is a really smooth, buttery taste.

-This fudge is absolutely stunning.

Sorry...your fudge is stunning also!

-Yes, exactly!

-Divorce?!

Why do you think that's better than mine?

I didn't say it was better than your fudge.

I said it was a strong contender.

'The butter seems to be the secret to this great fudge.

'Time to meet the man who makes it.

'Through in the dairy,

'Alison's husband, William, makes up to 600 rolls of butter a day.

'From this small farm in Northern Ireland,

'the Abernethy's butter travels to world-famous restaurants

'and posh shops all over the UK and beyond.

'This butter is legendary.

'There are only two ingredients in the Abernethy's butter -

'the best Ulster cream from some very happy cows.

'And a little salt, which goes in later.'

-You're here to see some butter being churned today.

-We are.

'Will is demonstrating using a churn

'which has been in his family for four generations.'

We put cream into the churn rather than milk,

so I'm just going to pour some cream in here.

Making the butter is very simple, it's all just about agitation.

We just put cream in the churn, we don't add anything else to it.

Show you how it's going, and we'll even give you a go.

'Churning ruptures the fragile membranes surrounding the milk fat

'allowing the fat droplets to clump together,

'eventually creating butter.'

-It's great.

-I can take the lid off.

-Slow down, Mark, and I'll take the lid off.

-Otherwise we'll wear it.

And you can see actually what's happening in there.

It's just shooting off the side and that's what's causing the agitation.

'It's a quick and simple process really, and after seven minutes or

'so, the churn suddenly stops,

'letting us know the butter is ready.'

That's the butter made.

It just stops dead.

I thought you would check it a few times,

see if it's getting a bit thicker...but no.

What's all the watery stuff, Will?

That's the buttermilk. We now have to get rid of all that buttermilk.

Strain it off.

'There is still some milk left in the butter even once

'the buttermilk is drained away.'

-Do we need to put hats on, Will?

-You should put a hat on.

-On a jaunty angle?

-Yes, jaunty.

We'll tip the butter in the bowl now.

'To make sure the milk is all gone, the butter is washed in cold water.

'If Will didn't do this,

'the butter would go off in just a couple of days.'

-You've got all the buttermilk out of there now.

-All the buttermilk's gone.

I'm going to add a level teaspoon of the salt to the pound of butter,

and then we mix it in.

'The Abernethys don't sell their butter in blocks.

'Every roll is curled by hand between wooden pats.'

I'm going to ask you just to watch very carefully what I'm going to do next.

This is like The Generation Game.

Take a dollop of butter...

..and we roll it back and it looks like a swiss roll.

I can't do that in a million years!

There's no way I'm going to be able to do that!

-Right, so whack that...

-Whack it on to the middle.

-OK, and start patting it down.

-Yeah.

Fold it over here...

I'm doing rubbish!

OK, now what? Now what do I do?

-Trail this pat back.

-Trail it.

Trail it, yes.

That covered a multitude of sins, didn't it?

It's not bad, it's getting there.

-Oh, OK, I did it.

-Not bad for a first attempt.

What have I scored out of ten?

-I think that's maybe a 9.1 or so.

-Excellent!

Thank you, Will.

'The Abernethys' wonderful butter is going to find a rather spicy home

'in our next recipe.'

It's time for Miss H to see

if she can do this wonderful butter proud.

Ooh, the pressure is on,

but I'm pretty sure I'll exceed your expectations with my recipe

for a coffee-shop-inspired gingerbread latte fudge.

I'm going to make some incredibly special fudge.

It's special because it's got Abernethy butter in it, of course.

But most of all because of its secret ingredient - ginger cake.

First, slice six thin pieces off the loaf.

Take your ginger cakey bits and stick 'em on a tray.

-Do you want a bit of ginger cake?

-Yes, please.

-Shall I share a bit with you?

-Yeah.

Mm! Well gingery!

Pop it under the grill, turning once until it's toasted on both sides.

While it's grilling,

get your bits and pieces together to make this fabulous fudge.

Now find our old friend, the heavy bottomed pan.

Pop in 500g of caster sugar.

Slightly too much.

50g of butter...

Will and Alison were the nicest people.

I've never seen two people with such glorious rosy cheeks in my life.

-I love this butter.

-It's fab, isn't it?

It's really nice, having seen it made.

Look at the colour of it. It's like the sun is shining inside that tube.

Next I'm adding 150g of double cream.

Try not to splash it up the sides

because it will burn.

Try and keep all your ingredients in the middle of the pan.

And 135g of full fat milk.

OK?

And some water. Is there water?

Water! I always forget the water. Always!

Yes, don't forget the water. Just three tablespoons.

Thank you kindly. Top tip - don't fiddle. Leave it alone.

Let them get to know each other.

She's right, you know.

This is because sugar crystals have jagged edges and even

once they're liquid they have a tendency to want to stick together.

If you stir the sugar, they hook up and create clumps.

And you don't want clumps.

After 15 minutes, when everything is mingled together, and it's just

starting to bubble, get your thermometer in there.

We're looking for a temperature of 116 degrees Centigrade.

It's going to race up to about 100 and then start to slow down.

So don't panic and think you've got to turn it down at this stage.

Just leave the temperature where it is.

Don't panic.

While the fudge is coming up to temperature, give the toasted

ginger cake a rough chop.

Chop it down into small pieces,

because when you mix it in with the fudge,

it will melt in a lot quicker.

The fudge will start to bubble like a hot mud pool.

I love it when it gets to this stage.

You feel like it's coming alive now.

OK, we've come up to 116 degrees.

Thermometer out.

We're going to split the mixture.

We'll use a quarter of the plain fudge for the latte topping.

That lovely buttery stuff into there.

That's about it. Back on the heat.

We're also flavouring the fudge with ground coffee.

Add two teaspoons to the pan.

And a teaspoon of regular ground ginger.

Then I'm going to ask you to take that off the heat.

Give yourself a bit of space.

And I want you to beat it.

We're going to bring the temperature down for about a minute.

The faster you beat, the smaller the crystals, the smoother the fudge.

Add the ginger cake to the mixture.

And something truly magical will happen.

As you start to beat, the residual heat in the pan

melts the cake and it falls apart in the pan,

and the smell of the coffee

and the ginger and the spices,

it's just...out of the pan, it's just amazing.

-It's hard work, isn't it?

-Yeah!

This is a two-person job.

Would you like a go?

What you're looking for

is for the mixture to become quite shiny on the surface.

And as it cools, it will start pulling away

from the edge of the pan.

Put the mixture into a lined baking tin.

Look at that! Gorgeous! Sugary, delicious.

Wow! It is just cool enough to taste.

So now, the piece de resistance,

the quarter of the mixture that we left white.

This is the latte on the gingerbread latte fudge.

To give the topping a frothy marbled effect,

swirl it through with a skewer.

I tell you what, you can really taste the butter

coming through, can't you?

-It makes such a difference.

-It's so good.

It would be very easy to continue dipping my finger into this

fabulous fudge,

but if you're patient,

half an hour, and you'll be able to cut it up and eat it properly.

It's fab.

After 30 minutes or so in the fridge, it's ready to be cut and enjoyed.

Mmm! Don't tell Miss H I said so,

but she makes some seriously good fudge.

I heard that! You are lovely,

but not as sweet as my next super-fruity recipe

for a sticky and delicious nougat.

Nougat - also called turron -

has been in constant production since the 15th century

in and around Alicante in southern Spain.

-Wow!

-Blueberry and lemon nougat.

It's got my name on it.

It was Arab invasions which left a legacy of almonds

in much of Spain's confectionery.

And while it's often seen as Christmas treat,

I love it any time of year.

This is my recipe for lemon and blueberry nougat.

If you've ever been left with that dusty piece of nougat

at the bottom of the tin at Christmas, this is nothing like that,

because this nougat is going to totally change your mind.

Nougat is an exceptionally sticky confection,

so after I've lined a tin with baking parchment

I'm adding a layer of rice paper.

Looks like that.

Tastes of absolutely nothing.

You can buy rice paper online or from cake-making supply shops.

It holds everything together. It stops it sliding round.

So we're going to weigh the ingredients.

First, 400g of granulated sugar.

I know it looks like a lot of sugar,

but I look at this as one of my five treats a day.

Next, 50g of liquid glucose.

That's it.

Honey now. It needs 100g.

I think I could actually live on honey.

And finally water -

125ml.

And that's it.

That's all you need at the moment.

Pop the pan on a low heat.

About 15 minutes and the sugar will have all dissolved.

Once the contents of the pan are a rich golden colour

add a thermometer.

Sugar thermometer in.

I need the caramel to reach 125 degrees centigrade.

Mr G?

Could you chop those up for me?

I'm cutting up a 50g piece of candied lemon peel.

It's much better to buy it whole.

In whole pieces, it really retains all that lovely zesty lusciousness.

It's got a great zing to it

and that's what you really want to bring through in this recipe.

It really is worth going on the internet

or jumping on the bus, go to town and search out the best candied peel

that you can find, because it makes a massive difference to the recipe.

Next, put 75g of flaked almonds into a dry frying pan.

I'm just going to heat them

until they are slightly tinged brown on the corners.

The heat brings out all the oils out of the almond

and that's what you're trying to achieve

because this nougat is just full of flavour.

For the next task, we need a mixer.

Almonds are lovely and toasted now and smelling amazing.

It smells like a kitchen full of marzipan over here.

Separate two large eggs and put the whites into a clean mixing bowl.

Make sure the bowl is clean because you don't need any fat in there.

If there's fat in the bowl, your egg whites won't stiffen.

We're looking for stiff peaks, which should take about five minutes.

Take the sugar mixture up to 149 degrees centigrade,

which seems impossibly high.

It will go very dark brown but don't be tempted to stick a spoon in it.

OK, we're at 149 and you've got to work really quickly. Thermometer out.

Stop the cooking by dunking the pan in a bowl of cold water.

And with the mixer running, add the syrup to the egg whites.

Be careful. It is very, very hot.

Oh, it's amazing and it froths up like crazy.

Look at that!

It's like a massive honey cloud in there.

Add a pinch of salt

and mix on a medium speed for about five to eight minutes.

So you need so whisk this now.

As the mixture cools, it gets thicker and thicker.

And as more and more air is whisked into the nougat,

it is transformed into a the whitest cloud of loveliness.

Oh, look at that.

Now for the fun bit.

So a healthy handful of dried blueberries.

Chuck in about three-quarters of the flaked almonds

and chopped candied peel.

You need to work really quickly now

because once the temperature starts to drop,

you won't be able to fold it.

So work really quickly.

Put the nougat into the rice-paper-lined tin

and spread it to the edges.

Handy tip - wetting your knife

really helps smooth the nougat out.

If you don't wet your knife, it'll stick.

So we could leave it there if we really wanted to,

but we're going to add a bit more joy on top.

Sprinkle with white chocolate chips.

The nougat is still warm enough to melt the chocolate in.

And fresh blueberries.

And then the last bit...

..the remaining the toasted almonds.

Look at it - it's like a walk in the park on a snowy day.

I'm really tempted to eat that with a spoon out of the tin right now.

But I'm going to be really patient

and give it half an hour and it will be cool enough to cut into chunks.

So next time you're planning a picnic,

don't just pack the sandwiches and sausage rolls,

have some sticky stuff, too.

I like to imagine that this recipe harks back to the days

when farmers' wives would throw a sack over their shoulders

and head off to market through snow and lashing rain.

Those country ladies would clutch a little leather purse of these

fiery crisps as payment for mackerel candles and donkey cheese.

But today I'm buying fruit.

Pears, I need pears.

I'm going to make the most amazingly simple recipe

with these conference pears.

Wait and see.

I'm paying for the pears in cash

as, unfortunately, Jock the jolly greengrocer

doesn't accept my pear and ginger coins.

Two pears are needed for this recipe.

I'm using the conference variety, but Williams would work too

if you prefer.

They should be firm but ripe, not just for flavour

but so that they can be sliced thinly without turning to mush.

Place the pear slices in a single layer

on a parchment-lined tray.

Stir together one tablespoon of golden caster sugar -

I prefer it because of its light caramel taste -

with one teaspoon of ground ginger.

Cinnamon would also work really well.

Sprinkle the sugar and spice over the pears

and put them in a low oven

at about 110 degrees centigrade for three hours.

The slow baking intensifies the pears' flavour,

so although they look like a wrinkled old fruit,

I promise they taste amazing.

Pop them into paper bags, dust with a little extra spice if you fancy.

Honestly?

They might be too good to share.

But some recipes I just can't keep to myself

and that's certainly the case

for these lush chocolate and cherry truffles.

They look superb.

They're well perky!

-They'd make a great gift.

-Who would you give them to?

-Well, obviously someone really, really nice.

-What, like me?

-Of course!

-Can I have a go?

Oh, I love that. I couldn't eat more than...16.

Outside my school chapel there hung a notice reminding us

young ladies to remove out hats.

As the mumbling nuns wandered past,

I'd look at those red hats hung on their pegs.

The memory inspired these yummy truffles, so here it is,

you lucky people, my recipe for cherry chapel hat pegs.

The first thing to know about this recipe

is that all cherries are NOT equal.

These are my amazing maraschino cherries.

-Er, it's...

-ITALIAN ACCENT:

-..maraschino!

-Maraschino?

-Maraschino?

-What-a you going to do?

-Do you think you're Tony Soprano?

I'd quite like it if he was Tony Soprano!

So I've got my maraschino cherries, from the north of Italy.

I've drained the syrup off and we've put in there an entire

barrel-load of cherry brandy.

They are...

Oooh! They are really quite fabulous.

And it's really important that you search out the right cherry.

It's not a glace cherry, it's not a fresh cherry,

it's not a dried cherry, it's a maraschino cherry.

But if you really can't find them,

you could use a tin or jar of stoned black cherries.

Chop up 200g of dark chocolate.

You'll need a couple of bars. I'm going to chop it up quite finely

because we need it to melt really quickly.

I'm making a ganache here, which is a posh word for a creamy,

buttery chocolate filling.

Eat some chocolate.

Heat 25g of butter

and 200ml of double cream on a medium heat.

I'm just going to bring that up to simmering point.

The cream and butter are simmering away beautifully there -

you pour your butter and your cream over that lovely chocolate.

OK, so our chocolate is melting together beautifully now.

It's lovely.

I'm going to put the brandy I've used to soak the cherries

to very good use.

It would cure the common cold, that would.

Couple of tablespoons...

of the cherry brandy and your maraschino cherries.

And mix it up.

Pop the ganache in the fridge to let it set.

It should take about an hour.

The ganache is set, so...

using two teaspoons,

place bobbles of the ganache onto the baking sheet.

It's nice and firm now so it will hold its shape.

And then the next thing you want to do,

because we want to keep these quite tall and perky,

we're going to do a second row on the top to give these truffles

a bit of height.

Now for the brandy soaked cherries.

Press a whole cherry into the top of each ganache bobble

and it's back in the fridge for 15 minutes or until they're set.

To give the truffles their final coating,

melt 250g of chocolate over simmering water.

I'm going to put my chocolate thermometer in there.

Bring the chocolate up to 42 degrees centigrade and then stir to cool it,

until it drops to 34 degrees.

It's ready to use and will give the chocolates a lovely glossy finish.

-Let's start dipping these chocolates.

-I'm going to!

So off you go.

Posh chocolate makers call this "enrobing".

We just call it dunking in some mighty fine chocolate.

-These are great. Look at that!

-I know. They're fantastic, aren't they?

They just need to set now for a couple of hours.

What are you doing?

Painting them?

Once the chocolate has set to a smooth and shiny finish,

dot the top of each one with a twinkle of edible gold paint.

-They're quite substantial, aren't they?

-Yeah.

I would say they were a little bit bigger than fun-size.

These cherry chapel hat pegs really are the most

perfect chocolates to share with friends.

What's in these, cherries?

Thanks!

-Is that a whole cherry inside?

-Yep.

-It's, like, amazing.

And whatever you do, don't waste that jar of brandy-soaked cherries.

ALL: Cheers!