2005 Food Blog Awards, and Another Sweet Surprise

I woke up this morning to an incredibly pleasant surprise - Kuidaore has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Best Food Photography category of the 2005 Food Blog Awards! I am immensely thankful to everyone who nominated me, not to mention very honoured to be in the company of the other blogs - and how very fabulous they all are! - named. If you have a moment to spare, check out all the wonderful categories and terrific blogs nominated in each at the 2005 Food Blog Awards or click here to cast your vote.

On a completely separate note, it must be my lucky day. My battered old candy thermometer finally died an untimely death - thanks to my inordinate clumsiness - whilst I was following the Honey Walnut Tart recipe in Alice Medrich's book, Chocolate Holidays (the recently revised edition of the title previously published as A Year in Chocolate). The honey and sugar syrup for the filling had to be brought to hard crack stage at 305˚F before the butter and cream are added to produce a toffee mixture which is cooked to firm ball stage at 246˚F. I had to guess at both stages via sight and smell - for a pedant like me, this is the stuff of kitchen nightmares. As the tart, essentially an Engadiner Nusstorte dressed up in gilded chocolate glaze, was a double-crusted affair, I was kept in gripping suspense about the state of the enclosed filling right up to the moment of truth, the slicing and serving. It was hard to tell what the chances were I had completely missed the critical 10 degree window of firm ball-dom (245 to 255˚F), that the tart would be a real dog's breakfast to serve, the filling either too soft from undercooking or too hard from overcooking - accurate temperature readings ensure the perfect chewy-yet-creamy texture. Very fortunately, the tart turned out as hoped - short, buttery pastry encasing a honey and cream enriched caramel filling that's delectably taffy-like, generously studded with toasted walnuts.