Apple Pie Caramel, ‘Edible Wrapper’
Specialty Equipment: petri dishes
Specialty Ingredients: spray-dried apple granules, glucose, malic acid, powdered gelatine 200 Bloom, glycerine
Days: 2
Dish as in The Fat Duck:
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
As a welcome relief there are a couple of ‘easy’ dishes in The Fat Duck Cookbook. The ‘Apple Pie Caramel’ is one of those dishes. I saved these ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards for the ‘ I Can’t Take it No More’ moments. In the past I’ve pushed on when this came up, leading to mistakes and therefore more frustration.
The search for short ribs, plus cooking them for 3 days took a big chunk out of my spirit, wich made the caramels a perfect reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel. Service announcement: whining will stop.
Making the caramel is as straightforward as the Fat Duck recipes get. You have to mix spray-dried apple granules with cream and bring it to the boil. In another pan you have to boil sugar, glucose, apple juice, salt, malic acid and butter to 150˚C. When the latter comes to that temperature the former has to be added in three stages. I had some problems with the granules and cream, because the spray-dried apple soaked up all the cream, making it impossible to dissolve the granules in the cream. To make sure it was all well mixed I used a hand-held blender to incorporate the granules/cream mixture in the caramel.
From light to dark, took about fifteen minutes (stir constantly or it will burn).
My introduction to edible wrappers came with the grapefruit lolly. It didn’t go to well. To avoid any problems I followed the instructions to the letter. I hunted down Petri dishes, weighed everything twice and outed a Hail Mary.
Drying the soon to be (hopefully) wrappers.
For a moment I thought I was fucked, because the wrappers are very thin and could easily go unnoticed, even when you’ve just spend some time preparing them. It’s also a bit tricky to get them off the dishes. What worked for me is pulling a long strip off the side, so you have a large area to start with when pulling the wrapper.
Of all the wrapper 50% didn’t come off well, like the one below.
The caramel cut in small blocks. I put the caramel in the fridge to firm up and make them easier to handle.
Wrapping everything up (lame!).
The caramels are a bit like small tarte tatins. Tasty, can’t really say more on them, the wrappers make it something worth serving to others. I think it is safe to say no one would expect homemade edible wrappers (probably edible wrappers in general), so serving them and then watch people unwrapping them is a good practical joke. I did it and found it hilarious. Hm, maybe I have to get out more…
Your pics are getting better each time….Great effect
Thanks.
How large are your spray dried apple granules?
I ask because all I could find at MSK was spray dried apple powder, and I wondered if that would work with this, and the other recipes which use spray dried apple.
cheers
doris
He Doris, check out the third photo of this post (including the ‘as in the fat duck’ one) or a couple from the Cox’s Apple recipe. The apple granules I used from MSK came in powdered form and I found them leading to unsatisfactory results. Especially in the Flaming Sorbet recipe the sorbet mixture became too thick, because of the granules I used (see the post).
Hi I may be asking to much but would you be able to post the recipe for the edible wrappers? If so do you think it would be able to suceed using plain gelatine?
Thankyou
Oli W
Sorry, no can do. I don’t send out actual recipes. Get the slimmed down version of the book man, it’s a freaking steal!
Regarding the gelatine, I’ve wondered from the start of the blog what the difference is between powdered and leaf gelatine (besides the preparation methods), but never found info on it in the book, so I can’t tell you why powdered gelatine is used in this recipe and if leaf gelatine would work.
hi was just wondering what size petri dishes u used ?
Hi Ashley, I used 8.5cm (3.3″) Petri dishes.
ok ive just tried the edible wrappers and they didnt work stuck round the sides but no liquid in the middle must of not let them settle properly lol gonna try again any tips would be greatly appreciated
He, the first time I had some trouble with the wrappers, because I didn’t follow the recipe to the letter.
All the advice I have is to really use Petri dishes (with about the same diameter as mentioned in the book) and let the gelatin mixture dry until it appears nothing remains. I almost thought I messed up my second attempt at the wrappers, but just scratch the edges of the dishes and you can pry off the very thin wrapper.
Do you think you can replace the spray dried apples with something else? Maybe a dry apple puree?
Yeah, I think ‘regular’ apple powder would work. Spray-dried apple granules are dried without heat, so retain end up with a different flavor profile than powder made by drying apples with heat. I would watch out with apple puree, because you will alter the fluid levels of the recipe.
You could also make your own powder by drying slices of apples and blitzing them. Again, good luck.
the edible wrappers worked this time lol thank you went down a storm 😀
Hey , I’ve ordered 9cm petri dishes and the specialty ingredient needed to make the apple pie caramels.
The recipe calls for pressed unfiltered apple juice, but I can’t seen to find any. Can I ask what type of apple juice you used ?
Could I use just pressed apple juice or could I juice some Apples in a juicer ?
Pressed, unfiltered apple juice is the type you can find over here in every grocery store. Stay away from the super sweet, clear, sort of golden apple juice made from (I think) apple concentrate. You should have no problem finding some.
Look for the list of ingredients and it should say ‘apple juice’ and a maximum of one or two other ingredients. Look at the second photo (including the as in the Fat Duck photo) for an example bottle.
Were can i get spray dried apple granules
hi, i was just wondering when you put the petri dishes under the parchment paper to set did you put the lids on aswell? pb
No, don’t do that! That’s where the parchment paper is for.
Awesome blog. I got the book (2 copies actually!) for xmas and so this site will help me out no end.
Couple of very quick questions if I may:
1) Roughly what size was the tin you used to cool the caramels? I don’t want to end up with them being too “short” / “tall”
2) I think I’m using the same spray dried apple as you (from MSK Ingredients). Would it be worth adding the powder gradually until you get the right consistency and then stop adding, or is it best to stick to the recipe regardless of the problem with the powder?
Thanks in advance. No doubt I’ll be bugging you again in the near future 🙂
2 copies?
I think I used a 15cmx20cm tray, but I may have adjusted the ingredients needed, so just weigh out what you’re gonna use and fill the desired tin with water to see what height it takes on.
I’m positive the granules from MSK are different from the ones used at The Fat Duck. The apple sorbet and the apple fluid gel were pretty thick, really had the feeling they were not as supposed to be: the apple fluid gel from the Cox’s Apple recipe didn’t need any gellan to thicken, so go with your instinct (that’s all I can tell you). My advice: don’t stick to the recipe!
Good luck and later.
Heh, yeah. My parents bought me a copy and so did my brother. It seems they know me well, but don’t confer on ideas 🙂 I gave the second copy back to my brother so he can have a try at some of the recipes.
It seems odd that spray dried apple powders can differ so much. I would have thought the manufacturing process would always be the same. I’ll try adding the powder gradually until I have a thick (but not solid) paste and see how it comes out. I’ll let you know the remainder of the weight if it comes out OK; it might be useful to warn people on the blog who are thinking of making this and (like us) can only get our hands on the MSK powder.
Thanks again for posting all your findings in such detail. If I do visit Amsterdam again or if you are in the East Anglia region of the UK then I’ll have to buy you a pint (or four).
(@Craig, better late than never) Juice your own fresh apple juice or use store-bought pressed unfiltered? In this recipe (and in the flaming sorbet) the apple juice is boiled, so either fresh or pasteurized juice should give pretty much the same result. What surprised me is that the variety of apple used for the juice (or the granules for that matter) is actually ignored. Some apples taste much more sour than others- thus you probably shouldn’t generalize how much malic acid to use for the recipes (in other words: trust your taste buds).
When last year I set out to make an apple sorbet with fresh apples, I found that the blindly using the indicated amount of malic acid was too much, so I needed to sweeten it up just to balance things out.
“I gave the second copy back to my brother so he can have a try at some of the recipes.” Cruel, cruel man! haha
I thought it was odd too, but both the sorbet and apple fluid gel mixture were really thick, it has to be a different one. You can see the granules on the Christmas episode of ISOP and they look different from the ones from MSK (spend too much time on this thing).
I’ll be waiting for the beers. Have had a number of offers for refreshments, but it never materialised in actual pints in front of me in a pub!
BTW, did you check this post? I’ll add the apple granules. https://thebigfatundertaking.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/48-possible-discrepancies/
where did you find the freeze dried apple granuals?
We used MSK, but as the OP said, they may not be the right type.
http://www.msk-ingredients.com/
Oh man, I totally naffed this one up! A little worrying considering it’s one of the easiest recipes in the book. OK, so here’s what went wrong so everyone else can learn from my fail:
Firstly, you are totally right about the MSK apple powder. I had absolutely no idea how hygroscopic it was. When it first arrived I opened the jar to have a quick look and make sure everything was in order. It was; a nice fine free-flowing powder, so I sealed it up again. Upon opening it for this recipe it had turned into a solid mass from the 1 minute it had been exposed to air! I managed to scrape the required amount back into a bowl to weigh it.
I took heed of your warning and only used 80g instead of 110g, but I still had the same problem. The powder sucked up all the water in the cream and the fat from the cream quickly separated out. I think in the future I’m going to take the required amount (e.g. 110g) and make half of that water and half of it apple powder (e.g. add 55g of water to the cream and then add 55g of the apple powder).
Next fail: I realised as I started heating the other ingredients that my little food thermometer only goes to 110C, so I had to guess when it was hot enough, which I obviously got wrong because the end result was far too soft. I’ve since ordered a better kitchen thermometer.
Also, presumably because of the problem with the apple powder, the apple / cream mix would NOT dissolve properly in the caramel, leaving a grainy texture behind which was totally unacceptable.
To top it all off, I mistook greaseproof paper for baking parchment, leaving the soft, grainy caramel fixed permanently to the paper. Honestly, how much can you get wrong with one simple recipe? I’m going to try again soon and I’ll report back on how well the 50/50 powder mix goes. I’m somewhat embarrased that I managed to bodge this up but thought I’d post here anyway to help anyone else thinking of doing this recipe.
I feel your pain. 🙂
Just a quick bit of advice reguarding the edible wrappers. I found that a pair of tweezers is perfect to get the wrappers out of the petre dishes. you just have to teeze an edge away and they have come out great( my 2nd attempt at them mind you)
Thanks for posting all of the information. We have just made them and so far so good. The wrappers are coming away and the caramel is firming up in the fridge. Just wanted to let you know that we used a Heston recipe using apple juice, yeast and cream of tartar rather than apple powder. Tastes great and not too far from the real thing.
I’ve tried the edible wrappers a few times now and always get the same result: the gel mixture seems to pool around the edges, leaving nothing in the middle. I use normal, online purchased standard petri dishes and it happens in each instance. Anyone else encountered this? Im using standard, powdered gelatine and a drop of glycerine (as per the recepie). Thanks.
The recipe needs more than just one drop of glycerine, which I’m guessing you’re using.
Try 4-5 and it’ll work.
Hello Frank, one possible explanation is that you’re over-heating the gelatine solution and it breaks the glycerin molecules. No need to boil it, 50 degrees should be far enough to melt the gelatin. Good luck!
I adore the site layout ! How do you make it!? Its rather sweet.
Hi! Your site is really interesting. Can you tell me how long the edible wrappers keep?
Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea. Good luck with them.
Ok. Thanks!
I followed the recipe in the “Heston at home” book. only I used non-alcoholic Malt Wine Juice I got from a local popular super market (next to the apple/orange juice cartons) and the result was “Mince Pie” flavour 😉
Hi, I can’t get my edible wrappers to set. Is there any thing you can suggest. They just won’t dry?
Hi, great blog! Just wondering how long the wrappers keep for? I’m planning on giving these a go for my wedding and hoping I can get them out of the way a few weeks in advance. Thoughts?
All these hints have been fantastic.. Caramels were easy but first attempt at wrappers, I only managed one out of 20! Tweezers sound a good idea, thank you all.
C