Cranberry Clusters
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 1/4 cups chopped best-quality white chocolate
- Special equipment: a candy thermometer
- Combine the sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Increase the heat to high and, without stirring, cook until the syrup is golden amber or until a candy thermometer reads between 250 to 265 degrees F (hard-ball stage), about 10 minutes (see Cook's Note*).
- Promptly remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Working quickly, drop 3 cranberries into the caramel.
- Use 2 forks to coat the cranberries completely in the syrup and pull together into a cluster.
- Place the cranberry cluster on a waxed paper lined baking tray.
- Repeat with the remaining cranberries.
- Reheat the syrup briefly over low heat if it starts to thicken.
- Let the clusters cool to harden.
- Melt the white chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl over barely simmering water.
- Stir constantly with a rubber spatula until the white chocolate is almost completely melted.
- Be careful that no moisture gets into the chocolate, or it will harden.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and allow the white chocolate to cool slightly.
- Dip the bottom of the cranberry cluster into the white chocolate and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet to set for approximately 20 minutes.
- Place clusters in paper candy cups and store in an airtight container.
- *Cook's Note: To determine hard-ball stage without a candy thermometer, remove the pot from the heat and dip the bottom of the pot in water to stop the mixture from cooking further.
- Carefully spoon a drop of the hot syrup mixture into ice-cold water.
- It should mold easily into a ball in the water and should retain its shape when removed from the water.
- The ball should be sticky and fairly resistant to pressure outside the water but not crunchy.
sugar, water, fresh cranberries, white chocolate, thermometer
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cranberry-clusters-recipe.html (may not work)