By Megan Mansell Williams

Dessert comes first for Anita Chu (B.S.’98, M.S.’99 CEE), professional pastry chef and author of the Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable, just released in October from Quirk Books. Like Chu’s 2008 Field Guide to Cookies, the new volume provides a description and history of each treat as well as useful tips for sticky situations. Also a San Francisco structural engineer who designs medical centers, Chu brings a scientific approach to her culinary creations. She doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that making candy and confections can be tricky.

“Most candies involve working with sugar and chocolate,” she says. “It’s a precise science. Make sure you have an accurate thermometer.” Here, she offers the low-down on a few of her favorite sweets, just in time for your holiday gift giving or party.

Visit Chu’s blog, Dessert First: dessertfirst.typepad.com.

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Truffles
“Ganache is chocolate that’s been melted and combined with butter. The secret is to emulsify properly. Otherwise it will stay separated, kind of like making vinaigrette, and you don’t get that nice, soft texture because it could be gritty or have streaks of unincorporated butter. I’ve found the most effective tool is a stick blender; a wooden spoon isn’t as efficient and incorporates a lot of air.”

 

 

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Peppermint candies
“When you pour the mixture onto a surface, it hardens into a sheet and looks like shiny red glass. You’re heating sugar and water and don’t want crystals. Don’t stir! Leave it alone as it’s cooking, and add corn syrup to inhibit crystallization. Add color and flavoring after it’s cooled some, or the flavorings will evaporate, especially if they’re alcohol based.”

 

 

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Almond buttercrunch
“For the chocolate layer, you have to temper the chocolate so it has a glossy finish and snaps cleanly. If you don’t, it sets into a dull, streaky mass. The reason is that the cocoa butter molecules must be crystallized in a certain way. Most professionals have special machines for this, but at home, you can use the seeding method. Put a piece of solid, unmelted, tempered chocolate into your melted chocolate to encourage the proper crystallization.”

 

 

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Taffy
“Taffy is a sugar solution. It’s not clear because we’re agitating it by pulling, making it crystallize so it becomes opaque. It’s really hot when you first cook it, so you put it onto a greased pan and use a bench scraper to turn it in on itself until it starts to cool. Then you can start pulling it by hand. When it really starts to resist, after about 20 minutes, you cut it into pieces.”

 

 

 

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Fudge
“Most candies can become grainy if you let the cooking sugar crystallize, but with fudge you want this. The key is to control the crystallization for small, even crystals that give the fudge its smooth and creamy texture. After the ingredients are cooked, let them cool to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit; then stir to start the crystallization process. If you start stirring when it’s too hot, you get big, hard crystals that don’t taste good, don’t look good and don’t feel good in the mouth.”