Sweets? Hmmm

Confectionary...? My thoughts on 'Sweets Made Simple'
In all my years of cooking and baking (since I was seven), I have rarely attempted sweets. In fact, it was only once, when I made sticky chocolate fudge. Sticky, even though it wasn't meant to be, because I used milk chocolate instead of dark. In all fairness, I was nine years old. Sweets have never appealed to me. Even now, sugary penny sweets and jelly Haribo cola bottles make me cringe. So when 'The Biscuit Tin' told me to watch 'Sweets Made Simple', I made a half-assed intention to watch it later. Having got a chance about a week later, I watched it. It was what I expected, big pretty kitchen done up in twee pastels (imagine Morticia Addams going 'Pastellsss? with that eyebrow raise), little round man with a fancy moustache, pretty lady wearing polka dots melting chocolate, making lots of 'mmm' noises and calling each other cute names such as 'Mr. Gee' and 'Miss H'... I was surprised to find, in this instance, that it worked. Boy did it just. The episode is studded with random and interesting bits of trivia, and contains recipes and ideas that are certainly intriguing.
First up was 'English Almond Butter Toffee'. This recipe certainly sounds and looks delicious, if a bit generic. After all, who hasn't made toffee? Sugar, butter, chocolate, almonds... pretty generic right? But by no means should it be dismissed. However, I wanted to discover something more interesting. And interesting it did get. The second recipe featured beautiful 'Seashell Caramels', rich dark chocolate, creamy looking salted caramel, and white chocolate to complete them. I'll certainly be trying them out! The third recipe, though, is one that really intrigued me: 'Popcorn Espresso Macchiato Balls'. Although it irks me to say this, I've never thought of putting coffee with popcorn! Honey and chilli, certainly, maple and cinnamon, butter, vanilla syrup, toffee, salted popcorn... I've made and eaten and definitely enjoyed them all... but coffee? No, never. So that struck me as particularly interesting. And the part of the programme I absolutely loved (although it wasn't directly related to sweets) was the coffee brewery, Volcano coffee situated in South East London, one of UK's top artisan coffee makers. When they started talking about coffee tasting, I wanted to tumble headlong through the screen and join in. Sadly, technology hasn't made it that far yet, but I have high hopes... Anyway, buttery popcorn balls with white chocolate and melted marshmallows, and a sprinkle of ground coffee? That certainly looks and sounds fantastic. I'm itching to give these a go! 
The fourth recipe was one for 'Gin and Lime Truffles', made with dark chocolate. As a person who does not drink or ingest alcohol at all, the intricacies of the flavours of this recipe were lost on me. For those of you who do ingest alcohol, I'll just leave the link here for you to try.
The fifth and final recipe looked delightful: 'Raspberry Marshmallows' I can just imagine how it tastes, the sweet marshmallows with wonderful bursts of tangy fresh raspberries... mmm. The one thing I wondered at was, by serving marshmallow slices with a white chocolate sauce, wouldn't it all be overwhelmingly, sickeningly sweet? Well, I'll just have to try it and see.
Overall, I was surprised by how much I actually  enjoyed the pastel shaded vintage 'twee-ness' of this programme, from the lovely fairy-tale like kitchen, to the lovely couple's outfits, and of course, not forgetting the brilliant recipes. I eagerly await the second episode. It certainly promises to be something!
It is definitely time to invest in a sugar thermometer...