Sweet Quotes

Quotes to are much like Sweets. They are just a little bit of heaven that you can hold in your hand for a moment. When they are spoken, or eaten, they still linger as a sweet memory and nourish you. Here a handful of sweet quotes about baking and sweets that we want to share with you.

"Never trust a skinny cook", anonymous.

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand", anonymous.

"Broken cookies don't have calories", anonymous.

"You will never get out of pot or pan anything fundamentally better than what went into it. Cooking is not alchemy; there is no magic in the pot." Martha McCulloch-Williams, Author.

"Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music." Julia Child, famous American chef and author.

"When men reach their sixties and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking." Gail Sheehy, a best-selling author.

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." Jim Davis, an American actor.

Sweet Addictions: Baking Cakes

Shortly after mankind figured out a way to make flour from grain, cakes were being made. Writings from medieval England refer to cakes as "flour-based sweet foods" as opposed to bread, which was described as "flour-based foods without sweetening." The things that all cakes have in common are flour, a sweetening agent, and a leavening agent.

There are thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of recipes for cakes. All cakes are made from a combination of sifted flour, some form of fat or shortening, some form of sweetening (refined sugar, honey, molasses, etc.), eggs, milk, a leavening agent, and flavorings.

There are also a great many variations in the pans used for baking cakes. The type of pan used is often directly linked to the type of leavening agent used.

The traditional shape of a cake is round. Of course, not all cakes are round, but it is believed that round is the traditional shape of cakes for a reason. Breads and cakes were used in ancient times in religious ceremonies. They were formed into various shapes according to the religious holiday or observance. Round shapes generally were used to denote the circle of life and the sun and moon.

Today cakes are made and decorated in celebration of important events. Birthday cakes and wedding cakes are two kinds of cakes that are decorated differently to celebrate specific events, although the same type of cake may be used.

Sweet Addictions: Candy Making

Making candy is so much fun and can be enjoyed by adults as well as kids. If you are looking for a fun craft to do with your children, consider making rock candy. Making rock candy is truly an easy candy to make and loads of fun to do. The kids will love to watch the sugar crystals growing to make candy, but they will enjoy eating it more.

Making candy at home has its advantages. You are able to create unique and interesting creations and really make them personal. There are many different candies out there, many of which can be made right at home. If you are not sure what to make, consider your options.

One type of candy you can make at home is hard candy. Hard candy consists almost entirely of sugars with small amounts of flavoring and color. Some common hard candies that you can make at home are peppermint sticks or candy canes, fruit drops, lollipops and clear mints. Another type of candy variety is the soft kind like marshmallows, some jellies, and nougats. These types of candies can also be made from home but require a little more skill. They are made from sugar, but no more than five percent of other ingredients have been added. Cotton candy is a great example of this kind of candy. It is almost pure spun sugar that has been melted with only a small amount of coloring added. Although marshmallows are not thought of as a type of candy, they would fall into this category as well. They are made by whipping air into a mixture of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin and egg whites. The third type of candies contains large proportions of ingredients other than sugars such as fudge, caramels, chocolates, sugar- or chocolate-covered raisins or nuts, and pastes. Marzipan is probably the best known and is made from crushed almonds, sugar, and egg whites. But, chocolate fudge is probably the candy that is most easily made at home. Chocolate fudge is made from corn syrup, sugar, chocolate, vanilla, milk, and butter cooked together until the desired consistency is reached. It then needs to be cooled and allowed to harden.

Both beginning and experienced candy makers can easily find a candy to make that will suit their skill level. Remember not to be too ambitious when you're new to this craft. Try starting with the easiest recipe, like rock candy. And then when you get used to boiling a sugar solution, measuring its temperature, etc., you can try to tackle the more difficult candies like peanut brittle or fudge. By doing this, you’ll learn the little secrets it takes to succeed. For example, you should always make candy on a cool, dry day. Candy is made from sugar, which pulls moisture from the air. So if you tried to make candy on a warm, sticky day, this would make the cooking time increase. Also the sugar substance should boil, not simmer. Otherwise the candy will not harden properly. It is these little things that will make you successful at candy making.

Sweet Addictions: Chocolate History

Of all the ingredients that are used in sweets of all kinds, chocolate is probably the most popular. Who doesn't like chocolate? There are even those of us who refer to ourselves as "chocoholics." Chocolate has been around for more than a few centuries.

An ancient Mayan pot was found with chocolate residue. This tells us that the Mayans drank chocolate 2,600 years ago, and this pot is the oldest record of the use of cacao. Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility, was bribed with chocolate by the Aztecs. A spicy, bitter form of chocolate called xocatl and seasoned with vanilla, chili pepper, and annatto was a favorite drink of the Aztecs. The Aztecs believed that the drink would fight fatigue, and this could be true because of the theobromine content, which is very much like caffeine. In Mesoamerica, before Columbus's day, chocolate was a luxury and the cacao beans were used like money.

Many years after the first chocolate was introduced to the Spanish monarchy and failed to steal their approval, Cortez dared to present then King Charles V with the newfound harvest from the New World making all people become chocolate lovers in the future.

The bittersweet taste of the cocoa inspired very little support from its drinkers until Cortez blew the world away with a discovery that when mixed with sugar and milk, along with many other sweeteners and spices, chocolate can be very enticing! The concoction was revered in the high courts that chocolate was reserved only for the nobility and the Spanish refused to share this delicacy with any other nation.

Dominican Friars who used to process the revered beans finally let the secret out in 1544 and soon took Europe by a storm.

Sweet Chocolate in Paris

Chocolate was introduced to France when Spanish Princess Maria Theresa married Louis XIV of France. As an engagement gift, she gave her fiancé a box of ornately decorated box of chocolates which took the French by the heart. Their marriage must have been maid in chocolate heaven because it was said that King Louis made love twice a day with his wife.

The chocolates aphrodisiac qualities were further recognized by the French nobilities , even their art reflected the dark, tempestuous allure of chocolates. Stories such as that of Casanova using chocolates to seduce his lovers and Madame du Barry becoming nymphomaniac were passed on.

America Greets Sweet Cadbury Chocolates

Europe remains in awe of this delicious treat, meanwhile Americans discover the chocolate and in 1765, the first chocolate factory in America was built. Soon major countries in Europe followed the examples of Spain along with America to establish more factories and find more ways to serve chocolate.

In 1828, it was found that including a little bit of the cocoa butter actually made the chocolate drink a lot smoother. Between 1830's to the late 1840's chocolate makes developed the drink into the solid form and later a fondant was introduced. And so in 1849, the Cadbury Brothers put into exhibit their decadent chocolate creations in Birmingham, England.

The Sweet Swiss Takes the Chocolate Lead

After many years of dedicated study on how to process the cocoa, the Swiss discovered a way to cook the chocolate by means of refining it via 'conching'. It took about 72 hours of continues rolling and refining. Soon after, putting the chocolate in your mouth, it melts; thus the known texture today. It was a Swiss too that discovered a means to add flavor to the chocolate by filling it.

Whatever kind of chocolate you have with you today is a result of many years of devotion to the xocoatl. Men before us have been captured and tempted to their cores that those who followed only continued what they long worked for – to make the chocolate the staple that it is today. What started out as mere beans that men barely noticed has become a valued treat, the creamy, lustful and rich sweets that chocolate lovers will die for!

Today chocolate is used in almost every sweet confection imaginable.