Kendal mint cake -long life food

[Motorbike Man]

Uhuh but men make the best tablet, not women. HWMBLT has gone to bed but I'll ask him to write out the recipe tomorrow and pass it on. It's incredibly sweet but absolutely glorious stuff. Gavin's recipe uses butter and condensed milk and sugar.
I've got a recipe somewhere for Kendal mint cake too. It's just a boiled fondant.
Shall I find it too?
Cheers,Toddy

Yes please I don't often eat Kendall Mint cake, but every now and then, I get a craving for it and have to nip down to OBs just down the road

 

[arctic hobo]

I remember running low on rations and after emptying out packs on a snowy mountain we made 'Kendal Mint Toddy'.

1. take cup of hot water
2. add kendal mint cake
3. add contents of hip flask
4. drink and be merry

You're not the only one... happy days

 

[Motorbike Man]

Uhuh but men make the best tablet, not women. HWMBLT has gone to bed but I'll ask him to write out the recipe tomorrow and pass it on. It's incredibly sweet but absolutely glorious stuff. Gavin's recipe uses butter and condensed milk and sugar.
I've got a recipe somewhere for Kendal mint cake too. It's just a boiled fondant.
Shall I find it too?
Cheers,Toddy

Any news on those recipes Toddy?

 

[Toddy]

Ooops sorry.
First full day off in ages and I'm still trying to catch up on all of the things I've promised to do.
I'll get the tablet recipe posted tomorrow. Meanwhile.....boiled sugar fondant.

150 ml water
450 gms granulated or caster sugar
As much cream of tartar as you can hold between thumb and first two fingers dissolved in less that a teaspoonful of hot water
Half a teaspoonful of peppermint or spearmint essence or 10 drops essential oil.

Use a heavy based pot with deep sides. Add water and begin to heat. Pour in sugar and stir until it dissolves; use a metal spoon. Make sure you get all of the crystals around the pot dissolved too.
Bring the syrup slowly to the boil and then add the cream of tartar.
The mixture has to be brought to the boil temperature that is known as "soft ball". That is between 113 to 116 oC on a sugar thermometer or if a little of the syrup is dropped into a cup of cold water it makes a soft ball which can be lifted out of the water. Once it reaches this stage remove the pot from the heat and set aside until the bubbles stop.

Now comes the tricky part If you don't have marble slab (if you do, wet it a little) use a stainless steel surface or I have used a scrubbed worktop, granny used the girdle (that's griddle to the rest of the world, ) Pour the syrup out onto the surface and as soon as a kind of skin forms at the edges start to stir the mix with a metal spatula. Use the kind of swirly motion you see for the flourish at the bottom of a page of fountain pen written on paper. A kind of figure of eight. The syrup will firm up to a white paste as it is cools and as it's worked. If you keep working it (time to use your hands here) it'll become like a smooth thick shiny icing. At this stage add the mint flavouring and mix really well. Add a couple of drops of colouring if desired too.

Roll out and cut to shape. Lay out on an icing sugar dusted tea towel or some kind of nonstick paper and leave in a warm dry place overnight. It will slowly harden out. When it's as firm as you'd like dip it into melted Green & Black's (if you've gone to all that effort, trust me, you won't want cheap chocolate!) or Galaxy or Milky Bar and let it set.

I've no idea how long it might last, I think my record is about a fortnight

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Motorbike Man]

Cheers Toddy

 

[Toddy]

Okay, this is the original Gavin recipe.....and he's just made a potful There's a wonderful smell in the house.

Tablet Recipe

Ingredients
1kg bag of sugar
½ can of sweetened condensed milk
125g of butter
1 cup of milk or water
Method
Butter a tray ready for the tablet.
Have a mug of cold water ready for testing
Put all the ingredients in a high sided pan.
Stir continuously on a medium heat until all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up a bit.
Boil stirring continuously until when some of the tablet is dropped into cold water and you push it with your finger it forms a soft ball.
The tablet should be light coloured not brown. It is better to take it off the heat too early rather than too late. You can always reheat it if its too soft.
Stir the tablet vigorously until it becomes thick . If you cool the pan in cold water this saves you getting a sore arm.
Pour the tablet into the buttered tray to set.
Enjoy scraping out the pot.
Bribe somebody else to do the washing up.


Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Motorbike Man]

MMmmmmmm, I can't wait to give that a go

 

[innocent bystander]

Oooohh. Thats almost fudge :

1 tin of condensed milk
1/2 pack of marge
1lb of sugar.

Chuck it in a pan in that order and boil it, constantly stirring until the mix comes away from the pan. Add vanilla essence, rum, raisins or whatever you fancy, and keep going some more. Pour into a tray and allow to cool.
Very sweet. Very moreish. And when just right it literally dissolves in your mouth. And i am going to make some this arvo...

 

[Shewie]

Okay, this is the original Gavin recipe.....and he's just made a potful There's a wonderful smell in the house.

Tablet Recipe

Ingredients
1kg bag of sugar
½ can of sweetened condensed milk
125g of butter
1 cup of milk or water
Method
Butter a tray ready for the tablet.
Have a mug of cold water ready for testing
Put all the ingredients in a high sided pan.
Stir continuously on a medium heat until all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up a bit.
Boil stirring continuously until when some of the tablet is dropped into cold water and you push it with your finger it forms a soft ball.
The tablet should be light coloured not brown. It is better to take it off the heat too early rather than too late. You can always reheat it if its too soft.
Stir the tablet vigorously until it becomes thick . If you cool the pan in cold water this saves you getting a sore arm.
Pour the tablet into the buttered tray to set.
Enjoy scraping out the pot.
Bribe somebody else to do the washing up.


Cheers,
Toddy

Excellent


It took some finding but it was worth it.


Can this same recipe be done with normal milk Toddy ? I'll just save me a trip to Morrisons that's all.

 

[Toddy]

Ah wondered where that had gone

It would be better with evaporated milk and sugar rather than just ordinary milk tbh. It's a taste thing.
I have done it using dried milk.........long time ago, and it was full fat dried milk which we can't get nowadays I just made it up extra extra concentrated. I know someone who used slightly out of date baby milk too.

Only one way to find out I suppose
Let us know how you get on ?

cheers,
M

 

[Shewie]

I can't be bothered going to Morrisons tonight so I'll walk down to the offy a bit later on.

Tip-Top or Carnation do the trick ?

 

[Toddy]

I think I'd try the evap.
When I was little and folks found the tablet making expensive they used a recipe called Swiss Milk Fudge.
I know that that used very little other than milk and sugar, I think there was half a can of evaporated milk went into it and a bit of vanilla essence.........I'll have a trawl through the old sweetie books and see if I can find a recipe. That might give a better idea of the ingredients that could be used other than condensed milk.

cheers,
Mary

 

[Toddy]

Okay, I sort of found one online, sounds like the stuff I remember. It was okay, but not my Mum's (or Gavin's ) tablet.

Granulated Sugar, Thin cream or Milk, Vanilla Essence.
Put into a large pan 2 lb of granulated sugar and 3 teacups of Milk or Cream. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Let it boil for a few minuets. Again take the mix to the soft Ball stage at about 240 f, remove the pan from the heat, and add the vanilla essence. Place pan into basin of cold water and stir vigorously, the edges will start to set make sure you scrape them off and mix into the tablet, this is what gives tablet it’s special texture. Keep stirring until the mix is grainy throughout. This only comes with practice and if you don’t succeed the first time just reheat and start again. Pour into greased tins and mark with a knife. Feel free to add any flavour you like at the end, or nuts or fruit etc.

cheers,
Mary

 

[scrogger]

I wish I was your dentist Rich, I would be ordering my new ferrari about now!!.

 

[Toddy]

My younger bother came home on leave and brought one of his army mates with him. HWMBLT made tablet........they scoffed the lot and took away another batch with them to their billet.
The next day I got a phone call from a coin op phone asking for the recipe.
They tried seven times to create the perfect tablet and in the process totally trashed their kitchen area and left their entire section on a sugar rush like three year olds

Tablet making becomes addictive I've found.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Shewie]

I wish I was your dentist Rich, I would be ordering my new ferrari about now!!.

Got my first appointment in nearly seven years on October 6th, not looking forward to it.

Gave it a go tonight though so we'll see how it looks in the morning.

Chucked it all in ...

Could only get it up to around 230f with our naff halogen hob so I cooled it and re-warmed it a few times before it started to thicken up.

Looks right enough and the textures good, the almond and vanilla seems to work too

Just need to clean the cooker now as it's covered in solid ball lumps of previously low flying molten sugar.

 

[Matt.S]

I'd been meaning to try making tablet for a little while and this thread reminded me, so I got off my backside and made a half-kilo while cooking dinner. Unless I've done something wrong (not unlikely) it's basically good quality fudge but a little harder; more like Kendal mint cake than fudge, texture-wise. Very rich, so much so that I can't eat much at a go, but I'm sure ideal for when you need calories in a compact, tasty, longlife and quick package.

I modded the recipe a little which may account for its slightly darker colour than as reported; I used brown sugar (as I had a lot on hand) and replaced the condensed milk with a big dollop of powdered (didn't want to open the tin just to use 1/4), and just guestimated the milk (whole, none of this white water rubbish).

 

[Shewie]

Unless I've done something wrong (not unlikely) it's basically good quality fudge but a little harder; more like Kendal mint cake than fudge, texture-wise. Very rich, so much so that I can't eat much at a go, but I'm sure ideal for when you need calories in a compact, tasty, longlife and quick package.

Sounds perfect Matt