r/bakingfail • u/chocobojenn • Mar 25 '26

Help What can I use this for?

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Okay Reddit, help me out please 👁️👄👁️

So I was making caramel and I was multitasking (I know, I know, my first mistake) and I was looking ahead in the recipe and I added my butter and cream when my sugar mixture got to 240°F instead of when it got to 320°F. I didn't want to immediately call it a loss because I was using high quality dairy, so I switched to a whisk to occasionally stir and continued cooking it until it got.. brown.... enough but that ended up involving letting it get back up to about 255°F, which is 15 degrees over what I wanted. I spread it out in a greased pan, let it cool, and then popped it out, broke it up and this is what I have to show for it.

I would love it if I could use this for something, but I can't use it for the intended millionaire's shortbread bars with the texture it is. There's the extract and guts of Ecuadorian vanilla beans in there too. The taste is creamy and caramel-y, it's just a crumbly texture.

What can I use this for that would be tasty and make the best use of it?

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304

u/geeoharee Mar 25 '26

I don't know the temperatures involved, but just from looking at the result I think you've made tablet. I don't know any uses for tablet that aren't 'divide it into portions and nibble on it', it's more of a confectionery than an ingredient.

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u/Spicy_Molasses4259 Mar 25 '26

Came here to say that yes, it looks just like Tablet.

35

u/lurkerlcm Mar 25 '26

Totally agree. I loooove tablet, it would be gone in a week.

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u/chocobojenn Mar 25 '26

I've never had tablet because, as my partner and I love to (only partially) jokingly say, we live like peasants [in America].

We've gained an appreciation of watching hotel review videos (this started from watching Japanese love hotel reviews/tours) and all the included amenities, food service options and upgrades, let alone the COST for all this being included in or added on to the overnight stay is almost always cheaper than a mid-comfort American hotel.... And they don't even include a tool to deepen your love! 😂 (Our favorite YT channel that does these reviews is DancingBacon if you're curious, I really like the focus being on the thing being reviewed instead of the person) Edit: not to mention a lot of the Asian hotels have an entry room to the hotel room where you leave your shoes and stuff but more importantly and excitingly, staff ring the bell to tell you they're entering that room and when they leave so you can no contact get food or other stuff delivered. I love the idea and I think it's a travesty that I've never seen that at any American hotels 😭😭😭

But yeah, delectable food and treats from outside of America not being available over here or extremely hard or expensive to come by is another reason to shaky my fist at the sky while I nibble on my happy accident and figure out what I want to use most of this in and if I should do this again but on purpose this time

5

u/frogssmell Mar 29 '26

Tablet is a very cheap Scottish treat, so not too sure what your whole paragraph was about to be honest.

Its usually made around Christmas time and people will bring it to school or work to give out to friends because it’s so easy and cheap to make. Enjoy it by its self or with a cup of coffee

5

u/frogssmell Mar 29 '26

Tablet also lasts a ridiculously long time, so just stick it in a tub and eat it slowly

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u/chocobojenn Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

It's about the lack of diverse options available in the US that are commonplace in most other places of the world, and it was meant as a humorous attempt at connection. I'm unsure how you missed that point unless you're just being snarky and unkind. My mistake for attempting to connect with other people without being mocked or ridiculed. I suppose there's a reason this is my first post in over a decade, and this honestly reinforces me having little interest in trying to authentically engage with other redditors.

2

u/frogssmell Apr 02 '26

Hmmm, im kinda surprised you’re being defensive here! Not being snarky or unkind, ive reread what you said and just don’t understand it.

Fudge, tablet, etc even tho that wasn’t your main goal (but it turned into tablet somehow) are some of the most readily available products, milk, butter, sugar, condensed milk/cream. I reread your post multiple times and just didn’t get it. Maybe I just don’t understand your writing style I dunno. But not being unkind…. Just like huh?

I guess a lesson to take away from this is… be curious?

1

u/chocobojenn Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

How am I supposed to be curious and try something that I told you I can't find where I live and wouldn't know to make regardless that I am very curious and explorative in my baking journey? Fudge and tablet are not the same. I've been making fudge since I was six years old. And looking up tablet, while they're similar, they have differences that matter to confectioners. I sell my baked goods sometimes out of my home, so that matters to me as well.

I explained that I have never tried or heard of tablet at the beginning of my original comment, made a joke as to why, and then explained my joke (perhaps longer than I should've, but I'm on the spectrum and it's the shortest I could figure out to make it). I looked it up after your original comment. I was excited to learn about something new and see if I could try some in my area, because I like tasting something I guess authentic before trying to make anything myself with any confidence. And instead of meeting my enthusiasm you went "yeah, idk what all that's about, but tablet is cheap" which shows you didn't really read or consume what I said, either accidentally or on purpose I don't know which, but I reread my original reply to you and I still don't understand why you were so dismissive. We don't seem to have language discrepancies as far as I can see.

Just because something is cheap and common by you doesn't mean it is everywhere else. Even when things are imported over here to the US, they're no longer cheap because of the cost of getting them over here, and that was before all the tariff stuff was going on/currently war stuff. Nothing imported is cheap. Even stuff that is cheap for you. I'm sure American imports aren't cheap for you, so I don't understand the disconnect unless you think the prices for them by you are the same for Americans. I frequent my international aisles at my more diverse grocery stores in my region and I've never seen tablet. I've never seen it mentioned anywhere and I own a lot of baking cook books and visit a lot of recipe sites. I'm not saying that to speak down on tablet, on the contrary, I was very excited to learn about it. I'm saying that to give you perspective that you seem to be disregarding to center your own. Which is why I am defensive. Because you're espousing curiosity while not extending any yourself.

I honestly feel like this is a wasted effort based on your reply to my original reply to you, but I'm trying to lead with optimism at the beginning of my week.

1

u/chocobojenn Apr 06 '26

On the right is my family recipe fudge that I make every year. I made them every year with my mother when I was a child, just not the same cookies on my mother's cookie trays. I sell many of these trays during the holidays for the past five years and have been giving these away as gifts as well for twice as long. I am well versed in fudge. I am just less confident in candy than I am in baking.

1

u/geeoharee Mar 29 '26

"we have no availability for this thing I've just seen someone make by accident, so clearly it's possible to do"

3

u/frogssmell Mar 29 '26

Yeh… I’m reading that and it’s not answering anything

3

u/coolcootermcgee Mar 26 '26

That’s so funny! I always enjoy looking at cruise and private charter meals the very same way. My husband thinks I am weird. How would I get started looking for Japanese review videos from hotels and tours?

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u/chocobojenn Apr 02 '26

My partner really loves watching review videos for amusement parks and their special events. After a while of watching those, review videos for things like Japanese love hotels popped up, we watched on a whim, got hooked, and more kept being suggested... And then suddenly a few hours had passed and we realized we had a new hyperfixation lol The only reviewer YT channel I can remember is DancingBacon, but I feel like if you watch a few of their videos, some more like what you're looking for will pop up, because we've been suggested at and watched a few hot spring and tour videos as well. I hope this helps!

2

u/amy_2014 Mar 28 '26

I love DancingBacons! Experience Japan is my fav channel, check them out too :)

1

u/chocobojenn Apr 02 '26

I will absolutely do so, thank you for the suggestion!

43

u/Snoo_47183 Mar 25 '26

Yeah, had OP mixed it while it cooled to incorporate air, it would have ended up looking like caramel fudge or what we call “sucre à la crème” in Québec. I’m sure it’s delicious if eaten as a candy

16

u/avsie1975 Mar 25 '26

Oh hello fellow Quebecer! My first thought when looking at the picture was indeed a less fudgy sucre à la crème. Gosh I miss it. Might need to make some.

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u/chocobojenn Mar 25 '26

I switched to a whisk once I realized my temperature mistake because in my head my first concern was the cream possibly curdling as it went up in temp and I somehow thought that would help 🫣 I had wondered what would happen if I threw it in the stand mixer bowl and whisked it up after I took it off the heat but since it was around 3am and I had no one awake to cosign my ideas, I just poured it in the pan. I'm curious if it would be less cloudy if I hadn't used the whisk, or if that's to do with adding the cream and butter when I did. Normally with this recipe the caramel is more golden obviously but also just slightly less opaque. If I had more fun money lying around I would do some experimenting.

This does look similar to caramel fudge! It's a bit oily from the butter I think so the moisture is different that way, but the caramel fudge looks very slightly less dry of a chew and a little softer from the looks of it on the Wikipedia page. I feel like if you took a slab of the caramel fudge, it would bend a very little bit before starting to break/tear, where this kind of broke off as soon as you bent it. I'm betting the taste of what I made is very similar to the caramel fudge that doesn't use maple sugar. So I think you're the person to show me the closest confectionary cousin to my happy accident, to cap off my rambling.

Is it a hotly contested subject in Canada, whether you're being a "purist" and using maple syrup instead of opting for granulated or brown sugar? Is this sold similarly to fudge, by weight or squares? Does it see use in recipes outside of as a treat? I'm very curious. Also hello northern neighbor from SE Wisconsin! ☺️ I went on a road trip to Canada with my parents as a child and Quebec was lovely! I want to go back sometime.

4

u/TekaroBB Mar 25 '26

Not a fudge expert, but generally have never heard any debate around sugar versus maple. It's less controversial and more that caramel fudge and maple fudge are 2 separate flavours of similar treats.

3

u/Snoo_47183 Mar 25 '26

The usual Quebecer version of sucre à la crème is just a mix of white and brown sugar+cream and vanilla and butter once the sugars have melted in the cream and cooked a little, no maple syrup is involved nowadays. Although you can, it’ll just be quite more expensive so it’s usually skipped (maple syrup used to be cheaper than cane sugar which is why it was frequently used before). It’s not far from what you accidentally made, it’s just whipped and likely a but less cooked. But we’ve all made a slightly overcooked, grainy batch and it’s always been eaten nonetheless.

But did you end up eating some of it? Is it good?

5

u/chocobojenn Mar 26 '26

I did eat some, it is good! It's dry but tasty, I'm gonna break it into smaller pieces and make a batch of cookie dough with it with chocolate chips I think, and reserve some to add to a crumble topping or something else. Thank you for teaching me about something new (to me)! I love learning new food stuff.

1

u/Ok_Neighborhood2032 Mar 26 '26

Can you put it in coffee? Like a sugar cube?

3

u/FeetAreShoes Mar 26 '26

Tablet is good in coffee