Cooking with Cave Tools (Sponsored).

i've been a bit obsessed with baking bread this winter. It was one of my goals for the year, to learn to bake homemade bread. i'd like to eventually start making sourdough, but so far i've just been making tradition bread and spicing the recipes up a bit by adding different things.

One thing about bread making that i've learned is important is knowing when the bake is done.  i'm not really experience enough to know just by sight. You can tap the bottom and the bread should sound hollow but i've found by experience that isn't always a sure sign that it's done.  If uncooked the bread with be dense and doughy inside, if over baked it may burn and will be too dry.  i have read that being slightly over baked is better than being unbaked, but i'd still like to learn the perfect bake.  Most breads are done at around 190 f, but this one is a whole wheat  sprouted seed loaf. The moisture from the sprouted seeds required a little cooking time. 

Having a digital thermometer to check the internal temp is really helpful. This one is by Cave Tools, a company that creates high quality barbecue and cooking tools that lasted for years.  The instant read digital thermometer is perfect for cooking food on the grill or in the kitchen. The 100% stainless steel design is waterproof, shatterproof and even re-calibratable for best accuracy. This digital thermometer can be used on meats, casseroles, liquids, deep fryers, candy etc.  Since i was testing out this thermometer, i tried it out on several different things.

i have a non-digital candy thermometer that usually use when making my cheese.  i tried calibrating a few weeks ago, because i suspected that it was off.  This time i used the digital thermometer, and i was right about the candy one being off!  This one is so much easier to use. It doesn't have to sit in the pot to register them the temperature. It's instant read. So it only take a second to get the temp, which can be crucial with cheese making and candy making. If your off by a few degrees it can be the difference between perfection and a failed batch. 

My mozzarella turned out perfect.  Being able to check the temperature and get an instant read is really important during the cheese making process.  

One more test for the Digital thermometer is candy making. i love to make candy, but every time i think i have it mastered i get a failed batch. i'm now realizing this is because my candy thermometer was so off.  i made a batch of honey taffy (i'll spot the recipe in a different post) and it came out so good!!  It's really easy to make and having a good instant read digital thermometer makes all the difference! 

i really love the way the honey taffy came out, and am looking forward to experimenting with some other honey candy recipes once we pull honey this spring and have lots to work with. i'm eager to make some homemade lemon honey cough drops, and elderberry honey lozenges.

If you do a lot of grilling outside or just love cooking, Cave tools has something for you! They specialize in high quality, stainless steel tools, but also have salad spinners, instant read thermometers, silicone grilling mitts and much more. 

You can check out their full line of products at Cavetools.com or on Amazon! 

i'll post the recipes for all of these later this week!

disclaimer. i did not receive compensation for this post, however i did receive a free product to review in exchange for my opinion. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way. This post may contain affiliate links.

Attempting Homemade Vegan Gummy Bears and Kitchen's Son Gummy Bear Mold Review

My kids and i have a lot of fun baking and candy making.  Silicone molds are one of our favorite things, we have a small collection of geeky themed molds so we can make Harry Potter, Star wars and Doctor Who themed treats. :)  So when i had the opportunity to review these gummy bear molds i jumped at the chance!  We all love gummy treats, but they are so often made with gelatin and as a vegetarian family we try to avoid it.  Sour patch kids are one of the few gummy candies that do not contain gelatin, but i was really excited to try making our own.

 The molds really do work great! The bears pop right out, no sticking. They come out clean and the silicone mold is super easy to wash. The set i got came with two molds (50 bears each) and two droppers, so filling them it easy peasy. The molds are made of 100% premium, food grade silicone. FDA approved, BPA free. They are cold and heat resistant -40°F to 445°F. Safe for use in oven, dishwasher and freezer.

 So after several failed attempts at chewy gummy bears, i finally came up with an acceptable soft fruit bite. Texture is somewhere between finger jello and very set jelly. They taste great, but are definitely a fruit bite rather than a gummy. They still popped out of the molds perfectly, and i love the details in the molds.

We rolled them in sugar and citric acid and made some super sour gummy bear fruit bites! They tasted fabulous!

This is the first recipe we tried. It is the main recipe i've found online at various different sites.  i used white grape juice. They came out really firm, but the texture was weird and the flavor was pretty bland.

Vegan Gummy Bears I

1 cup fruit juice 

2 tablespoons agar powder

1-2 tablespoons sugar or honey

2-3 drops food coloring (optional)

STEP 1: In a small sauce pan, whisk juice and agar together and let sit for about 5 minutes before turning on heat. 

STEP 2: Heat the liquid over medium heat, whisking frequently. When it starts to thicken, add your sugar or honey (if desired) and stir. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens to the consistency of paint, stirring constantly. This will take a couple of minutes. 

STEP 3: Use the dropper to add the liquid into your molds. 

STEP 4: Let cool at room temperature for 5 minutes, then place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, Carefully pop them out of the molds. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

This is the second recipe i tried.  So this recipe came out a bit too soft. It was more like jello. The flavor was fantastic though. The increased sugar and lemon juice really helped give it that sweet tart flavor.

Vegan Gummy Bears II

10 ounces 100% fruit juice

4 ounces lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 tsp agar powder

Boil the juice and sugar together for 5 minutes then remove from heat. Add the agar powder and whisk until dissolved.  Pour into mold and place in fridge for 2 hours until set. 

i've tried making this recipe several times increasing the amount of agar, but still can't come up with a good texture. i have one more recipe i want to try. It calls for lots of sugar and corn syrup...and heating to the soft ball stage. It will be a true candy, rather than a healthy 100% fruit juice snack. So i'm hoping that one has a bit of chew. 

So even though our gummy bear recipes were did not make chewy gummy bears, we had a lot of fun trying! The molds really did work great and they can be used for gummies, fruit bites, hard candies, chocolate, ice etc.  i'm going to keep working on the gummy recipe and will share the recipe if i can come up with one that is truly a chewy solid gummy bear.  

 You can find our awesome Gummy bear molds at  http://kitchensson.com. they are currently only $7.99 on Amazon with prime. 

i received this set of gummy bear molds at no cost in exchange for my honest review. i was not compensated.