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Cherry Roll
3 cups sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup sour cream 1 cup candied cherries, cut in halves 1/2 cup nut meats, chopped Boil sugar, salt and cream until it forms a soft ball. Cool. Add nuts and cherries and beat until stiff enough to knead. Form into roll and slice when cold in 1/2 in. slices.
This is a boiled cream fondant, closer to panocha than to a cake roll, and it lives or dies by the sugar temperature and by when you start beating.
- Soft ball means 236-240FUse a candy thermometer rather than the cold-water test; the window between a syrup that will not set and one that turns to grit is narrow. Take it off the heat the moment it reaches temperature.
- Cool before beating, and do not stir on the way downThis is the hinge. Let the syrup drop to about 110F undisturbed; stirring a hot syrup seeds large crystals and the roll comes out sandy instead of creamy.
- The sour creamOlder recipes calling for sour cream generally meant sweet cream that had soured naturally rather than today's cultured tub product, and the two are not interchangeable in acidity or thickness. Modern full-fat sour cream works; heavy cream with a tablespoon of lemon juice stirred in is one alternative.
- Pan and heatA heavy saucepan at least three times the volume of the mixture -- cream and sugar foam up hard. Medium heat, stirred only until the sugar dissolves, then left alone.
- Beating until stiff enough to kneadA stand mixer with the paddle will do the first stage; finish by hand on a lightly buttered marble slab or countertop, working it like a stiff dough until it loses its gloss.
- Candied cherriesGlace cherries, not maraschino. Maraschino carry too much syrup and will slacken the fondant; if that is all you have, drain and blot them thoroughly.
- Shaping and storingRoll into a cylinder about 2 inches across, wrap in waxed paper or parchment, and chill several hours before slicing with a thin sharp knife. Keeps a couple of weeks well wrapped in a cool place.
- YieldThree cups of sugar with cream and additions gives roughly 2 pounds of candy -- ample for a holiday tray or two gift boxes.
Sliced candy rolls of this kind were a familiar item in American home confectionery, particularly at Christmas: a boiled cream fondant kneaded with fruit and nuts, shaped into a log and cut across so each slice shows a mosaic of red cherry and pale nut. The technique is close to that behind panocha and opera creams, and it belongs to a time when many cooks judged syrup by dropping it into cold water rather than by thermometer. A roll like this kept and travelled well, which suited it to homemade gift-giving.