Dipped Walnuts

A one-line finishing recipe that assumes you already have fondant on hand and know the bonbon-dipping routine from earlier in the chapter. Everything depends on holding the fondant at the right working temperature.

• The hinge: fondant temperatureMelt the fondant in a bowl set over hot -- not boiling -- water and keep it barely warm, around 100-110F, just fluid enough to coat. Overheated fondant loses its gloss and can dry chalky and grainy.
• Fondant todayPoured or rolled fondant sold for cake covering behaves differently from the cooked sugar-and-water fondant this book assumes. Look for confectioners' or dipping fondant, or make a cooked fondant from a current candy recipe; a small amount of light corn syrup or a spoonful of hot water thins it without dulling it.
• "Dip 1/2 of walnut"This means one walnut half, as the next sentence's "halves of pecans" confirms. It does not mean half a batch of nuts.
• Flavoring amountsThe original leaves the flavoring open. Vanilla, coffee extract, maple, or a drop or two of oil of peppermint suit walnuts; start with about 1/4 teaspoon extract per cup of fondant and taste, since fondant is very sweet and mutes flavor.
• Nut preparationToast the walnut and pecan halves lightly and cool them completely before dipping. Warm nuts thin the fondant on contact, and damp or rancid nuts will spoil the finished candy.
• Working methodHold the nut by the dry end, dip, draw it across the rim of the bowl to shed the excess, and set it on parchment or waxed paper to set firm -- 20 to 30 minutes in a cool, dry room. Humid weather is the enemy; fondant weeps.
• Yield and keepingA cup of fondant will coat several dozen nut halves. Store them in a single layer in a tin between sheets of waxed paper at cool room temperature, not in the refrigerator, where condensation will make the surface sticky.