Candy makers - help - what did I do wrong?

[hpcowsmkgr8chz]

I made Anna's almond roca tonight, which I have made at least 20 times in the last year and it always turns out perfect. Tonight, after I added the almonds and temperature was slowly rising, I noticed it looked very different than before. The mixture was very bubbly - almost like really soapy water and then the whole thing fell apart into a big gloppy mess. The butter was floating on top - thick and greasy and the rest was sitting at the bottom of the pan looking "broken" - that's the bestt way I can describe it. The candy thermometer was at about 248 at this point - something like that - far from being anywhere near done. I've always had perfect results. I don't have the slightest idea what went wrong tonight. Any ideas? :confused:

[Peggy]

I don't know what to tell you. I made this recipe for the first time a few weeks ago and had perfect results. However, I have a dear friend that made it last year that had similar problems as you reported. :confused: On previous threads others have had the same problems you mention, others have had great results. Some mention humidity as a factor. I'm making it again tomorrow and it's been raining outside for several days, so I may have a failure also. :)

Peggy

[mrswaz]

Well, it sounds to me like your butter separated. First off, make sure you are using top-quality Grade AA butter for your Roca. Secondly, maybe you had your heat up just a tad too high? If you heat it up too fast it could cause separation.

I don't know that there's a remedy once it's separated other than to start over. It must be a bad year for the Almond Roca. After nearly 2 years of perfect batch after perfect batch, I've thrown out too many to count in recent days. Good luck to you! I'll send an extra prayer to the Candy Gods for you. ;)

[funniegrrl]

Yes, even though it hadn't gotten up to temp, if it was heating too fast the mixture will break and the fat will separate. That's not the only possibility, but one.

[hpcowsmkgr8chz]

Thank you for your responses!

Maybe it is the humidity. It had been raining earlier in the week and very low clouds yesterday. My first hint was when i went to grab my little bowl of kosher salt on the counter to put in the roca, it was all stuck together!

I don't think it was the heat - I had it a tad lower than usual this time! And I did use different butter than usual - I used Trader Joe's. Not sure if that made a difference.

I'm going to try again. Oh no! I just looked at the forecast, it's supposed to start raining tonight and rain all the rest of the week!!!

I'm meeting my bf's family for the first time on Friday night and was planning on taking some. wish me luck.....

Thanks again!

Happy Holidays everyone!!

[PoppyJ]

Good luck and please send some my way too. I have made this several times over the last two years with great success. But when I made a batch on Sunday, it never got really hard. I think my problems were that I stirred the whole time (forgot that I was only supposed to start stirring at 240), I took it off right when it reach 290 (should have waited a little longer because the color was still very light), and it was raining. I have had three failures so far in the last week- the roca, Dutch Tea Rolls (forgot the sugar) and the Pecan Sandies from the latest CL. It is almost enough to make me throw in the towel. :(