Since frying candy is so popular these days, I decided to strike out on my own and fry a Reese’s Cup. It was my birthday weekend, and a fish-fry with friends provided the perfect opportunity to batter and cook candy. Despite working without a recipe (I didn’t feel like putting in the effort) and never having fried candy before, I was confident. How could someone possibly mess up fried candy? Talk about famous last words.
Any of the bad choices of the many I made that day could have spelled disaster on their own, but in combination, produced the nastiest concoction I’ve ever cooked.
My mistakes, somewhat in order: battering the Reese’s Cup with cornmeal, flour, and Zatarain’s Seasoned Fish-Fri; using a shish-ka-bob-sized skewer; plopping the battered candy in canola oil that had already fried 37 fish; and, finally, tasting the stinking mess.
My idea to fry a Reese’s Cup started simply enough. I’d read about other people frying candy, the Fry Daddy was hot and ready, and I wanted to do something entertaining for my friends. Sometimes, good intentions just don’t produce good results.
I started the process by unwrapping a Reese’s Cup and dredging it through the aforementioned batter. I got a few sideways glances from friends, but they’re used to me doing strange things, and only one said it looked like I had it all wrong. Next, I tried to jam the over-sized skewer through the cup, to no avail.
I decided to use a slotted spoon to retrieve my fried treat, and when the last hush puppy was plucked from the bubbling oil, in went my Reese’s Cup. The light yellow batter immediately turned bright yellow, and the candy became an alien-like blob turning around and around in the Fry Daddy. By now, my friends were on their feet, each offering advice and ideas, all agreeing that I’d made a huge mistake.
After only a minute or so in the fryer, the Reese’s Cup looked ready to disintegrate, so grabbed the slotted spoon and pulled it out of the hot grease. The batter looked gritty and slimy and no longer covered the entire Cup. No one wanted to taste my experiment, so I took it inside to taste it in the privacy of the kitchen.
What I said when I tasted my fried Reese’s Cup cannot be posted on Candy Addict. Suffice it to say, I was not happy. It tasted even worse than it looked – gritty, slimy, disgusting. It hadn’t cooked long enough to properly set the batter, but the candy had lost most of its integrity, and the overriding taste was one of fishy oil. I had to spit out the bite I’d taken and rinse my mouth with alternating swishes of water and soda, and it seemed like the full horror of fishy peanut butter would never go away. Kids, don’t try this at home.
Thankfully, when I rejoined the party, no one cared much except to roll their eyes at what I’d done, and after we ate dinner, we feasted on delicious, UNFRIED ice cream cake. Next time I want fried candy, I’ll listen to the experts.
I don’t know what that weird powder is, but I think it helps if you use proper batter – and put the chocolate in the freezer for a while beforehand.
And… um… maybe don’t use oil that’s been used to fry fish. :)
Not that ours came out much better… http://www.chocablog.com/misc/the-deep-fried-mars-bar-experiment/
November 7th, 2007 at 9:15 amHilarious story. Thanks for sharing that. But yeah, frying a fish and frying candy are two very different things. Oh man that last picture looks sick.
November 7th, 2007 at 11:04 amYikes! I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to use a wet batter. But points for trying, I don’t know if I would have the guts! (Hot grease scares me!)
November 7th, 2007 at 1:47 pmFish flavored chocolate sounds really, really gross! I hope your next experiment turns out better.
November 7th, 2007 at 5:56 pmVictoria…WOW! I like to do daring things myself, but that puts a bad taste in my mouth just thinking about it. Hope you finally swished away the remains…
November 7th, 2007 at 6:15 pmThanks for try this so I don’t have to :)
November 7th, 2007 at 7:12 pmBrave girl to not only try to fry chocolate and peanut butter in fish oil, but to admit it and post it for the entire world to read was even more so…and funny as hell! I’ve made some really bad cooking mistakes and the resulting taste test vocalizations were inflammatory, that’s for sure, so I laughed pretty hard when I imagined what you said at that first, disgusting, hot, slimy, messy bite! Thanks for the imagery, Victoria, and the honesty!
November 8th, 2007 at 2:45 amP.S. Cooking tip: never substitute grapefruit juice for orange juice in baked chicken l’orange. Trust me on this one, folks.
Yikes! I’m impressed that you even tasted it.
In the future, try pancake batter instead.
November 8th, 2007 at 10:15 amCornmeal! YUCK! That isn’t how it is done! GAWD! “Fishy, Corny, Chocolatey, Peanut Buttery Reeces”…. that just doesn’t have the same ring! That would be gritty and weirdly crunchy.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:23 amYuck! That last picture looks like the fat taken out of someone’s thighs during liposuction. I would have been afraid to even taste that.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:10 pmPerhaps next time try a batter, instead of a breading. Also, I’d recomend frying the candy before the fish.. MMmmm. fishy candy. Although it seems like something I would have tried too. Fried candy just seems like it is such a good idea.
November 9th, 2007 at 1:36 pmI would suggest freezing the peanut butter cup before battering it and make sure you get it in the oil quickly while it’s still hopefully frozen in the center. And of course, as you already found out, try a sweeter, smoother batter. Other than that, I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. Congrats on your bravery.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:36 pmOh, that looks really bad! But, you were very valient for trying!
November 24th, 2007 at 9:44 am