I, like many people, quite enjoy junk food and sweets. However, even though I love them I have to admit that I know they could be better. In this wonderful video series, a Claire Saffitz professional chef attempts to recreate common junk foods and candies. Since she’s making everything fresh and eating it fairly immediately, she doesn’t need to worry about preservation and stabilization for packaging and distribution, meaning that she can just use normal household ingredients to create these delicious treats.
If you’re not that interested in cooking, at least watch the last video embedded in this article, where they cobble together some hardware to recreate the complex shape of a twizzler!
This video is delightful as it shows the exploratory process so well. Some things that sound like they should be perfect, just don’t work out too well in practice. I want to taste those freshly baked Twinkies so badly, I may have to attempt this one.
I don’t even really like cheetos but the idea of recreating them at home is fascinating. This is a great example of how involved the process for some the foods we take for granted can be.
“oh my god it’s a freaking wafer!”
This entire video is pretty much an exploration in how to make that perfectly crunchy layer inside the twix.
I had never considered it possible to make things like skittles at home. I simply assumed that the machines and processes that the factory uses put them out of grasp. They have proven me wrong. Every step of the way I was skeptical that her end result would work out but she nailed it.
This one is a special treat for those who don’t really care about the cooking aspect. Claire, the host, goes on a Macgyver rampage and builds a custom extruder for her mixer in order to get a hollow core and perfect outside ridges for her Twizzlers.
There’s an entire playlist of these on the Bon Appetit youtube channel that have other favorites such as Snow Balls, Oreos, and even Ramen Noodles. Go check it out but beware, you may find yourself stocking up and making a mess.
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