I've been busy! I made two small batches of fondant this morning,
and this was my first experience with it. The first was a sugar-
cream one. The recipe I started with was:

5 cup sugar
1 cup coffee rich or half and half
1 cup cream
4 Tb margarine
1/2 ts cream of tartar

I cut it in half, and substituted heavy whipping cream for the coffee
rich. I brought it to a boil, covered and boiled for 3 minutes, and
then boiled it uncovered without stirring until it hit 238 degrees. I
poured it on a very clean kitchen counter and about 15 minutes
later when it was just warm, I worked it with a plastic spatula. It
didn't seem like it was ever going to set up thick enough to where
I could knead it into a ball, so I shrugged my shoulders and put it
in a bowl in the fridge. About 15 minutes later I checked on it and
it seemed really hard but after pushing through the surface I could
see that it had merely thickened and had the crumby feel that the
recipe had said to knead out of it. I took it out of the fridge and
kneaded it, smashing it thin on the countertop to work out the
crumbs. Balled it up in Saran Wrap and it's sitting in the fridge
again. The recipe said to let it sit at least 24 hours before using
it.
I didn't like the color. I wanted pure white, and it's an off-white
bordering on yellow. The taste is wonderful, though. It seems a
bit greasy, but I figure that's probably from substituting the richer
cream for the half and half.

I did another one that was referred to as a water fondant:

2 cup sugar
dash of salt
2 Tb corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1/2 ts vanilla

Combined everything but the vanilla and boiled it same as
above, but to 241 instead of 238. Let it cool to warm and
worked it with the spatula, and it wouldn't stiffen up enough
to knead either, so it's sitting in the fridge now. I'll check
on it again shortly. I don't like its taste nearly as much as
the above one with the cream in it.

Well, just wanted to give a status on my first experience
with fondant. Tomorrow I ball them up, sit them in the freezer
for 20 minutes, and then dip them in melted chocolate.
Have a good weekend, all!

Michael