Category Archives: Candy

Soft Caramels

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Veronica

Something has come over me. For the past two days, I haven’t been able to sleep until two in the morning and during the day, I’ve been so tired that it literally feels like my eyes are going to fall out of their sockets.

The reason? Caramels. Cararmels have turned me into a zombie woman. They’ve completely taken over my life and I can get no rest!

Two days ago I got the brilliant idea to finally give homemade caramels a go. I was pleasantly surprised at how simple they were to prepare. They weren’t, however, easy to remove from the pan, and so I stayed up until two in the morning scraping each square from the pan and wrapping them in waxed paper. And eating every other one.

I have to say, store-bought caramels can’t hold a candle to homemade. Homemade is soft, gooey, buttery, caramelly deliciousness. They are so delicious that I couldn’t resist making another batch the following day. After all, I made the first batch for gifts and now I needed more for an upcoming Christmas party. (Not for myself…of course not.) And besides, I needed to figure out a way to keep the caramels from sticking to the pan and what better way than trial and error?

So I made a second batch, lining the pan with waxed paper and spraying it with oil. And I stayed up until two in the morning the second day in a row, scraping each piece off the waxed paper, then dipping them in chocolate (because party caramels should be pretty and irresistable).

And they were. Irresistable. I ate every other one. Again.

Obviously I also encountered a problem with photography as well. I absolutely could not stop shooting photos of these beautiful things. After shooting picture after picture, I eventually ran to the garage and got out Christmas decorations (I’ve been too busy making caramels to decorate with them yet) to use for props. All told, I took well over 100 pictures of them. I’m not even kidding. Then it took me almost an hour to narrow down the ones I wanted to keep to the myriad I’m posting here.

And now it’s nearly one in the morning, and what am I doing? Staying up so I can tell everyone about these fabulous things. Like I said, they’ve taken over my life. And I suppose I’ve happily relinquished control!

As for the problem with the caramel sticking to the pan, I now know you have to very generous with the butter. I should have consulted my friend, Teri, before I made the caramels, since I knew she makes them every year at this time. Ah well, now I have an excuse to make another batch. You know, just to see if it works.

Soft Caramels

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 pound brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan (my 3-quart was the perfect size–don’t go any smaller) and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and continue to boil, stirring constantly, for ten minutes. Set the timer as soon as it begins to bubble and take the pan off as soon as it goes off. Pour caramel into a buttered 9×13 pan and let cool completely before cutting & wrapping in squares of waxed paper.

Tips for success

*If you have a candy thermometer, it wouldn’t hurt to attach it to the pan to make sure the caramel is at 245 degrees F when you remove it from the heat. My first batch was actually at 240 when I removed it and it still turned out fine, but my second batch reached 245 in nine minutes so I removed it early and it was the same texture as the first batch.

*You can stir in a teaspoon of vanilla after you remove the pan from the heat. I did this the second time but didn’t notice an improvement in flavor. It seemed just as good without the vanilla, so I didn’t include it in the ingredient list.

*When you pour the caramel into the buttered pan, there will be some that clings to the bottom and sides. Don’t scrape this out on top of the pan of caramel like I did on my first batch. Have a small buttered bowl on hand and scrape it into that. This caramel will be harder than the other caramel, because it remained in contact with the heat longer. If you scrape it out, you will have a hard piece among the soft and when you try to cut it, the softer caramel will squish out and it won’t be pretty and perfect. This caramel is totally edible, just a little more chewy, so you can snack on it while rolling your evenly-textured caramels into waxed paper.

*On both batches, I put salted, roasted peanuts on half of the pan. The salty/sweet combo is yummy and kind of reminds me of a PayDay. And when you dip the pieces in chocolate, it’s kind of like a Snickers. Except it’s way better than either because it’s homemade! If you want to add nuts to the whole batch, you can stir them in after removing the pan from the heat. If you only want half the batch with nuts or want two or more types of nuts, dump the caramel into the pan and then sprinkle the nuts over the top. The first batch I tried putting the nuts on half of the bottom and pouring the caramel over, but the nuts got all pushed around and then tons of air bubbles kept rising up and I had to keep popping them so that the surface didn’t look all funkalicious.

*If you’d like to dip the caramels in chocolate, you can either melt chocolate almond bark, an equal amount of chocolate chips with almond bark (this makes the color darker & it tastes better while still setting up nicely) or you can melt chocolate with some shaved paraffin wax. (This makes the chocolate shiny & makes it set up really nicely. You can find it on the baking aisle.) I melted 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I think milk chocolate would be even better!) with 1/8 of a block of finely shaved paraffin in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until everything was melted and smooth and shiny. Dip the caramels with a fork, tap off the excess and slide them onto a sheet of waxed paper to set. I ground a bit of sea salt over the plain caramels while the chocolate was still wet because I like salted caramels and it did have a nice flavor. For a prettier presentation, I would use flaky sea salt (also on the baking aisle).

*I encourage you to dip at least half the caramels in chocolate. I didn’t think caramel could get any better after I made it from scratch. And then I dipped it. And dipped some more!

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Posted in Candy, My Favorites and tagged candy, caramels, christmas, easy, food gifts, holidays, soft. Bookmark the permalink.

LAURA DON’T READ THIS BLOG!

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Veronica

When my friend, Laura, an Oreo-cookie fanatic, saw my picture of these Oreo truffles, she told me, “Please, please don’t give me the recipe. They’d be my new Rolo crack.”

Rolo Turtles (aka “Rolo crack” among certain circles) is so delicious that it is absolutely irresistable and has caused weight gain in those who were foolish enough to make it, including Laura herself (the one who gave us the big idea in the first place)!

Hence the blog title. Yes, I’m well aware that it will most likely not deter her, but I can’t be held responsible–I did my best. After all, I couldn’t deprive my other friends of this recipe for her benefit. (Sorry, Laura!)
Now, onto the truffles!

The middles of these truffles are black, soft, and taste just like an Oreo cookie. If you have a food processor, they’re a snap to prepare. In fact, they’re the easiest truffles I’ve ever dipped in chocolate, because I didn’t have to refrigerate them first (they don’t melt when dipped in warm chocolate), which means the chocolate cooled much slower and I didn’t have to keep zapping it in the microwave. None of the filling melted off into the chocolate when I dunked them, and the chocolate slid off the truffles effortlessly, making a perfect, smooth, thin coating. I really deplore dipping truffles and usually just roll them in cocoa, but if I must dip, I would love it if the job were this easy every time.

Whip up a batch and take them to your next party or package them up as a gift–I guarantee they’ll be a hit!

Oreo Truffles

1 package (1 lb. 2 oz) Oreo cookies
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
6 squares chocolate almond bark
1 square white almond bark (optional)

*It is OK to eat several of the cookies before you crush them. If you use the whole package, you will be left with over a cup of extra crushed cookies once you’re done making the truffles.

Put the cookies in the bowl of your food processor and process until very finely crushed. Measure out 3 cups of the crumbs and put them in a mixing bowl. Set the remaining crumbs aside for later. Add the cream cheese and mush it all up with your hands until it is a soft dough and is uniform in texture.

Form the mixture into balls, rolling until smooth, and place on a plate. Set a long piece of wax paper on a work surface, such as your counter.

Melt the chocolate almond bark according to package directions and dip each truffle in the chocolate with a fork. Tap the excess chocolate off and use a second fork to push the coated truffle onto the waxed paper. Sprinkle cookie crumbs onto the chocolate while it is still wet. Continue until all the truffles are coated, leaving half uncovered if you wish.

If you choose, you can melt the white almond bark and, using a fork or pastry bag, drizzle it over the truffles without crumbs on top.

Mine were OK at room temp for several days, but to be safe, I’d recommend storing them in the fridge if you aren’t going to serve them within 24 hours.

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Posted in Candy and tagged oreo, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

Triple Chocolate Caramel Corn

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Veronica

In the middle of packing Dennis up to go on a business trip this last Saturday, I realized I’d forgotten a friend’s birthday and had to come up with something quick to give her when I saw her at church the next day.

This is what I made, and between me and Dennis shoving handfuls in our mouths while it cooled, she’s darn lucky she got any of it!

Triple Chocolate Caramel Corn

Slightly Adapted from Red’s Ultimate Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

½ cup popcorn kernels, popped (I use an air popper)
1 (12-oz) container salted mixed nuts
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup (3 oz) dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup (3 oz) milk chocolate chips
½ cup (3 oz) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Divide the popcorn between two very large bowls and pour half the mixed nuts over each bowl of popcorn.

Stirring constantly, bring butter, brown sugar, salt & corn syrup to a boil over medium heat. As soon as it starts to bubble around the edges, set the timer for five minutes and continue stirring while it boils. After five minutes, remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Mixture will get foamy.

Pour half over each bowl of popcorn and stir it all up, working quickly before the caramel starts to harden. If you have someone to stir the second bowl, that helps but is not necessary. Stir well to get the popcorn and nuts evenly coated.

Place in large roaster pan and stir again, then and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

While it is baking, cover two cookie sheets with waxed paper. Once the popcorn is done, remove from oven, give it another stir, and spread in an even layer over the cookie sheets.

Melt the chocolates in three separate bowls by microwaving for 30 seconds, stirring, and continuing in intervals until it is smooth. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate or it will seize and be ruined. Drizzle each variety of chocolate evenly over the popcorn with a spoon or by pouring it in a thin stream from the bowl.

Place the cookie sheets in the fridge and Allow the chocolate to set before breaking into pieces and packaging in airtight container(s).

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Posted in Candy and tagged caramel corn, triple chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Cinnabon Caramel Corn

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Veronica

I suppose I could get in trouble for putting a trademarked name into the title of this popcorn, but the truth is I’m just way too unimportant for Cinnabon to care what I do with their name. And if they tasted this popcorn, they’d probably consider it a compliment that their name had been ascribed to this tasty treat.

Does it taste like a Cinnabon? I have no idea. I think it does, but I’ve only had 1/4 of a single Cinnabon in my entire life, and that was four years ago and as far as I recall, it did not have pecans in it. I do know, however, that it reminds me of a cinnamon roll and it is crazy delicious and I just really like calling it Cinnabon Caramel Corn (versus the official name: “Cinnamon Caramel Corn with Pecans and White Chocolate”–way too many syllables to pronounce when I could be stuffing my face with popcorn exactly eight syllables earlier.).

This would make a great food gift this holiday season and stays fresh in an airtight container for at least a week (based on reports from recievers of portions that were mailed). Ours did not survive more than an hour after it had cooled.

OK, fine. We ate half of it warm.

Cinnabon Caramel Corn
Recipe by Our Best Bites
(My notes are in parentheses. (I like parentheses.))

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)*
1 C roughly chopped pecans
1 C brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 C Karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)
1 stick real butter (1/2 C)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
3 squares almond bark

*You can use air popped or microwave popcorn. If using microwave, anything works, but I prefer a “natural” flavor that’s low in butter and salt.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside. (I personally divided the popcorn & nuts between two ginormous bowls, which I would recommend so you have room for lots of stirring.)

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a 2 liter capacity microwave safe bowl. Mix well. Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture. Pour corn syrup over the top of everything. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir to combine. Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes. Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more.

Remove from microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda. Stir to combine. Mixture will foam and rise. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pecans and stir very well so everything is well coated.

Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan. (I had to use a jelly roll pan & a 9×13 pan–I think 2 jelly roll pans would be best.) Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. (I thought the popcorn wasn’t quite crisp enough after it cooled and will try baking it 10-20 minutes longer next time. I usually bake caramel corn for an hour and found it odd this one only called for half the time.)

Remove from oven and spread out on a large piece of parchment, waxed paper, or foil.

Melt almond bark according to package instructions. Drizzle over popcorn mixture. (I dipped a fork in it and swirled it all over.) When almond bark is hardened and popcorn is cool, break into chunks and enjoy!

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Posted in Candy, My Favorites, Sweets and tagged caramel corn, cinnabon, cinnamon, pecans, popcorn, white chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Easy Peanut Clusters

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Veronica

These are incredibly easy to make and come together so quickly. Perfect for holiday gifts!

Oh, and did I mention they’re delicious? Because they are. Enjoy!

Easy Peanut Clusters

1 (12-oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 squares white almond bark*
1 lb salted, roasted peanuts

Melt the chocolate chips and white bark together in a glass bowl in the microwave. Zap it for a minute, stir, then continue in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the mixture is smooth and thin. Stir in the peanuts & drop spoonfuls onto a wax-paper lined baking sheet. Let sit or refrigerate until firm, then package or put on a serving plate.

*Update 12/7/09: I have now made these using chocolate almond bark in place of the white and while both versions are good, I like this one better because the chocolate flavor is a little stronger.

Easy Peanut Clusters made with chocolate almond bark instead of white

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Posted in Candy and tagged candy, easy, fast, gift baskets, goodies, holiday, peanut clusters, simple. Bookmark the permalink.

Nutty Toffee Popcorn

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Veronica

Although I have an overabundance of saved recipes that I have yet to try, I still couldn’t resist purchasing Taste of Home’s “Bake Sale 2009” magazine when I spotted it on the shelf at the grocery store. I want to make everything in the book (it doesn’t hurt that pictures accompany each recipe!), but this is the first thing I’ve tried.

It is really hard for me to stick to a recipe exactly, and this one is no exception. Come on, a recipe with toffee in the title and none in the recipe? That had to be fixed! So here’s my version.

Nutty Toffee Popcorn

Adapted from Glenna Hale’s recipe in Taste of Home’s Bake Sale 2009

½ cup popcorn kernels
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup whole almonds (I used roasted & salted)
1 c butter
2 c packed brown sugar
½ c light corn syrup
½ t cream of tartar
½ t baking soda
½ t rum extract
½ cup toffee bits (like Heath baking bits)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Pop kernels (I use an air popper) and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle the nuts over the top of the popped popcorn and set aside.

Melt butter in a heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and cream of tartar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil, without stirring, for five minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, you can clamp it to the side of the and wait until the mixture reaches 300 degrees F). Remove from heat and stir in baking soda & rum extract until mixture is light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn mixture & stir to coat well. Bake in a large roaster pan or two jelly roll pans for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. The last time you stir, when only 15 minutes remain, sprinkle the toffee over the top, stir and return to the oven. When it has baked an hour, lay sheets of waxed paper on the counter and spread the popcorn over it to dry, breaking up the pieces with a spoon as you spread it out. Once it has cooled, store in an airtight container. I usually just put mine into gallon-sized Ziploc bags. In this case, I only needed one b/c only half the popcorn survived to the packaging step!

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Posted in Candy, Sweets and tagged nutty, popcorn, toffee. Bookmark the permalink.

Black & White Truffles

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Veronica

Today I tried to make a white chocolate buttercream based on my own recipe for chocolate buttercream which is just equal amounts of chocolate and butter and nothing else. I have no idea whether this would actually work, because I made so many mistakes in making this simple buttercream (one I’ve made a hundred times with regular chocolate) that to actually describe them would be tedious. Let’s just suffice it to say that I tried to fix it by microwaving the mixture after blending it and when the white chocolate and butter separated and refused to go back together, I tried to fix it again by adding powdered sugar. I ended up with a thick sort of dough that obviously would not work for my purposes.

Feeling the velvety texture with my spatula as I mixed it, I thought the soft dough might make a nice truffle center. So I tasted it. That settled the matter. What was once the beginnings of a white chocolate buttercream had suddenly transformed into the beginnings of white chocolate truffles.

I rolled the dough into small balls and froze them to harden them up for easier handling.

I went the easy route and dipped them in almond bark. (Dark chocolate would contrast nicely with the sweet center, but I didn’t want to go out and buy it.) Then I melted some white almond bark in a disposable pastry bag* and drizzled it over the top of the truffles to pretty them up.

While I was zigging and zagging, I thought, “Hmmmm….these would make great gifts!” And I haven’t bought anything for mother’s day yet. So I boxed them up and now they’re in the fridge, ready to give to my Mom and mother-in-law on Sunday. They don’t have to know that their gifts started out as a disaster!

Black & White Truffles
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
dark & white chocolate for dipping & decorating

Melt the chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Beat in the powdered sugar. Roll the dough into balls and freeze until hard, about 10 minutes. Dip in dark chocolate (you can mix a little shortening, butter or parafin with it to make it shiny) and then decorate with white chocolate.

*You can buy disposable plastic pastry bags at Walmart on the cake decorating aisle. I get a pack of 50 and I think it’s less than $10. They’re awesome b/c you can stick chocolate in the bag, microwave it, then snip the end and squirt the chocolate out to decorate with. You can also use them for drizzling anything, like frosting or glaze.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Posted on December 24, 2008 by Veronica

I’ve made a lot of fudge this year and I’ve finally come up with a basic fudge recipe that I really like. It is non-temperamental, doesn’t require that you heat it to a certain temperature, doesn’t get grainy, and is rich and dense and gooey. You can use it as a base and add different things like nuts, liqueur, or candy. Here’s the basic recipe and notes on how to turn it into the dark chocolate peppermint fudge (my picture shows just the regular fudge with the peppermint but I later tried using dark chocolate, which I think tastes better with the peppermint).

Veronica’s Basic Fudge

1 (12-oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Fill a medium saucepan about 2 inches deep with water. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, dump everything but the vanilla and nuts in a metal bowl and set it on top of the saucepan so that it’s suspended over the hot water. Stir the contents intermittently while it heats, until everything is melted and thoroughly combined. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and nuts (if you are using). Pour into a buttered 8×8″ pan and refrigerate at least overnight before cutting. Makes about 2 lbs. Lasts forever (I’ve kept some up to two months without it getting dry or going bad) tightly covered at room temperature.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge: substitute dark chocolate chips (I use Hershey’s Special Dark) and sprinkle Andes peppermint baking chips on top once the fudge is poured in the dish and smoothed. You don’t have to wait for it to cool first. You could also use crushed peppermints if you don’t mind crunchy fudge.