Pure Maple Sugar Candy

Near the top of the list of "Favorite Things My Mother Used to Make" is homemade maple sugar candy.  If you've bought some before, you know it's still excellent, but making it at home allows you to control the texture.  Usually, store-bought maple sugar is hard and dry, but if you wish to at home, you can make the consistency more like fudge or even make one of my favorites-- spreadable maple cream.

If you've never had maple sugar candy before, you are missing out!  I should mail you a piece or two.

I'm lifting instructions from the website massmaple.org, because my vague "instructions" will probably annoy people who haven't made candy before.  I do recommend using a large, heavy-bottomed pot, as this distributes heat more evenly.  Also make sure you test (calibrate) your candy thermometer before beginning.  For this batch, I heated the syrup to 240 degrees F before stirring.  The candy was firm and hard, but not completely brittle.  For softer candy, one should boil it to 235 degrees; for harder, brittle candy, boil it to 245 degrees.  The hotter the syrup gets, the faster it will turn color and harden (and also the easier it will scorch!), so be on the lookout for that magic moment while it cools and when you're stirring, when it loses glossiness and begins to look creamy-colored.  When that happens, pour it off into your pan, and it will harden further after a few minutes.  You can then slice it and let it cool completely.

I usually use one quart of maple syrup and pour the finished product into a lightly greased 13 x 9 pan. One quart of syrup yields 2 pounds of candy.

Pure Maple Syrup Candy (instructions copied from here)

1. Fill pan partially with water and the thermometer.

2. Bring to a boil, and note the temperature of the boiling water. Empty the pan.
3. Place syrup in pan; use a deep pan as the boiling syrup will foam up fairly high when boiling.
4. Add a few drops of oil or butter. (This helps to keep foam down).
5. Boil carefully over high heat without stirring, until temperature of the boiling syrup is 32 degrees F above the boiling point of the water, as noted earlier. Watch carefully as the temperature climbs higher. It can get too hot very quickly near the end. If your pan boils over, you'll have a real mess! If it cooks too long it can scorch, even catch fire. Watch it! (This is not a place for children nearby, as the boiling syrup is VERY hot, and can stick and burn).
6. Remove from heat, and let cool for 3-5 minutes.
7. Stir evenly by hand (don't beat) until the liquid loses its gloss and starts to become opaque. This should take a few minutes, and the tricky part is to learn the exact correct moment to pour off. Stir too long and the thickened syrup will "set up" (harden) in the pan. If this happens, add a cup of water, and re-heat slowly to dissolve sugar, then start over. If you don't stir long enough, the sugar may not "set up" in the molds at all.
8. Pour carefully into molds. Small aluminum foil pans can be used.
9. Allow to cool, remove from molds, place on a rack to dry for a few hours...enjoy!

Homemade Marshmallow Eggs

Honestly, making homemade marshmallow squares cut out of a pan is a lot easier than making marshmallow eggs poured into a mold, but if your children, like mine, are super-excited about making eggs, here's your warning that it will be messy.

Also be warned that these are insanely good.  Your children will thank you!  Your hips will not.

 I'm going to be lazy for recipes I didn't create-- too lazy to even cut and paste.  I found the recipe here.  Go forth and marshmallow!

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Butter Mints

These are my preferred butter mints not only becuase they taste so rich and delicious, but they are so stinking easy to make.  (I like simple things, remember?)  It's possible to whip them up at the last minute for parties or gift-giving, or both.  I should know.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Butter Mints

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature

4 cups confectioners' sugar, plus additional for rolling

1/4 - 1 teaspoon peppermint extract, to taste

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 tablespoons milk

food coloring, if desired

Cream the butter with the paddle attachment of your mixture until light and fluffy.  Add the sugar and extracts until mixture is thick and smooth, then slowly add milk, a bit at a time, until mixture reaches good molding consistency.  I usually add milk and/or confectioners' sugar until the mixture is easy to mold, almost like play-dough. Add coloring, if desired, and mix until spread throughout.

For making mints, dust your work surface lightly with confectioners' sugar or layer with waxed paper and do one of the following:

1.  Roll dough into logs about 1/2" in diameter before cutting off 1/2" pieces for traditional-sized butter mints.  Place on waxed paper or parchment paper to dry, uncovered, for several hours or overnight.

or

2.  Roll chilled dough out between two pieces of waxed paper to 1/8-in. thickness (or on confectioners' sugar-dusted surface) and cut into desired shapes.  Place on waxed paper to dry, uncovered, for several hours or overnight, flipping at least once.

or

3.  Roll dough into balls, smush balls using the flat end of a drinking glass to desired thickness, and/or press down using the tines of a fork to make decorative marks.  Place on waxed paper to dry, uncovered, for several hours or overnight, flipping at least once.

Place mints in airtight container in between layers of waxed paper and store for up to 2 weeks.  If weather is hot, mints should be refrigerated because of the butter content.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Candies

Two years ago, I made these for a dear woman at my church.  She loves chocolate covered cherries, and I love her, so I figured it was worth a shot.  Because they entail wrapping homemade fondant around a damp cherry, they're not as easy* as, say, peppermint patties, but oh, are they goooood.  Someone Else may also love chocolate covered cherries, but I'm not saying who.  Someone Else may have nibbled 6 or so for quality control.  Again, I'm not saying who.  (Chocolate stains? By my mouth?  Naw.)

These rich candies are awfully good, but I didn't let the ones that Someone Else ate ripen for the full 2 weeks before Someone Else gobbled them, so I can only tell you that if you eat them the next day or any of the 2 days following their making, the fondant will still be thick and gooey instead of fully liquid.  Obviously, that didn't keep me Someone Else from eating a half dozen of them.

I doubled the recipe, so halve what lies below for a single batch.

Fondant:
-4 and 1/2 to 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
-1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon reserved maraschino cherry juice
- a pinch of salt

Cherries:
2 jars of maraschino cherries, drained, reserving 1 tbsp. of juice (I didn't use the full two jars, perhaps because I ended up coating them fairly thickly with the fondant.)

Coating:
-24-36 semisweet chocolate chips (depending on how thickly you coat the candies)
- 1 tbsp. butter or shortening

1. Cream butter, add a few cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth, add sweetened condensed milk, extracts, and salt, and then add remaining powdered sugar gradually until combined. Mix until smooth and then put in the refrigerator until firm.

2. Freeze the cherries in a single layer on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet for one hour.  (Drain the cherries as thoroughly as possible first.)

3.  Scoop 1-2 tsp. fondant, flatten in your palms, and wrap around each cherry, enclosing each completely.  Freeze these covered cherries on wax-paper lined cookie sheet for an additional hour (or longer) until easy to handle.

4.  In a double boiler or bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine the chocolate chips and butter/shortening, stirring until smooth and melted.  Dip the cherries one at a time in the chocolate, coating completely, and then place on wax-paper lined sheets to harden. 

5.  Eat immediately for soft fondant in the middle; let ripen for 1 -2 weeks for liquid centers. 

*If you've never coated candies in chocolate before, I'd recommend practicing on a candy that's simple to dip first, such as the peppermint patties.  That way, you'll get the hang of it and have peppermint patties to eat, to boot.

York-like Peppermint Patties

If you, like me, love York Peppermint Patties, then you'll love these candies. If you don't, then you won't, pure and simple.

Speaking of simple, this recipe is as simple a one for candy as they come, and soooo good (for those of you who love York Peppermint Patties, that is).

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon peppermint extract
6 cups confectioners' sugar
Additional confectioners' sugar
1 - 12 oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips (I always use more than this, at least 18 oz, more often 24 oz to be safe)

1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening

In large mixer bowl, combine sweetened, condensed milk and extract. Add 6 cups sugar; beat on low speed until smooth and well blended. Mixture will be very stiff, and I often knead mine a bit with my (sticky) hands to incorporate all the sugar. Turn mixture onto surface sprinkled with confectioners sugar. Knead lightly to form smooth ball. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place
2 inches apart on wax paper-lined baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a flat-bottomed glass into a roughly 1 ½-inch patty.

Let dry 1 hour or longer; turn over and let dry at least 1 hour. Melt the
chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave until halfway melted. Stir halfway
through the heating time. Do not overheat or chocolate will scorch. If you want to take the time to properly temper the chocolate (which will prevent chocolate from "blooming," developing streaks, or losing its sheen), omit the shortening and melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler over low heat. [Follow online instructions for tempering chocolate, because I'm too tired to type them out at this late hour, and, to be honest, I'm usually too tired to temper the chocolate, too.] With fork, dip each patty into warm chocolate (draw fork lightly across rim of bowl to remove excess coating). Invert onto wax paper lined baking sheets; let stand until firm. Store covered at room temperature or in refrigerator. Makes at least 4 dozen.

Buckeyes

Here's another simple candy recipe, only this time the flavor favors lovers of peanut butter. If you like peanut butter, you'll love this candy; if you don't....you get the idea, right?




1/2 cup butter, softened
1 and 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
confectioner's sugar (one pound, though I use less)
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (as with the mint patties, I melt more-- 1 and 1/2 to 2 bags, to make sure I've got enough)

Cream butter, p.b., and vanilla. Add enough confectioner's sugar until a good consistency is reached. Whatever you do, don't add sugar until you think the dough will be easiest to handle, because these candies are best when the filling is still soft enough to fool you into thinking it melts in your mouth. Add only enough sugar to make it possible to roll the dough into balls that will hold their spherical shape.

Roll into one-inch balls and place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. Melt the chips and shortening in an identical manner as in the peppermint patty recipe above, or be crazy, omit the shortening, and temper the chocolate like Martha would never fail to do. Dip the balls into chocolate and cover them about 3/4 of the way, either by using a toothpick poked into the top (which will leave a funny little hole) or by dipping them using a fork (which may leave some of the bottoms unevenly covered, unless you have a bonafide candy dipping fork, which I don't). Who needs a candy fork. These are yummy with or without even chocolate coverings, so go and make some. Now. And then give me some.

Butter Toffee

Note: I only made a ¼ batch of this to top the cheesecake.

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
12 oz. semisweet chocolate (chips are fine)
1 cup finely chopped toasted nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, and/or cashews) if desired

Grease a 15x10x1 inch pan  (for a quarter batch, use a 8 x 8 pan); set aside.

In a 3-4 quart saucepan (if making smaller batch, use a smaller pan), melt butter and sugar over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Avoid splashing sides of pan. Carefully clip a candy thermometer to pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring only if mixture begins to scorch, until thermometer registers 290 degrees, soft-crack stage (about 15 minutes), brushing down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water if needed.   Mixture should boil at a moderate, steady rate over entire surface. Remove from heat; remove thermometer. *** If you want to make English toffee, let the mixture reach 300 degrees (hard-crack stage) before removing from heat.***

Pour mixture into prepared pan; spread evenly. Cool about 5 minutes or until it begins to set and then score the surface. Sprinkle with chocolate pieces; let stand 2 minutes. Spread chocolate over candy. Sprinkle with nuts, if desired, and press into chocolate. Cool several hours or until set.

Break or cut into pieces and store in a tightly covered container.

Tips:

*When in doubt, always use a lower heat rather than a higher while making candy. If the temperature is rising steadily (even more slowly than you’d like, it will reach the desired temp.). Burnt toffee is not tasty and the pans are a pain to clean (how do I know this, you wonder?).

*Be sure that the thermometer is not touching the pan, or the reading will be inaccurate.

*Test your candy thermometer first by placing it in a pan of boiling water for several minutes. It should read 212 degrees. If it rises above or does not reach 212 degrees, add or subtract the difference (e.g. if your candy thermometer reads 206 degrees in boiling water instead of 212 degrees, then only cook your toffee to 284 degrees).

*If you don’t use a candy thermometer, you can use the cold-water test for candy, though it’s not as easy. When the toffee mixture becomes golden and it’s been close to 15 minutes, drop a small amount of the hot candy mixture into a bowl of cold water. When it cools and is removed from the water, the candy will separate into strands that are hard but not brittle. To test for the hard-crack stage for English toffee, do the same thing. When the candy has reached the hard-crack stage, it will separate into hard, brittle threads when removed from the water.

TRUFFLES-- Espresso (or Raspberry or Mint or Orange or....etc.)

 


I'm posting this in response to a request specifically for my Espresso Truffles, but I use this recipe as a base for just about any flavor of truffle. It's the perfect base to play with, and if you make a heavenly variation, please post a comment so I can copy you! See the variations I make by the asterisks below.

INGREDIENTS:
12 oz. chocolate (I just use a bag of chocolate chips, but if you want to splurge, buy chunks of the best quality chocolate you can afford)

1/2 cup heavy cream (if making one of the jam variations below, use a bit less heavy cream, as the melted jam will make the truffles a little softer than usual if you use the same amount of cream)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup roughly ground coffee or espresso beans OR run-of-the-mill ground coffee. (If making these like Martha, add the ground coffee and/or beans to the heavy cream right after it has reached the boiling point. Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain, discarding the solids, and boil cream again before adding to the chocolate. Or, in a hurried pinch, just dump ground coffee into the chocolate mixture, to taste.)

***At this point, for a differently flavored truffle, I omit the vanilla and coffee and add one of the following:
- homemade raspberry jam, melted on the stovetop and seeds strained out, to taste
- any other flavor of jam, prepared similarly
- peppermint extract and/or crushed candy canes
- another extract such as almond or orange (if using orange, I usually grate in a bit of orange zest, also)
- rum extract (or rum!)with a few crushed toffee bits thrown in, if desired
- ....you get the idea


Cocoa powder, chopped nuts, chopped chocolate, crushed mint candies, flavored cappuccino mix, or melted chocolate, for rolling and dipping.

TO MAKE:
Place chocolate in a medium bowl (if using bulk chocolate, break into small pieces first). In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil over medium heat. Pour over the chocolate pieces and let sit one minute. Stir until chocolate is incorporated and mixture is smooth (you may need to carefully heat the mixture a bit more to reach this point). Cool a bit and then stir in vanilla, to taste. If you're making them unlike Martha, this is also the point at which you dump in the run-of-the-mill ground coffee. (Add any ingredients for variations at this point instead of the vanilla and coffee.)

Place in refrigerator for several hours until firm enough to shape into balls. Shape into balls and roll or dip in desired coating.

If you want to coat them in chocolate, carefully melt 12 oz. chocolate with 1 tablespoon shortening in a double boiler or in a bowl resting on top of a simmering pan of water without touching the water. (Google "tempering chocolate" for instructions on proper tempering. Untempered chocolate tastes the same but may develop a "bloom.") Using a fork, dip them individually, shake off the excess chocolate, and place on wax-lined cookie sheet to let chocolate set. Dust tops with nuts or candy or whatever your little heart wishes. Squiggles of white chocolate can be squiggled on after the chocolate shell sets.

Truffles make my heart sing! (Okay, okay...that's a lie. I eat so many of the darn things that my heart actually creaks, complains, and then starts beating unevenly. Yes, arrhythmia is totally worth it.)