Candy Cane Fudge Truffles

A while back I made some candy cane fudge, with Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses

Although the fudge tasted great it was very soft.

I am not sure what I did to it that it didn't set properly.

I first thought of rolling it into balls and dipping it into chocolate -

but that didn't pan out as well as I wanted it too, as the fudge melted in the warm melted chocolate.

I didn't want to waste the fudge so decided to mix the fudge with some animal crackers and then roll them

and dip them into chocolate.

Success!

I will give you the recipe that I used to make the fudge.. Maybe it will work out for you.

Candy Cane Fudge

This recipes was adapted from Dawn's Divine Delight - Dove Fudge

3 cups white sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 can evaporated milk (large)

1/2 bag Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses

2- 4 oz Ghirardelli White Chocolate Bars

7 oz Marshmallow Creme - or 1 cup homemade - I use this recipe

Cut chocolate into small pieces and set aside.  Bring sugar, butter and evaporated milk to a full rolling boil on medium heat.  Boil for 4 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees. Remove from heat and add chocolate and marshmallow creme until mixed. The fudge was very pink, so I added some red food colour and swirled it into the fudge.  Place in foil covered 9 x 13.  Place in refrigerator until set.  

This should have set properly.  Mine set but was too soft to cut into bars, so I then had to rethink what I would do it.  I decided to make some chocolates.  I first thought of dipping as I said, but this didn't work.. My next thought was to use molds.  I didn't have any molds but I did have some ice cube trays and thought those could work... They did.  I placed a small amount of melted chocolate in the bottom of the ice cube tray and then placed a small amount of the soft fudge mixture onto top of the melted chocolate and then added more melted chocolate above the fudge.  Then tapping the ice cube tray to let all the chocolate settle.  Place in refrigerator until set.

place small amount of chocolate in bottom
of tray, then small amount of fudge and cover
with more chocolate

Candy Cane Fudge Truffles

3 cups of the above recipe for candy cane fudge

1 cup animal cracker crumbs

melted chocolate.

candy cane crumbs (optional)

Mix candy cane fudge and animal cracker crumbs together.  Roll into balls and place in refrigerator until set.  Once set, melt chocolate and dip balls into chocolate.  Sprinkle candy cane crumbs over chocolate (optional).  Let cool.

Links: Thursday Treasures, Wednesday Extravaganza

Homemade turtles

Pecans, chocolate and caramel...

Aren't those the best things ever

I love making homemade chocolates,

you can give them for gifts or just eat them yourself...

and they taste so much better then the store bought ones

Because you did them with love...

I learnt to make

Homemade Turtles

many years ago and bought turtle molds so that they looked like turtles.

My molds are starting to look old and I wasn't even sure you could buy them anymore

So I went on line and found them...

You can buy them from Global Sugar Art

I usually buy my caramel ~ using either Werther's or Kraft
This year I decided to make my own... you can find the recipe here.
And the chocolate that I like using is Ghirardelli or Hershey and often I will combine them.
You can also use chocolate wafers if you want.
I don't have a double boiler, so I melt my chocolate in a dish that is over a pot filled with water

I don't have a recipe for these, so will just show you what I do..

First get everything ready.. Melt your chocolate I just leave it in my pot with hot water

so that it stays melted.

Have your caramels, pecans and molds ready.

melted chocolate, caramels, pecans and mold

a picture of the mold I used.

Drop a teaspoon or so of chocolate at the bottom of the mold.

Place a small amount of caramel on the round part of the pecan and 

place it caramel side down on the chocolate.

*** Make sure you have the flat side of the pecan facing up or you will have a pregnant turtle.

Cover the mold with chocolate.
I use a small brush to move the chocolate around the mold and fill them in.

Chill until firm.
You can place them in the freezer or do what I do, put them outside on my porch to harden.
Once hardened, turn the molds upside down and gently tap to release the turtle.
Occasional a limb or head might fall off...
You can glue them back on by using a small brush and melted chocolate.

Enjoy!

links: Tasty Thursdays, Foodie Friends Friday (ThisandThat), Thursday's Treasure, Freedom Fridays

Caramels.... Salted or not!

Do you like your caramels salted or not?

I have gotten into eating Salted Caramel....

I love the taste of sweet and salty together.....

And put it together with chocolate and it is wonderful. 

I found this recipe for Microwave Caramel from Food.com
this is simple and tastes great 

It is great for when I make my turtles...

aren't these just the cutest.... They look like real turtles.

I promise that I will show you how to make these cute turtles in a separate posts

Today's post is about the caramel

Microwave Salted Caramel

adapted from Food.com

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light Karo Syrup - I use Roger's Syrup that I buy in Canada

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp salt 

Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.  Cook on high for 6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.  Stir and pour in lightly greased pan.  Cool.  Once cool and slightly hardened score into small pieces.  I put mine back in the fridge until set and then brought it out and cut the candies. 

I put tinfoil and lightly greased it... this way I could pull the caramel out of the dish and cut them

My first batch I did not put the salt in with all the ingredients and once I poured them into the pan, I sprinkled Kosher salt on the caramels.

Once caramels are set, you can dip them in melted chocolate... YUM! or eat them as is...

I put tinfoil in my dish... this way I could pull it out to cut.

Caramels, sprinkled with Kosher salt...

salted caramel dipped in chocolate

Enjoy!

Related articles Mmmmm...BaconCaramel Fudge 

                          eat :: apple cider caramels

Mock Cuban Lunch Chocolate Bars

Do you remember the Cuban Lunch Chocolate Bar?

If you are Canadian you might remember it....

I loved them..

A large bar with thick chocolate that crunches in each bite.. full of peanuts.

It makes my mouth water just thinking about it...

I am not even sure that you can buy them anymore...

But you can make them with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanutbutter chips, 

ripple chips and peanuts..

YES! I said ripple chips...

I have been trying very hard not to make anything with peanuts

so I had though Almond Butter would taste good in them...

I couldn't find any Almond Butter, instead I found the next best thing..

Caramel Almond Spread

and is it good... If you haven't tried it you need too...  

Mock Cuban Lunch Chocolate Bars 

2 cups chocolate chips

2 cups butterscotch chips

1 cup caramel almond spread

1 1/2 cups rippled chips - crushed

1 cup macadamia nuts - broken into small pieces

Place chocolate and butterscotch chips and caramel almond spread into a microwave save bowl.  Microwave until chips are melted.  Stir.  Add ripple chips and macadamia nuts and stir until thoroughly mixed.  Drop by spoonfuls into baking cups... you can use either miniature baking cups or regular size.  Place in refrigerator until chilled.  Enjoy.

Once chips and spread are melted, add rippled chips and nuts
stir until thoroughly mixed.

drop into baking cups and chill

Caramel Almond Spread 

Enjoy!

 So easy to make and a great gift idea.  Christmas is coming you may want to think of putting this on your baking list...

Almond Bark Halloween Candy

I am not a Halloween person, but I love the candy and I do like watching the young children dressed up in their costume excited to get candy.
One of my favorite Halloween candies is candy corn... and I eat them until I am just about sick.  I found this recipe on the last Foodie Friends Friday recipe... It has everything that I like in candy ~ chocolate, candy corn and m&m's.  The recipe is from one of my favorite blogger's Cindy from Hun.. What's for Dinner.

Almond Bark Halloween Candy

adapted from Halloween Candy Bark

6 square Vanilla flavored Almond Bark

6 square Chocolate flavored Almond Bark

approx 1 - 1 1/2 cup of m&m's and candy corn (  I used candy corn flavored m&m's, fall m&m's and harvest mix candy corn)

Melt chocolate in separate bowls.  I melted mine in the microwave, check about every 30 seconds.  The vanilla flavored almond bark took about 2 minutes to melt and the chocolate almond bark took about 3 minutes to melt.

Place parchment paper on cookie sheet, pour almond bark on cookie sheet and using a knife swirl the two almond bark together.  I put my almond bark beside each other but you can also slowly pour the chocolate flavored almond bark on the parchment paper and then slowly pour the vanilla flavored almond bark.  Again using knife swirl together.

Pour candies over the chocolate and press softly into chocolate. Put into refrigerator to harden.  Take out in about 45 minutes.  To break candy, grab both ends of the parchment paper and drop onto countertop, or you can break it with your hands.  

     

Pumpkin Spice Fudge

This past weekend, my brother and family came to visit and I was able to cook with my niece.  It was so much fun.  I was able to teach my niece how my mom taught me to make fudge and how she showed me  what a soft boil stage was and when the fudge was ready.  She did this by dropping a small amount of the candy into cold water and move it around with her finger, if it made a small ball then it was ready.  I still use this method, although I do have a candy thermometer.   As my mother passed away many years ago, and this was a way that my niece could learn something about her grandmother.  My niece also loves to cook, so hopefully in the near future I will be able to cook and bake with her more.

Pumpkin Spice Fudge 

adapted from Pumpkin Bliss Fudge  Dawn's Divine Delight

2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

4 oz white chocolate ( I used Ghiradelli Vanilla Dream, approx 1 and 1/4 bar)

1 bag Hershey Pumpkin Spice Kisses

1 7 oz marshmallow creme (1 used 1 cup homemade marshmallow creme RECIPE)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract - (I forgot to put this in...but my white chocolate has vanilla)

Butter a 9x13 pan or place tin foil in it.  Unwrap kisses and chop up chocolate.
Place sugars, butter, milk, pumpkin puree in a saucepan cook over medium heat until sugars are dissolved. Then continue this until mixture begins to boil, stirring constantly.  Boil until the mixture is in a soft- ball stage, approximately 234 degrees on the candy thermometer.
Take off heat and add chocolate,and marshmallow creme and mix until well mixed and smooth. Stir in vanilla (if you are using) and mix well
Pour into your prepared 9x13 pan.  The fudge is already setting at this stage and place in refrigerator to set.

*I took mine out in an hour and was able to cut it and serve it. (my company was leaving and I wanted my helpers to be able to taste it).  The fudge was still a bit warm on the bottom but cut easily and stayed in pieces while we ate it.   So smooth and delicious.  I w it.   It is so smooth and a wonderful pumpkin flavor.  My brother told me we could come for Christmas as long as we brought this with us.  So glad that I bought many bags of pumpkin spice kisses!

the process in fudge making.... with the help of my nieces!
They were so much help.

and one last picture because it is oh so yummy!

                                                                                                         
               

Linked up here:  Mix it up Mondays, Sunday Sweet Confessions Link Party,Manic Mondays, Wednesday Extravaganza

Host Favorite... Honey ButterFinger Bites

If you follow my blog, you know that I pick one recipe to be my host favorite and I try to make it before the next Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party.  Last week, I found Honey-Butter Finger Bites from The Nerdy Farm Wife.  I am not sure if I have ever eaten butterfingers as I can't remember and I am sure that isn't possible for me not to have tried them as I have eaten every type of  candy there is.... but I don't remember what they taste like.  But this recipe intrigued me and it only had 3 ingredients.  I also love Nerdy Farm Wife's picture of them with the fallen leaves... So great.
The only thing about this recipe that I needed to change was the peanut butter.  We have a peanut sensitivity in the house, so I try very hard to stay away from it, so I decided that biscoff would work great and I also had some nutella.  That is what I am going to try  and both worked.  The biscoff bites were soft and chewy... just how I liked them and the nutella were harder... they also were good and I didn't put chocolate on the nutella ones.

Honey Biscoff/Nutella Butterfinger Bites

Honey Biscoff/Nutella Butterfinger Bites

adapted from The Nerdy Farm Wife

2/3 cup honey

1/2 cup peanut butter - I used crunchy biscoff in one recipe and nutella in another

chocolate chips for coating - I used Ghirardelli 60% chocolate

Place honey in saucepan and bring to a soft boil stage, (around 275 degrees).  Remove from heat and add either biscoff or nutella and stir for a few minutes.  Pour in pan that is covered with parchment paper.  Place in refrigerator to harden.  I took mine out after about 15 minutes to score so that it will be easier to cut when they hardened.  Once hard, bring out of fridge and break or cut into pieces.  Dip in melted chocolate and place back on pan covered with parchment paper and return to fridge to harden again.

I didn't dip the bites that I made with the nutella as I thought the chocolate in the nutella was enough.  The ones that I made with biscoff were softer than the ones that I made with nutella.

  

Bites made with biscoff and dipped in chocolate

the bites made with nutella

Enjoy