Tag: candy

Posted on

Peanut Butter Cups

Mmm. Chocolate and peanut butter.

We’ve been making candies at Christmas for several years now, and, while we have our favorites, we do like to try something new from time to time. This year we decided to try our hand at making Peanut Butter Cups. Not like the ones you can buy at the store; we’re talking Peanut Butter Cups with real ingredients. Quality ingredients, such as a good dark chocolate, and a not-too-sweet peanut butter filling. After all, those Peanut Butter Cups in the two-pack are overly sweet, and the chocolate barely tastes like chocolate. We know we can do better. So can you, fellow scratcher.

Continue reading “Peanut Butter Cups”
Posted on

Almond Brittle

While it seems as if we haven’t been busy, we have. We’ve been traveling for fun (to the Grand Canyon), and, back at home, we’ve been making candy. We generally make candy for the holidays, mostly to give away, but, a bit for us, too. While we have our standards, such as Bear Paws, we like to change up some of the other recipes we use. This year we changed our brittle recipe to make almond brittle.

Continue reading “Almond Brittle”
Worth the trouble?
Posted on

Tempering Chocolate in the Microwave

chocolate covered bear paws

chocolate covered bear paws
Even with tempered chocolate, it seems to get everywhere.

Do you ever melt chocolate to coat something, perhaps caramel, or to use it to dip other items (say, sugar cookies), and are disappointed in how it doesn’t seem to harden? Instead of a hard shell, it stays soft and messy, melting onto your fingers as soon as your touch it. Well, if you’re like us, you’ve researched the matter, and found that your chocolate wasn’t in “temper.” And, you probably found difficult instructions on how to temper chocolate. We know we did. We’ve even tried it and told you about it. But, in that post, someone mentioned an easy way to temper chocolate. Really easy. So easy, it seemed as if it wasn’t true. However, we tried it, and found that it’s really easy to have perfectly tempered chocolate without double boilers, thermometers, or immersion blenders. Really!

Continue reading “Tempering Chocolate in the Microwave”

Worth the trouble?
Posted on

Betterfingers, or Homemade Butterfingers®

home made butterfingers®

home made butterfingers®
Butterfingers®? No! Betterfingers!

We call these Betterfingers because we think anything you make at home is bound to be better. For one thing, it’s fresher; for another, you control the quality of the ingredients and choose the best you can afford, while manufacturers choose the cheapest they can get away with. So, how exactly do you make these Betterfingers? Read on.

Continue reading “Betterfingers, or Homemade Butterfingers®”

Worth the trouble?
Posted on

Gozinaki

gozinaki

gozinaki
We love the name gozinaki, and they taste great, too!

We owe Dorie Greenspan a round of thanks. Not necessarily because she writes great cookbooks with fun and interesting recipes, but, because her Around My French Table was one of the first cookbooks we looked at when trying to find a recipe for cassoulet. Now, we’re not sure if there is a recipe for cassoulet in there, but there were definitely other recipes that we wanted to try. That’s what got us hooked, and made us want to start this blog. So, thanks, Dorie!

Continue reading “Gozinaki”

Worth the trouble?
Posted on

Cherry Almond Brittle

cherry almond brittle

cherry almond brittle
Cherries! Almonds! Crunchy! Chewy!

One of us got a notice to report for jury duty on Monday (possibly), the same day we volunteer downtown, which is when we bring treats for the other volunteers. Jury duty might mean that one of us would be gone most or all day, so any treats we made would have to be made ahead of time, which eliminates an awfully lot of baked-fresh goods. Now, if we add to the mix that we want our treats to match somewhat an adjacent holiday, month, or season (Bourbon-Pecan Mini Pies or Kings Cakelets for Mardi Gras, Peppermint Stick Ice Cream for December, etc), it gets difficult to figure out just what to make. After all, the only holiday this time of February is President’s Day.

Continue reading “Cherry Almond Brittle”

Worth the trouble?
Posted on

Pepperminties

peppermint patties

peppermint patties
Minty and cool!

We wanted to try a new type of candy this year and had just read a recipe for peppermint patties, or, as we’ll refer to this version, pepperminties. We found this in Prune, by Gabrielle Hamilton, which we really enjoyed. It’s printed to look like the notebook that the staff uses in the restaurant (maybe it’s basically a copy; we don’t know), including handwritten notes about handling and plating the food. If you want to have some feel for what goes on in a high-pressure restaurant kitchen, check out this book. But, for now, let’s check out how to make pepperminties.

Continue reading “Pepperminties”

Worth the trouble?