Twizzled!

I got twizzled today!! Got a little bored at work & indulged in some Twizzlers Cherry Nibs for my afternoon snack. I got to pretend I had giant red teeth by sinking my teeth halfway into them and flashing my beautiful candy smile :)

Twizzlers, in all their varieties, may be one the most entertaining candies to eat. The Hershey site has a pretty good website dedicated to just that-check out the Top Ten things to do with Twizzlers. My favorite (besides eating it...duh) is the straw. The licorice gives whatever you're drinking kind of an odd taste like strawberry syrup or something, but it's TOTALLY worth the strange taste, becaue you are drinking out of a candy straw...awesome!!

Even though Twizzler original Twists used as a straw are hard to beat, Hershey's has come up with many different varieties to "Make Mouths Happy":

• Twists - Strawberry, Chocolate, Cherry, Rainbow, Black Licorice
• Filled Twists - Sweet & Sour
• Pull n Peel - Cherry, Watermelon
• Bites - Cherry, Black Licorice
• Nibs - Cherry, Black Licorice

Twizzlers original Twists take 15 hours to make from start to finish. I would like to attempt to make my own at home, but I'm not quite up for that kind of commitment yet! I'll just buy them from the gas station across the street & get "twizzled" at work (yes, I eat candy AT the dental clinic-I'm a star patient!!) 

Gimme a Break!

Kit Kats may be my favorite chocolate bar...then again how can one really chose?! I tried my hand at a copycat recipe someone suggested to me. Most recipes I found were for Kit Kat bars (like a whole pan that you cut up like a cake, not individual candy pieces...bars vs. bars=very confusing!) which would be much much easier than what I did. I had to try it the "real" way though.

I had lots of people sample these & the overall rating was pretty good. My grandparents were visiting for a bit so they were offered a sample as well. Grandpa of course scooped one right up, but my grandmother in her EXACT words asked if he would just "break her off a piece of his Kit Kat bar" without even realizing that she was a walking advertisement for Nestle! I thought everyone knew the little slogan, but like Andy Bernard on "The Office" it just didn't click :)

 p.s. I LOVE The Office!!

This recipe calls for peanut butter in the chocolate coating, but I'm not sure I was a fan because 1. it made the chocolate a little softer/stickier, and 2. I don't really taste peanut butter in normal Kit Kats bars so it wasn't "the real thing". Like I said though--they really did turn out yummy and definitely worth a try.   

Kit Kat vs. Kelso's Kit Kat
Ya get more bang for the buck from mine ;)



Supplies

Kit Kat Bars
1 box Club crackers
2 cups graham crackers (1 packet)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

Crackers

1. Line a greased cake pan with crackers. Set aside. Crush graham crackers in plastic bag.
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add milk and sugars. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, add the graham crackers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour half of the mixture over the crackers and spread it out evenly. Put another layer of crackers on top and pour on the rest of the mixture. Top that with a final layer of crackers. Set in the fridge to cool completely
This next part is the hard way...for easy way go to step 6.

Cookin' it up

4. Cut "Kit Kat-sized" bars from your layered masterpiece. Set aside
5. Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap or wax paper (I used plastic, but prefer wax usually).
6. Melt the milk chocolate, butterscotch chips, & peanut butter in saucepan until smooth. Pour enough to lightly cover the bottom of your lined baking sheet. Arrange your cut bars atop of the chocolate layer (you can even arrange them in groups of four if you like). Pour the remaining chocolate over top of the bars and spread with spatula to cover top & sides. Let chocolate set in the fridge until hard. Break em up & enjoy!!
The easy way..skip steps 4-6

I know I skipped a few photo steps,
but I was in candy making
mode & forgot-sorry!

7. Leave layered candy in cake pan. Melt only half the chocolate, peanut butter & butterscotch and pour on top of bars. Let chocolate set, then cut up bars and serve.

A little Kit Kat history:
The "Kit Cat" was started by Roundtree, a candy company in York, UK in the 1930s and the familiar four-finger bar was developed after a worker at the Rowntree York Factory put a suggestion in a recommendation box for a snack that "a man could take to work in his pack up". I like the way that guys thinks!! I'm always carrying candy in my purse/pockets/glove compartment, but you need to have the flat, durable kinds so they don't get all broken up!! :) The Kit Kat grew in popularity, expanded in dozens flavors worldwide (like "Aloe Yogurt" and "Chocolate Banana" flavors in Japan!!) and is now over a billion bars are produced each year by the Nestle company.

I'm glad that I could try to copycat the Kit Kat, but I doubt I will every make on as good as the original...gimme a break!

My pan was too big for the fridge :(

Problem Solved!

Caramel Apple Goodness

I got to spend the past weekend in Gregory with fellow candy lover & great friend Erica & her family. We tried our hand at caramel apples and they turned out quite delicious-from what I can remember anyways!!
Caramel apples & candy apples seem similar, but they are actually quite different. Caramel apples are just was they sound like--apples covered in caramel coating, while candy apples are covered with a hard, sugary, red candy coating. Stay tuned to this blog as I plan to attempt the candy apple in the future! Caramel apples originated in the 1950s when Kraft salesman Dan Walker thought to combine the Halloween standard: caramels, with a healthy standard: apples. Ta Da! Caramel apples were born. To this day Kraft still prints the caramel apple recipe on the back of their individually wrapped bags of caramels & include complimentary sticks in the bag to promote making these fall treats at home.

Thought about making caramel from scratch, but went to for the super simple recipe instead:


Caramel Apples

Naked Apples :-o

1 pkg individual caramels (unwrapped)
2 Tbsp water
6 apples (we used granny smith)
6 popsicle or craft sticks
any desired additional toppings (chocolate, sprinkles, nuts, etc)


1. Wash and thoroughly dry all apples. The caramel will not stick to wet apples as well. Put the sticks into the top of the apple, right beside the stem. Prepare a sheet of wax paper to put dipped apples onto. 


2. In a small saucepan melt the unwrapped caramels and water until you can stir it easily with a spoon.

Naked Caramels :-o

3. Dip apples into caramel about 3/4 way up the apple. Wipe excess caramel off the bottom with a spoon, and place on wax paper.


4. Drizzle chocolate and sprinkle any additional toppings before the caramel sets completely. Allow caramel to re-solidify. you can place them in the fridge for a couple hours to hurry the process. Enjoy!

Fully Dressed Apples!
*notice the "poopy apple"
on the left with the burnt chocolate...hah

We tried to melt some chocolate chips in the microwave--I've determined that this is always a bad idea, no matter how much faster it is. I almost always burn the chocolate and it just doesn't work. This time it was too thick to spread, yet alone drizzle. Stove-top melting is always a better choice. As a quick solution, we drizzled Hershey's Chocolate Syrup on top of the apples. It didn't dry like melted chocolate would have, but it tasted just as good! You may also notice that our "sticks" are not the typical wooden stick, but plastic knifes. We couldn't find craft sticks at the local grocery store, so we used our imagination & they turned out just fine! (although we did have to be careful when we bit into them...haha!)


We also topped some of the apples with sprinkles. 

Raegan is proud of the apples :)

My favorite sprinkles ever are the star shaped ones that have a little substance to them. Whenever my mom would get these growing up, she'd hide them because I would go into the cupboard to just eat them by the handful- straight out of the bottle...talk about sugar addiction!! Needless to say, mom didn't buy them very often because they were always gone by the time she was actually going to use them... oops!


It happened to be the Gregory Volunteer Firefighter's Dance on Saturday, so after a good night of celebration we came home & thought it a grand idea to dig into the caramel apples. Even though I am thoroughly embarrassed by these photos, I told Matt I would put some on here because, as he didn't partake in celebrating with beverages, he found my consumption of the apples quite hilarious... I would like to meet a person who can eat a caramel apple & NOT get any on there face! :)

Messy Melvin...

...and proud of it!!

Butter Mints

I made these butter mints last week--sorry, haven't found time to post until now. Usually butter mints come in pastel colors, but I wanted to try more of my Neon Food coloring! Funny how even though a food may taste completely normal, if it's a wacky color some people are immediately scared of it, or in my case, drawn to it; my taste buds have been taught when they see bright, colorful candy, they immediately salivate for sweetness (much like Pavolv's dogs!). My friend's 3 year old daughter Raegan was one who was too scared to try my neon mints this weekend. Erica even tried the route of calling them Playdough chunks that you can eat! Okay, so maybe that doesn't sound appetizing now, but I know that you all have eaten your fair share of nasty, salty Playdough growing up! These did turn out a little soft, I think because I didn't use the full amount of powdered sugar that it called for--but it's the taste that matters right? oh yeah, and color :)

Butter Mints


1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp heavy cream
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
food coloring

Butter & cream mixed

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper


2. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream together until smooth. (I don't have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment--just used a rummage sale hand mixer and it was okay-see, you don't need fancy smancy tools!)


3. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, and beat until it forms a smooth dough.

Ready for colors!

4. Add peppermint extract and food coloring and beat to combine. If you want several colors of mints, divide the dough into portions and add color to each portion separately.


5. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into long ropes about 1/2 inch thick. Use a knife to cut into small pieces. PLace on the baking sheet and let set overnight to harden. Enjoy! 

Mint ropes--could be
the flag from candy nation :)

They taste a lot like cream cheese mints that you find at weddings, graduation parties, etc (which for some reason always have to be shaped like a leaf?) Yummy after dinner snack, AND they freshen your breath :) can't get much better than that!

Neon Butter Mints - they are so bright & happy!

No Candy for St. Patrick

St. Patrick's Day is one of the few holidays that doesn't have a lot of focus on candy. Stores just seem to skip right from Valentine's Day to Easter with their candy selections, which really isn't fair to St. Patrick. Gold coins is about all leprechauns can find around their holiday--and only if there's a rainbow ;)

I looked at the typical Irish diet and came to some conculsions as to why Ireland isn't famous for candy:

• Potatoes. There is such a thing as potato candy. It was invented by the Irish to finish up their left over mashed potatoes. Just add powdered sugar & spread on peanut butter and you've got yourself some candy for dessert! I've tried it...it's about as good as it sounds :(
• Meat. I did find some recipes for chocolate dipped beef jerky....but really??
• Beer. The Irish have Guiness to make them jolly. No need for candy?

St. Patrick's Day 2009

Tonight I plan on continuing my St. Patrick's Day tradition of drinking a green beer. Not just any green beer though, a green "Skibeer". My friends and I came up with "Skibeers" on a goofy night out in Vermillion. Just take your favorite tap beer, throw in a couple colored Skittles, & ta-da! You've got a colorful "Skibeer"! The best part of a "Skibeer" is the "Skibittles" at the bottom that you can suck on when you are finished.

Kind of a dark photo, but you get the jist.

**A word of warning: "Skibeers" do fizz up quite a bit, so you must drink them fast before they get flat, but then that has never really been a problem for me...

So St. Patrick doesn't get a lot of candy hype on his holiday, but like any other day, I will integrate candy into nearly everything I do, including celebrating with some green beers!!

Toffee=Squirrel Bait?

Toffee was Matt’s request for this week. It is a surprisingly super easy recipe, with surprisingly un-healthy ingredients…(it’s candy-deal with it!!). You’ve gotta stick around for the ending on this one, it’s pretty great…

Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Topped Toffee

(adapted from Bruce Weinstein’s Ultimate Candy Toffee Recipe)

1 ½ cups unsalted butter (3 sticks)

2 cups sugar

¼ cup water

3 Tbps corn syrup

2 cups total milk chocolate, white chocolate, & nuts for toppings

1, Butter or spray coat a 11x17in baking pan. Place on a cooling rack (my cooling rack was my grill, outside)

Paula Dean would be proud!

2. Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Don’t let the butter brown. Add the sugar, water, & corn syrup and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil without stirring.

3. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 300° F (hard crack).

4. Remove the pan from heat & immediately pour into prepared 11x17” pan. The syrup will spread by itself, don’t try to spread it further.

Mixture boiling...

5. Sprinkle 2 cups of milk chocolate and/or white chocolate chips on top and allow to melt for about a minute. With a pastry brush, spread the chocolate across the toffee. *Top with extra chips or nuts if desired (I used pecans)

6. Allow the candy to cool completely. Twist the pan like an ice cube tray to break loose the candy and break it into bite-sized irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Almost done cooking!

So if you are from Vermillion, you know how the squirrel population is a little “dense” around town, especially on USD campus (squirrels on campus link).  I experienced this first-hand today….

After I spread the chips around...
I was too excited & forgot to
 take a picture before-hand-sorry!

Added white chips & nuts

Swirled around a bit

I set my chocolate/nut topped toffee outside to let it cool for about 10-15 minutes. I opened my obnoxiously squeaky screen door, only to hear a rustling of the un-raked leaves in our yard. There is a toffee thief in our midst!!  Instead of taking my precious candy inside like most others would do, I put it back outside and set up camp with my camera ready to find whoever left little claw marks in my toffee.

Chillin' outside

Little paws digging into my treat...

Did I catch him? You bet I did!!! On camera at least.

And no, I did not disperse the “clawed” candy to my friends. Matt did eat it though…if you see him foaming from the mouth, please let me know!

***So my pan got scorched in this recipe… lots of black on the bottom on the pan-yuck! I searched the internet for tips on cleaning the pan. I tried putting a dryer sheet in the pan with hot water for about 8 hours. -- I'll update tomorrow on how it worked!

PEZ-Heads

Original PEZ Ad
Love it!

Who didn't collect Pez containers as a kid? Oh, I know it wasn't just me, there are lots of "PEZhead Conventions" for people just like us held every year! The highest valued dispenser was a factory proto-type Mickey Mouse dispenser sold for $7,000!! So, my collection of 20 containers from the 90s isn't that impressive compared to those that have 100s of originals, but I'm still a proud collector.


PEZ came from the german word for peppermint, PfeffErminZ, and were originally marketed in 1927 as a compressed peppermint candy. The most common flavors now are orange, strawberry, lemon, & grape. Here's a list of the PEZ flavors, past & present:    


• General: Orange, Strawberry, Lemon, Grape, Chocolate, Cola, Peppermint, Cherry, Raspberry
• Sour: Watermelon, Green Apple, Blue Raspberry, Pineapple
• Retired: Apple, Chlorophyll Mint, Coffee, Lime, Menthol, Yogurt
• Sugar-Free: Orange, Lemon & Strawberry


The first interactive dispenser, produced in 1948 looked much like a cigarette lighter (I still light my candy cigarettes with my pez dispensers!) and evolved into what we know & love PEZ containers to be today. Check out the PEZ Website for more fun history.



PEZ is a wonderful treat not just because of the great candy, but you get to play with the dispenser, refil it, play with it, & trade them with your friends! PEZ does have it's quirks though:





Donald Duck-
my favorite dispenser


• Candy comes out of the character's neck, not the mouth...weirds me out.
• No arms for the PEZ people :(
• It's nearly impossible to refil the dispenser without spilling the tiny candies as you try to transport the WHOLE stack into the "body". You need three hands to be truly effective.
• At a PEZ party, if one dispenser falls over it's a domino effect=disaster

Just had PEZ on my mind this week because my niece Kenna was awarded a PEZ container after she ate all her supper this last weekend-her reaction was perfect! She carefully dispensed one little candy to her brother, then rightfully kept the rest for herself and carried her little Pooh dispenser proudly with her for the rest of the night. It reminded me of my childhood and how I treasured my sweet treats!

Chocolate Truffles

Check out the article
about this crazy guy who paid
$375,000 for this truffle here.

Truffle: nasty mushroom-like thing that dogs sniff out and people dig out of the ground. Can you believe this is what the beautiful, decadent, chocolate confection we call a truffle is named after!


The first chocolate truffle, like many great candies, was accidental. French confectioner Auguste Escoffier accidentally poured chocolate into a pot of cream instead of egg like he intended (who knows what he was trying to make with egg and chocolate? sounds like a mistake waiting to happen anyways...) Instead of getting mad and tossing the mixture, he played with it, formed it into ball and coated it with cocoa. Because it then resembled the fungus truffle, he named it accordingly!


Most truffle recipes are a little involved and there are literally hundreds of variations on this classic. I like to think that every truffle is different and "like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get" Can't pass up a Forest Gump quote right?! They are pretty hard to mess up, I combined several different recipes into this relatively simple one.

Chocolate Truffles


1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz), softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp cream
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp flavoring (vanilla, raspberry, almond, etc)
White chocolate or almond bark for coating
Sprinkles or topping of choice


1. Beat the cream cheese with hand held mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar then cream. 


2. Melt the milk chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Add to mixture and stir until there are no more streaks. You now have ganache (a mixture of chocolate & cream). Separate the ganache into however many flavors you like, then add flavoring to each separately. *I did half raspberry extract & half vanilla extract.


3. Cover and place in refrigerator to cool. When manageable, roll into balls and place on wax paper. If the ganache gets too soft, you can put it in the fridge to cool again. Return ganache balls to fridge to set for about 10 minutes. *I put chilled caramel topping inside the vanilla flavored ganache, which was pretty messy, but pretty worth it! ( I formed a bowl of sorts, put the caramel in, wrapped it up, and formed it into a ball)


4. While the truffles are setting, melt your desired chocolate coating in double boiler (or a bowl set atop hot water). Dip the chilled ganache balls in the chocolate, place back on wax paper & top with sprinkles or preferred toppings while coating is still sticky. *I used about 6 oz white chocolate chips for the raspberry truffles, and 6 oz of chocolate almond bark for the vanilla/caramel truffles. 


5. Keep finished truffles in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week. Enjoy!

Sorry, I only have pictures of the finished product here because my camera battery was dead and I wasn't patient/didn't plan ahead to charge it before I started. That's probably okay because I was super messy with this recipe--when I sat down to write this, I ran my fingers through my hair and found a couple big ol' chunks of chocolate in there...haha! 

Strawberry Gentleman

Meet my dream man:

This strawberry gentleman not only looks classy, he's healthy on the inside, quiet, appreciates the details, and is double dipped in chocolate. Sorry ladies, he's mine--I already ate him!

These Tuxedo Strawberries were fun to make and might be even more fun to look at. Yes, they do take a little time and a teeny tiny bit of artistic inspiration, but totally worth it.

Tuxedo Strawberries

1 tub strawberries
6 oz white chocolate (baking squares or chips)
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (baking squares or chips)

1. Clean and dry the strawberries thoroughly. Any water will make the chocolate not stick.

2. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. Hold the strawberries by the tops and dip them 3/4 way in white chocolate. Let excess chocolate run off and place on wax paper. (I use the dollar store plastic cutting boards for dipping projects-it makes the transfer to and from the fridge much easier.) Place white dipped strawberries in the fridge to set for about 10 minutes.

3. In the meantime, melt the bittersweet chocolate in double boiler. Hold the white dipped strawberries by the top again & dip into the bittersweet chocolate one half at a time, making two arcs across the front of the berry. Continue with all strawberries.

4. Use a chocolate dipped toothpick to create the buttons and bow-ties on each gentleman. Two small triangles and two pricks with a dipped toothpick for the buttons should do the job.

5. Put the strawberries back in the fridge to let the chocolate harden and serve. These will last a couple days in the fridge, but are much better if eaten right away. Enjoy!

I don't know why, but I have always had a small obsession with small things. Whether it's baby shoes, barbie accessories, or travel-sized toothpaste tubes, I'm fascinated by mini-everyday things. So it's no surprise how delighted I was to pose these strawberry gentleman for their pictures.

Many candies have taken part in the "miniture-izing" candy movement. Here are some of my favorite examples:

Cow Tales -I grew up on a farm &
 would rather not compare it to
the real thing

Runts - mini fruits with mini health value

Nerds - only on a box of candy

can booger shaped men look

cute with giant eyeballs and no arms

Life Savers - if I was drowning,
it would be a tough choice between the
candy lifesaver over the floatation device.

Gummy Hamburgers - my first taste
of gummy "food" (pizza, donuts,
french fries, tacos, hot dogs, eggs, 
strawberries & more came later)

Gingerbread Men & Houses -
living in a house made of candy 
& sweets, can it get better??

Chocolate Liquors - they combine
chocolate & liquor and make it little... :)

Sour Patch Kids - At first they are sour,
then they are sweet *insert life size
gummy kid hugging you*

Gummy Bears - everyone has traded their
colored heads & played with these right?
Also, sharks, worms, octopi, bugs,
alligators, fish, you name it-it's a gummy

Maybe it's some kind of weird psychological thing were I need to be 17 times larger than the thing I'm dealing with so I feel powerful...nah! I like to think I just enjoy mini-things because they are so darn cute! Who can resist a ready & waiting army of strawberry gentleman??

Black Tie Party!!