Happy Valentine's Day! Homemade Confections

From

Top Left to Right: Coconut Haystack, Cordial Cherry, Coconut-Rum Square, Chocolate Coconut Truffle

 Middle Left to Right: Cordial Cherry, Sea foam Candy (Large white piece), Chocolate BonBon with Chocolate Sprinkles, Chocolate BonBon with Rainbow Nonpareils, Mint Chocolate Truffle, Espresso Truffle

Bottom Left to Right: Chocolate Pecan Truffle, Cordial Cherry, Coconut Haystack, Chocolate BonBon with Rainbow Nonpareils, and Coconut-Rum Square

White Rectangle: White Chocolate Covered Toffee

Links to Every Piece:                        Difficulty

Chocolate Truffles                             Easy

Coconut Haystacks                           Easy

Cordial Cherry                                  Hard

Sea foam Candy                                 Intermediate

Chocolate BonBon                            Easy

White Chocolate Covered Toffee      Intermediate

I also made delicious Chocolate Covered Soft Caramels but was too embarrassed to give them away because they crystallized. I had tried to make them too far ahead of time. Lesson learned... make and serve immediately. I assure you this was a terrific recipe!

Get creative with your truffles. I ground coffee into a powder and added a little to my truffle mixture before it set up, rolled it in pecans, covered it in dark chocolate, and sprinkled a little ground coffee on top. The mint truffles were made by adding a little peppermint extract to the truffle mixture. They are very versatile, and you can add most anything you want!



Use your hot caramel to pour over pecans and create Pecan Turtles.

And if you are wondering where the Coconut-Rum Square recipe is... well there isn't one. These came about by mistake. Silly me used white chocolate almond bark to make truffles, which OF COURSE did not quite set up. Duh! Into the partially set up mixture, I added graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, and rum. Threw them in the freezer, cut into rectangles, covered in white chocolate, and sprinkled with chopped pecans. And I was pleasantly surprised. Quite yummy.

Problems you may (as I have) run into:

Chocolate bloom is one of the main concerns in the production of chocolate, describing a moldy-looking white coating. There are two types of bloom: fat bloom, arising from changes in the fat in the chocolate, a condition in which cocoa butter infiltrates to the surface, turning products gray or white as it recrystallizes; and sugar bloom, formed by the action of moisture on the sugar ingredients. The unsightly crystals of fat and sugar bloom limit the shelf life of many chocolates.

Any questions or concerns can be answered at a great candy making website that I've found: Chocolate-Candy-Mall

Candied Pecans

* Made these for Christmas this year to go with my cookie assortment. Very good and SO easy! *

2-1/2c. raw pecans
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1/4c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 300deg. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir the pecans with the egg white. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. Pour over nuts and stir until evenly coated. Spread in a single layer on baking sheet and bake for 30 min. Remove pan from oven and slide parchment paper (with nuts on it) off the baking sheet and onto wire rack or counter to cool. Break up nuts into a bowl and serve or store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Scary Eye Balls (Peanut Butter Balls)

*Used a Peanut Butter Ball recipe and Jazzed it up a little.*
*Make sure to use white chocolate bark. I used White Chocolate chips and needed to add A LOT of shortening to make the white chocolate smooth*

Ingredients

4c. confectioner's sugar
1-1/2c. smooth peanut butter
1c. (2 sticks) butter
1-1/3c. graham cracker crumbs
2c. white chocolate chips (16 oz.)
1 TBL shortening

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, butter (melted), and graham cracker crumbs. Mix until well combined. Shape into 1-in. balls (don't make too big, they are very rich) and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Place in freezer. Melt chocolate chips and shortening. Remove balls from freezer and use a toothpick to dip each ball into the white chocolate. Place back on cookie sheet. Use extra chocolate to color and decorate as you choose. I used red food coloring to color chocolate for eye veins. I topped with an m&m (for the colored part of eye) and piped a dot of melted chocolate chips for the pupil.