White Walnut Fudge

that's the white fudge on the left, all packed up in a basket ready for giving

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" May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility."

-Mary Anne Radmacher

This post is part of a series, Handmade Holiday Gifts

I really enjoy white chocolate. If you do as well, or know someone who does, this is for you. It's creamy, soft and rich. I think the quality of the white chocolate is important, I used Guittard Choc Au lait vanilla chips, I love those things, I eat them out of the bag if they are around.

This recipe actually comes off of the back of the package, with a few modifications.

It's really easy to make too!

White Walnut Fudge

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons butter cut in 1 inch pieces
2 cups white chocolate chips, or one 12 oz bag
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts


Line an 8x8 square pan with parchment paper and grease it.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, heavy cream and salt in a large heavy pot.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, and boil until the temperature reaches 225 on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

When it reaches 225, remove from heat and add butter and chips stirring vigorously until melted and smooth. Mix in vanilla and walnuts. Pour into prepared pan. Cool in refrigerator for an hour before cutting into small squares.

Salted Caramels

" Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

-Norman Vincent Peale

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This post is a part of a series, Handmade Holiday Gifts.

Warning! If you make these caramels and give them as gifts, people will demand that you make them and give them some every year.

This isn't really a problem though, they are so delicious you won't mind making them so you can enjoy the leftovers.

In the pan cooling

Pretty simple to make as well. Total cooking time is under a half an hour. They do take patience, and a watchful eye on the candy thermometer. It can be tedious to wrap all of those little gems, but to me it's not a big deal. I just wrap them while watching a movie or TV show. If you dip them in chocolate you can box them up and give them that way. No wrapping required.

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I believe the end result is worth it. They are rich with cream and butter, and oh so decadent. If you were to purchase high quality caramels like these, you'd pay a dollar or more a piece.

out of the pan ready for cutting into little pieces

in a bag ready for giving

Salted Caramels

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recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

10 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon fleur de sel or other flaky salt (for sprinkling on top)

3 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla

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Directions

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Line a 13x9 dish with parchment paper, and lightly grease it.

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Bring cream, butter and fine sea salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

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Boil sugar, corn syrup and water in a large heavy pot stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then stop stirring and boil until the mixture turns the color of a light golden caramel. Swirling the pan periodically.

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Carefully stir in the cream mixture (the mixture will bubble up) and simmer, on medium heat, (if the heat is too high, it will burn before reaching 246) stirring frequently, until caramel registers 246 on a thermometer. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into prepared pan and immediately sprinkle the flaky salt on top. (When I noted 1 tsp above for the flaky salt, I'd say you don't need to measure it, just use enough to sprinkle the top of the caramel lightly, but make sure to cover it all since you are going to cut them into small pieces.)

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Cool for about an hour, then cut into small pieces, and wrap with wax paper if desired.

Or you can dip them in chocolate before sprinkling the salt on top, then sprinkle them with salt after dipping in chocolate.

Chocolate Almond Butter Toffee

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."

-Hamilton Wright Mabie

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This post is part of a series, Handmade Holiday Gifts

.So it was my birthday on the 11th. My husband and I went to Vancouver, BC for one fun night. We went there pretty much exclusively to dine at my very favorite restaurant in the whole world, Le Crocodile. Stay tuned, I'm going to blog about the experience.

So now that all of my birthday celebrations are over, it's time to get off my butt and really focus on the holidays. I'm kicking it into high gear making treats. The next week or so, I'll be posting more often with different food gifts.

all wrapped up

Starting with this buttery, delicious toffee. It's not only absolutely scrumptious, but it also makes quite a lot. I could fill 2 tins with it, or package it in small cello bags to be added to a basket filled with different items.

It's also pretty simple to make and takes, from start to finish, about a half an hour.

before adding the nuts

Ingredients

2 cups (4 sticks, 1 lb.) butter, I used salted, I also used 1/4 tsp salt, if using unsalted butter, increase salt to 1/2 tsp. or so.

salt as indicated above, (1/4 tsp if using salted butter, or 1/2 tsp- if using unsalted butter)


2 cups white sugar


2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips or milk or dark, your preference


1 1/4 cups chopped almonds, toasted

Directions

Line a jelly roll pan with heavy duty foil and spray lightly with non stick spray.

In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter, with the sugar and salt. Stir until it's melted. Allow to come to a boil over medium to medium high heat, and don't stir from this point on. Only swirl the pan periodically to prevent the bottom of the pan from burning. If the heat is on the highest setting, there is more of a chance of it burning before it reaches the called for temperature, so keep it close to medium. This takes a little time and patience, but it really sucks to have the bottom of the pan scorch. Cook the mixture till a candy thermometer reaches 290-300 degrees, the hard crack stage. It will be an amber color.

When it comes to temperature, carefully pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Wait a few minutes, until the chocolate has melted, then spread the melted chocolate over the toffee using an offset spatula. (or a knife.) Sprinkle on the chopped nuts. Gently press them into the chocolate.

Put it in the fridge to cool down. When totally cool, break into pieces.

Caramel Corn Clusters

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas".

-Peg Bracken

*This post is part of a series, Handmade Holiday Gifts.*

Oh how I love this time of year! My birthday is in December, (the 11th) and then Christmas. It feels like such a lucky month for me. Speaking of lucky, my wonderful father who is a photographer, bought me a fabulous new camera for my birthday! So if you notice a change for the better in the quality of my pictures, we can all thank my dad. "Thanks Dad"!!

December is wonderful also because it gives me an excuse to make lots of treats. Most of them for giving. This caramel corn is one of the gifts I've been making for people for a few years now. 


This caramel corn is quite easy to make, you need a candy thermometer, because getting it to the correct temperature is crucial. But don't let that scare you. The total amount of time this takes to make is under 30 minutes. And it's inexpensive to boot. Flexible also, instead of nuts you can use pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, m&m's or a combination of mix ins.

It is well covered with the caramel as you can see in this picture. Hence the name, "clusters". Just break it into pieces. That is something I enjoy about this treat.

making the caramel

 

 

Caramel Corn Clusters

adapted from this recipe

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar packed

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp salt (or a little more if using unsalted mix ins) I used sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup salted peanuts, or mixed nuts. Or you may use almonds, cashews, pistachios, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, raisins, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, m&m's, reeses pieces, or pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds. Or a combination of a few of these. Whatever sounds yummy to you.

special equipment a candy thermometer, or an infrared thermometer if you have one of those.

 

Directions

 

Make the popcorn.

Heat oil with 3 kernels of the popcorn in a heavy pot, covered, over moderate heat until the kernels pop. Remove lid and quickly add the remaining kernels, then cook, covered, shaking pan frequently, until kernels stop popping, about 3 minutes. I have an electric stove, so I would lift the pot, then shake, then put back on the heat. The shaking is important, as I've burned popcorn on the stove if the heat is too high, or if I didn't shake it enough. Remove from heat, uncover and set aside to cool. When cool, remove the un popped kernels and discard. Set the popcorn aside.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and grease it.

 

Make the caramel.

Melt butter in a large heavy pot over moderate heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Then cook without stirring, only swirling pan if necessary, until the thermometer reaches 270-280. This is important. It will go from 280 to burnt in a heartbeat. If the temperature is too low, the corn will be softer, it won't dry hard. Remove pot from heat when comes to temperature.

Using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, stir salt, baking soda, and vanilla into syrup, then quickly stir in nuts or other mix ins and popcorn to coat. Immediately spread mixture in the lined cookie sheet as thinly and evenly as possible.

Cool, then break into pieces.

taking the temperature with an infrared thermometer To easily wash the pan you made the caramel in, fill it with water, put it on the stove and bring it to a boil until all of the caramel is dissolved, wash as usual.

*EDITED TO ADD- Corn Syrup substitute recipe