Lesson #99: Peppermint Patty Truffles

Oh, the combination of dark chocolate and mint is one of my favorite flavors! When I saw this recipe posted on another blog, I knew I had to try it out.

This recipe is great because it only requires 5 ingredients and is super simple to make. The biggest selling point is that they taste EXACTLY like the store bought candy. My husband said that if he closed his eyes, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I think it was his way of telling me that they didn't look as uniform as the real ones! :)

I did make this recipe twice. The first time I made them into patties, but because I was in a hurry (or perhaps because of my dispositional lack of patience!), I made the patties way too big. The ratio of chocolate to peppermint was off. Next time, I made them into small balls and called them truffles. They were PERFECT bite-size pieces of goodness. Check out pictures from both of my attempts below!

LESSON LEARNED: Bite-sized pieces are the key to achieving the perfect ratio of dark chocolate to peppermint.

Recipe for Peppermint Patty Truffles

Lesson #68: White Chocolate Eggnog Fudge

I'm not a fan of drinking eggnog straight from the carton, but when incorporated into baked goods, it's delicious! This fudge combines white chocolate, eggnog, and marshmallow fluff to create a CREAMY, SMOOTH, and CHOCOLATEY fudge. When you sprinkle the fudge with freshly grated nutmeg, it reminds me of the holidays.

Just an FYI...this recipe makes a ton of fudge. I'm not teaching next semester (my husband and I are moving!), so I'm going to be giving away a lot of these baked goods, since I don't have students to feed next semester.

LESSON LEARNED: Eggnog is a delicious addition to white chocolate fudge.

Recipe for White Chocolate Eggnog Fudge

Lesson #67: Butterscotch Candies

I've been on a candy making kick this week! I recently saw a recipe for a cookie that contained pieces of butterscotch candy and was reminded of how much I LOVE butterscotch. Instead of picking up the store bought version, I decided to make my own candy.

Surprisingly, these taste EXACTLY like the store bought equivalent. The whole cooking process was pretty hands off - as long as you have a candy thermometer. One piece of advice while making these candies is to score the candy into the shapes you want to cut while the candy is slightly warm. After the candy completely cools, the candy is easier to cut along the lines to break the candy into similar size/shape pieces. I thought I would share this recipe even though I have big plans to incorporate the leftover candy into a cookie.

LESSON LEARNED: Score this candy while it's warm so it's easier to cut later.

Recipe for Butterscotch Candies

Lesson #66: Chocolate Dipped Honeycomb Candy

After much trial and error over the years, I have finally improved my candy making skills. In graduate school, many errors occurred because my friend and I are did not have a candy thermometer. We decided to "eye ball" our chocolate fudge and peach jam, which respectively became fudge and peach ice cream topping when the candy did not set. Here's my advice to you: invest in a candy thermometer if you want the recipe to work!

I thought these candies would be the perfect addition some homemade gifts I've been making this week. The recipe its self is pretty simple - just water, sugar, and corn syrup. After the sugar comes to the correct temperature (see, this is where the candy thermometer becomes helpful!), stir in baking soda, pour on a baking sheet, and cool. The baking soda bubbles up in the candy and creates a really COOL texture. It looks exactly like honeycombs!

After you break the candy into pieces (this can be messy - see the first picture), I dipped the candy partially in dark chocolate. The candy tastes like a mixture between a caramel and honey. I liked the bitterness of the dark chocolate to offset the sweetness of the candy. My husband doesn't care for chocolate and he liked the candy plain. In any case, this candy is YUMMY!

LESSON LEARNED: Use a candy thermometer!

Recipe for Chocolate Dipped Honeycomb Candy

Lesson #62: Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

Are you looking for a dessert to add to your holiday cookie platter? Look no further! These YUMMY bites are super easy to make and only require 3 ingredients: a package of Oreo cookies, one 8 oz. package of cream cheese, and melted chocolate.

These chocolate received GLOWING reviews from my students and husband (who usually doesn't care much for chocolate desserts). The tangy-ness of the cream cheese nicely offsets the sweet cookies and you can dip them in whatever type of chocolate you prefer (I used milk chocolate). Enjoy! 

LESSON LEARNED: Desserts with only a few ingredients can be wonderful!

Recipe for Oreo Cheesecake Truffles

Lesson #50: Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I've never thought of making peanut butter cups before. The homemade version of this popular candy is surprisingly easy to make. Trust me, you will impress your friends if you whip up these easy chocolates! I definitely impressed myself and was pretty excited by the finished product.

I would suggest using the best quality chocolate you can. It does makes a difference since there are very few ingredients in the recipe. The peanut butter filling is AWESOME! The peanut butter is melted with a bit of butter, boiled for a few minutes with brown sugar, and sweetened with powdered sugar.

LESSON LEARNED: Making homemade candies is fun!

Recipe for Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Lesson #41: Sweet & Salty Truffles

Here's my second attempt at making truffles (here's a link to my last post on truffle making)! I thought I would go with a sweet and salty combination. It's FABULOUS and satisfied my sweet & salty craving!

I think my truffle making skills have slightly improved. For my birthday, my mom bought me some dipping tools that made the chocolate dipping process go a little easier. At least I didn't have big globs of chocolate on the outside coating :)

However, in the spirit of always improving, I noticed that the truffles were not too round. They looked kinda bumpy and misshapen (or optimistically, they look very homemade). Sometimes I don't have enough patience to roll the chocolate ganache into perfect round ball (plus it's gets really sticky and melts if you handle it too much!). I bought a candy mold which you pour chocolate into to create perfect rounds, so that's what I'm going to try next.

No matter how they look, these truffles are YUMMY! Semi-sweet chocolate is paired with crushed pretzels to create a sweet & salty ganache. The outside layer is semi-sweet chocolate, but would be equally as good with milk chocolate.The finished truffles are sprinkled with a touch of course sugar and salt which provide a bit of crunch.

LESSON LEARNED: My truffle making has improved, but I could still use more work to fine-tune my technique.

Recipe for Sweet & Salty Truffles

Lesson #32: Marshmallow Filled Caramels

Let me start this post by telling you that this baking project involves a large time commitment. If you have a free afternoon and are up to the challenge of making two types of candy - this is a perfect project! Even with this caveat, these candies are AMAZING and are worth the effort!

The first step is to make homemade marshmallows. They are a lot easier to make than what you would think and taste SO much better than the store bought version. While the marshmallows are setting up, the second step is make a batch of homemade caramels. Both of these things take relatively less time than the next steps. Once the caramel is set, it should be rolled out as thin as you can make it. This might take a bit of elbow grease! Next, you cut the caramel into squares and roll out the caramel even thinner by flattening it with the palm of your hand. Then, place a small amount of marshmallow in the center of each caramel and roll the caramel around the marshmallow. This recipe makes a few dozen pieces of candy, so that's why this process takes so long!

These candies are definitely worth the effort! The caramel is CREAMY and the marshmallow is FLUFFY & SWEET.

LESSON LEARNED:  Lots of effort pays off in delicious results! 

Recipe for Marshmallow Filled Caramels

Lesson #23: Pumpkin Caramels

I've been making a ton of pumpkin desserts lately. Caramel and pumpkin seem like a perfect match, so I've decided to combine these two flavors into a DELICIOUS candy.

When you make caramel, you have to be really careful to watch the pot so the sugar doesn't burn. To be honest, the first time I tried this recipe, I got distracted and the sugar started to burn. There's really no way to salvage this (until you like a burnt flavor - yuck!), so I had to start over. After I started paying more attention, the end result was really FANTASTIC!

These candies are soft, chewy, and creamy. They taste exactly like combining a regular caramel candy with pumpkin pie. I individually wrapped each candy and they look like I bought them at a candy store. 

LESSON LEARNED: Watch carefully when making caramel so it doesn't burn!

Recipe for Pumpkin Caramels