There’s never a better time than the holiday season to fire up the stove and create some homemade gifts. As much as I love a good cookie, there’s something especially toothsome about homemade candy. If you have a candy thermometer, which costs as little as $5, you can make candy at home. It’s much easier than you think, and this is a wide-ranging compilation of recipes, in terms of the level of difficulty. Just take a look:
Two of the candies were adapted from Lady Bird Johnson’s recipes for Peanut Brittle and Double Divinity, and both were really good – but the Double Divinity? Why don’t we see that more often on food blogs and magazines? It deserves a place in the pantheon of bad-for-you-but-worth-a-splurge American treats, with its gooey meringue inside and crunchy nut topping. The peanut brittle is good on its own, but can also be crushed and used as a delicious topping for ice cream. The gluten-free candy bars are rich and chewy; you can never feel deprived eating one of these. If you live a gluten-free life, you’ll love this recipe. I made the chocolate peppermint wafers because I wanted to see how close I could come to the taste of a York Peppermint Patty. The secret to this recipe is the quality of the dark chocolate you use – the better the chocolate, the better the patty. And, finally, the coconut brown sugar jumble recipe comes from the Philippines, where these candies are made throughout the coconut harvest seasons. It has only three ingredients, but they will satisfy a sugar craving in just one bite. When I was a kid my mother and my aunt used to make all kinds of chocolate candy at Christmas, dipping nuts and caramels and coconut in chocolate, and then storing them carefully for the family holiday parties. I thought everybody made candy at Christmas, and the truth is – anybody can. So don’t be afraid to give one or two of these recipes a try.
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: one hour, plus five hours between steps
Note: There is a five-hour wait time between the first and second steps for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
- 1 ½ cups pitted dates, ground in a food processor
- ½ cup vegan butter sticks (I use Earth Balance butter substitute which is available at Whole Foods.)
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2/3 cup coconut flour
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 1 ½ cups dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
Directions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, making sure the paper hangs over the edges of the sheet. Grind pumpkin seeds in food processor until pulverized.
- Add the (previously) ground dates, vegan butter, honey, coconut flour and coconut flakes and process in food processor until the mixture forms a dough.
- Press dough into pan and refrigerate until firm, at least five hours, or overnight.
- Combine chocolate and shortening in a bowl and microwave until the chocolate is melted (2-3 minutes).
- Stir until chocolate is smooth. Pour over the firmed dough and spread evenly. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Remove mixture from pan by pulling parchment gently out of pan.
- Cut into squares or rectangles and serve. Keeps for one week.
Serves: 12
Prep time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups powdered sugar 2 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 3 teaspoons peppermint
- extract 2 tablespoons cream
- 12 ounces chocolate wafers (available from Wilton on Amazon.com)
- Combine sugar
- butter
- peppermint extract
- Cream in a mixing bowl
- Beat for 2 minutes until well combined.
Directions
- Dough should be stiff.
- Spoon the dough onto a long piece of plastic wrap and cover.
- Roll dough into a tube of about 2 inches in diameter. (It should be about the same diameter as the cardboard tube from an empty paper towel roll. Chill for an hour.
- With a sharp knife, slice off rounds of the peppermint candy, each ¼ inch thick. Melt the chocolate wafers in the microwave for 2 minutes, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating.
- With a fork, lower the peppermint round into the chocolate, flip, cover in chocolate on both sides and remove to a wire rack with some wax paper under it, to allow chocolate to set.
- Fill bottom pan with several inches of water and bring to a boil.
- Turn heat off and put the chocolate into the top part of the double boiler.
- Stir until melted.
Double boiler method for melting chocolate:
This is adapted from an old First Ladies Cookbook, and I have seen it attributed to Mrs. Johnson in other cookbooks. It is an old recipe – simple ingredients, easy to make – and very special. Serves: 8 Prep time: 30 minutes to assemble, one hour to cool
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup of water
- ½ cup white corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons ground pecans, plus another teaspoon for garnish
- 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten in mixing bowl
Directions
- Combine ½ cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of water in a large saucepan and cook until a small amount of syrup will form a soft ball in cold water (240 degrees on a candy thermometer).
- Cook remaining 1 ½ cups sugar, 1/3 cup water and corn syrup in a separate saucepan, until it forms a hard ball in cold water (250 degrees on candy thermometer).
- Cool first syrup slightly. Add it slowly to the beaten egg whites, beating constantly until mixture holds its shape and loses its gloss.
- Add remaining sugar, water and corn syrup mixture in the same way.
- Add vanilla extract and turn into greased pan.
- Allow to cool, then cut into small squares and sprinkle with ground pecans.
This recipe is also one of Lady Bird Johnson’s. When I was making the Divinity, I noticed this recipe on the page beside it and thought it would be fun to try it. It turned out really well. Next time I would add different nut to make it even more interesting: pistachio and pecans would be good with the “brittle” part of the candy. Serves: 8 Prep time: 20 minutes to mix together, one hour for candy to harden
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups peanuts, unsalted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon soda
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup of water
- 2 tablespoons white corn syrup
- 1 heaping tablespoon butter
Directions
- Mix together peanuts, salt and soda.
- In a large saucepan, add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2/3 cup of water and 2 tablespoons white corn syrup.
- Cook without stirring until mixture reaches 290 degrees on a candy thermometer, or hard ball stage.
- Remove from heat, add peanuts and butter, stirring just enough to combine.
- Pour into baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with baking spray.
- Allow to harden (if your brittle doesn’t harden within an hour, stick it in the refrigerator for an hour). Break into pieces and serve.
This recipe comes from the Philippines. It has a rich molasses taste that you will love. You can use brown sugar, or the hardened brown sugar that I used, which came from an Asian grocery store. Serves: 10 Prep time: 40 minutes, allowing for twenty minutes to cook the sugar
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 4 cups of thinly sliced fresh coconut, or four cups of dried coconut flakes
- 2 halves of hardened brown sugar, or 2 cups of brown sugar
Directions
- Melt sugar in coconut milk on medium heat, stirring constantly so it will not burn.
- Cook until syrup forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water, or 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.
- Add the coconut until well incorporated.
- Use a tablespoon to drop mixture into small haystack-shaped piles and allow to cool.
- Serve.
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