Category Archives: Candy

Divinity

Divinity

Those of you that regularly read my blog know that I cannot make candy.  I fail at candy making !  I have tried my entire life to make fudge and divinity.  Well I made this fudge a couple of months ago and it worked.   Yesterday it turns out was the perfect day to make divinity.  There was not a drop of humidity anywhere near my house and I was not a failure at making divinity AGAIN!  I’m so happy with myself.  So you ask what does it take to have perfection at Divinity?  First of all follow the recipe to a T.  I have to laugh at this because I pulled out my mother-in-law’s recipe and the directions are so vague.  I had to fill in the gaps which was quite scary because none of the previous recipes that I used were a success.  Second, choose a day that is dry and clear.  Absolutely no humidity is best.  Third,  be patient.

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Pecan Buttermilk Fudge

Buttermilk fudge

I cannot make candy ! My husband loves divinity and I have never had any luck with it.   When I bought my Kitchenaid mixer I had this idea of grandeur thinking that with a new mixer that I could now make divinity.  After three attempts in one day I just gave up.  I’m just not a candy maker.  When I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit all my failures from making candy  just disappeared from my memory.  I can do this.    It looked so delicious. It can’t be that difficult.   Finally for me success at making the best Fudge ever!   This is a great candy for the holidays.  Use it for gifts or just eat it all yourself.   To top it off it is really easy.  You’ll just need a candy thermometer.

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Halloween Peanut Butter and Toffee Candy Bark from Bon Appetit

Candy bark

Who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate?  It is one of my favorites from ice cream to candy and when I saw this 5 years ago I saved it.  Yes, I know it’s been a long time coming.  I love this recipe if you even want to call it a recipe.  It’s so easy to throw together.  Just give yourself  time  to chill it either in the refrigerator or if you are in a bigger hurry use the freezer.  To make it a little festive try bagging it in clear bags and tie with some orange and yellow ribbon. Then surprise your friends with a bag of bark.    Keeping two pounds of this at my house is not a good idea , if you know what I mean.  Happy Halloween!

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Oat’n Toffee Grahams

I cannot decide if this sinful concoction should be tagged as candy or as a cookie.  Whatever the tag it is one bar that you are going to want to prepare when the chocolate bug bites!  It’s easy.  The hardest part is lining the baking sheet with parchment paper which has a mind of its own sometimes.  So you start with graham crackers to line your baking sheet.  I think I have said this before that manufactures are reducing  the size of the product or the container.  Have you noticed that your favorite cookie or cracker is somewhat smaller now?  What about a gallon of ice cream?  It is no longer a gallon.  I noticed when shopping for evaporated milk that the number of ounces in the can has been reduced.   In some cases it could wreck a recipe, but not it this case.  Anyway these bars are so good that you just have to try them.  It makes a bunch and they are quite rich, but freeze them for up to three months.  Then you’ll have a little chocolate hanging around in case of an emergency!  You know what I mean.

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Chocolate Toffee Bark

Here is another one of those recipes that I must have been buried under a rock for part of my lifetime.  It has been out there forever, but I’ve never had it.  Last weekend we got together for one of our family luncheons and Ken my sister-in-law brings in lots of goodies.  This being one of them and I just had to nibble before lunch and oh my!!!  This stuff is fabulous!  Then I was blown away when she told me the base was saltine crackers.  Unbelievable!  I knew right then and there that I would have to make it and I am not a candy lover, but this is really good.

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SUGAR COMA!!!!!

Saturday I participated in one of a series of swanky soirees presented by The Broke Socialite.  It was so much fun!  I love doing this kind of thing.  I guess that is why I do what I do!

As a Family and Consumer Science teacher (aka Home Economics teacher) I have participated in every kind of tour.  This is just a short list:  fabric plants, cookware plants, all kinds of restaurants including kitchen tours of Joel in Atlanta and Sensi at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, culinary schools,  Julia Child’s kitchen,  all kinds of homes from the Old Governor’s Mansion, Swan House and  the Haye House.  I have had high tea at the Ritz Carlton and at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. To get my point across I have done my share of tours and this one was about the most fun I have ever had.

We started out early at 8:30!  We got our assignments to a brand spanking new Cadillac SRX  driven by @Chatterbox.  She was a wonderful driver entertaining us the entire morning.

Our first stop was No Mas Cantina for a wonderful breakfast buffet served with our choice of drink.  I chose the Mexican Hot Chocolate which was smooth and creamy and delicious.  Here are a couple of photos of what we enjoyed at No Mas Cantina.

Potatoes, Eggs over easy and Beans with Salsa

It was so good!

This is Helen writer of Sweet Tartlette.  She is a pastry chef from France and  she  enjoyed the Sugar Coma, also.   Check her blog out. Her photography is beautiful.  I really enjoyed talking with her.  Very sweet and ready to help anyone out.

Our second shop was Cacao Atlanta.  On my!  When I walked into the shop the chocolate aroma was heavenly.  We got to sample their Hot Chocolate which was by far the best that I have even had topped with homemade marshmallows.  I thought that I had died and gone to heaven.  Take a look at all the chocolate.  And another thing, Kristin knows chocolate!

Just feast your eyes on this place.  Joli Kobe had the most magnificent pastries and cakes waiting for us when we walked in the door.  Drool a bit over these.

Look at the detail here!

Now it has started to rain but just because we are in a Sugar Coma doesn’t mean we are going to melt.  We are just getting started.  We have two more stops then lunch.

This is the Cookie Studio.  It is a cute little bakery with the kitchen out there for everyone to see.  I loved this place.  It so reminded me of the bakery where I grew up and spent almost every day after school trying to decide between the cream horns or the butter cookies for a snack. One thing that happened while we were there that I thought was funny.  This older gentleman came in to pick up a beautifully wrapped package of cookies and looking around at the twenty four of us and said to me ” What in the world is going on here.”  And I said, ” We are participating in a Sugar Coma!”  I wish I had a picture of his face.  He said , “OK.”  Took his cookies and left.

Here is the menu above the cash register

Our last stop was also a cute bakery called Sweet N’Sinful.  The owner had prepared lots of her cupcakes in miniature form just for us to taste.  Of course she knew this was the last leg of our tour and we could be in a Sugar Coma!  She had to go boxes which all of us quickly filled!  Here are some more droolable ( is that a word?) photos.

We then traveled to Le Fai Do Do for lunch catered by Black Tie Barbecue.  It was fabulous!!  Even after tasting all the wonderful sweets all morning  I can say it was one of the best catered lunches I have had.  For starters we had a spring salad with strawberries and candied pecans with a wonderful dressing.  Black Tie grilled two main dishes chicken and salmon fillets.  My favorite was the salmon.  Side dishes of rice pilaf and the most wonderful bok choy that I have ever tasted.  It was to die for!!!

So that was my Sugar Coma.  It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.

Enjoy your cooking,

The Teacher Cooks

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Filed under Bar Cookies, Cake, Candy, Cookies, Cupcakes, Desserts, suger coma

Pralines

Making candy is not my favorite thing to do.  Too many things can go wrong that you have no control over.  Humidity is one of them. And here in the South you know we have plenty of humidity.  I was so happy to find this recipe in my mailbox at school.  It was just by chance that I can now share this with you.

Vickie B.  a great English teacher submitted this for a school  cookbook that never hit the press.  Somehow it was placed in my box.  I am so thrilled!!  Thanks to Vickie all of us can enjoy these pralines.  I promise you that they are pretty close to what you can get on River Street in Savannah!  In other words they are fabulousa!!

So here is what it takes for you to be the best candymaker ever.  No need for a thermometer or worry if it is raining. Enjoy every melt in your mouth bite!  Here ya go!

2 cups of Toasted pecans

1 stick of butter in saucepan

Add 2/3 cup of heavy cream

Add 2 cups of brown sugar

Brown sugar, cream and butter

Just warming up!

Bring to a boil

Boil for 1 minute

Stir in 2 cups of powdered sugar

Stir in 2 cups of pecans and 2 t. vanilla

Stirring

Drop on wax paper

Vickie B.’s Louisiana Pralines

  • 1/2 cup real butter
  • 2 c. brown sugar
  • 2/3 c. heavy cream
  • 2 c. powdered sugar
  • 2 t. vanilla
  • 2 c. chopped, toasted pecans ( 200 Degrees for 15 min.)

Bring butter, brown sugar and cream to a boil, stir often.  Boil for 1 minute.  Remove and add vanilla, powdered sugar and pecans.  Drop on wax paper and cool.

Thank you Vickie for the great recipe.  Because of you I am a hit in Macon with this candy!!!

Happy Cooking,

The Teacher Cooks

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