Entries Tagged as 'Nostalgia'

Clementines = Crack, Except Crack Isn’t Seasonal

January 5th, 2012 · 3 Comments

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Dallas and I can’t stop eating clementines this season! We’ve gone through about 3-4 bags and crates of them so far. We’re each eating several every day!

I can remember when I lived in New York around 2001 or 2002 and my roommate, who was from Boston, got clementines at Christmastime and I said I’d never had one. She looked at me like I was an alien from the moon and was shocked that not everyone ate clementines in the winter. We were not the greatest of friends, so I think I had something against clementines after that.

Dallas and I never eat oranges at home because we both hate peeling them and hate the white stuff… but then Ging introduced us to the beauty of clementines when we were visiting at Thanksgiving time and I had to have them when I got home. So, blame Ging. She got us hooked on crack clementines. I will be so sad when the season is over. Nature’s sweet temptations, indeed!

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Angel Food Candy

December 24th, 2011 · 7 Comments

Angel Food Candy. Ever heard of it? Didn’t think so. But every year my mom would make this for my dad. It is one of his favorite Christmas candies. I never really got involved with the candy-making portion of it, since it’s kind of like a science experiment with very hot liquids and baking soda, but I have done more than my fair share of the chocolate coating portion of the recipe!

The first thing you need to do is mix some corn syrup and sugar together and put it over medium heat. Again, I had candy thermometer drama. This thermometer promised to go up to 420 degrees, but really, once it hit 200 or so it became unreadable. It said something like 888.8. Really helpful. So, I had to rely on the test where you drop a bit into a cup of cold water and judge doneness by color.

When it’s ready, take the sugar mixture off the heat and immediately whisk in the baking soda and vinegar. This is the part that freaks me out the most and why I used a big 6 quart pot. The baking soda somehow reacts and causes this whole thing to puff up. Which is awesome later, because it makes a crunchy, airy candy. But make sure you get the baking soda totally stirred in really fast. If you ever do not mix in the baking soda well and take a bite of candy later, you will never forget it. Baking soda does not taste good and I still have memories of this from when I was a kid!

Note: When I opened the cupboard we didn’t have any vinegar. My choices were white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, or rice wine vinegar. Oops. I used the red wine vinegar and it turned out fine, though I would recommend cider vinegar or regular vinegar.

Did I mention, do this all as fast as you can? Then while it’s still liquid, pour it into a pan that has been lined with aluminum foil and greased.

Note: Don’t use a whisk that is coated with silicon. This is awesome for your non-stick pots and pans, but not for candy making. When I chipped off some of the hardened candy to test it, it also peeled the silicon off of the whisk. Whoops. I don’t think any got into the candy, but still, not good.

Ok. So now you let the candy cool. And hope that the middle doesn’t fall. This candy is light and airy and crispy and if it flattens it becomes dense and chewy. Dense and chewy is not what you’re going for. I was kind of worried because I didn’t know if I’d cooked it the exact right amount because of my malfunctioning thermometer. The candy seemed to settle just a little in the middle but not too much too ruin it.

When the candy is completely cooled you can turn it out of the pan and break it into pieces. I don’t like to have too big of pieces. I prefer 1-3 bites per piece.

I like doing this part, the breaking up. It’s kind of fun to see which ways the candy breaks when you stick the knife in. All different shapes are made.

Melt some chocolate down in a double boiler or the microwave. I used some Ghirardelli bittersweet and semisweet chocolate mixed together. Dip each piece of candy into the chocolate. I don’t like the chocolate coating to be too thick, so I try to shake a lot of it off.

After dipping in chocolate, set the candy on waxed paper to dry.

Wikipedia gives a detailed explanation of the science behind what happens with the acid (vinegar) and the baking soda and how it explodes and everything. It also tells how this treat goes by many names: sponge toffee, honeycomb toffee, honeycomb, yellow man, puff candy, golden crunchers, hokey pokey, sponge candy, sea foam, bonfire toffee, cinder toffee, Turkish honey, and fairy food candy. But in Wisconsin, only in Wisconsin, is it called angel food candy.

Here’s the recipe:

Angel Food Candy

1 c. Granulated Sugar
1 c. Light or Dark Corn Syrup
1 Tbsp. Baking Soda
1 Tbsp. Vinegar

Line a baking pan (I used an 8×8) with aluminum foil and butter the foil.

In a large pot (I used a 6qt) combine sugar and corn syrup over medium heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side so the tip touches the liquid and does not touch the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil and allow mixture to hit the 300 degree mark (this is also called the hard-crack stage). Stir occasionally while boiling to keep the mixture from foaming too high. Remove from heat right away. Whisk in the baking soda and cider vinegar simultaneously ( I dump and pour them while Shawn whisks). If you’re making the candy alone, pour the liquid first, then dump in the soda. Whisk it in thoroughly or you’ll get pockets of soda… this would taste awful. The mixture will foam considerably when you add the last two ingredients so take care and whisk well. Pour into the prepared pan, try to pour evenly, set on a rack to cool. We found it’s better to NOT spread the candy with a spatula while pouring or afterwards – just let it spread on it’s own. When cool, lift out by the foil, peel foil away and slice on a cutting board. Dip in melted chocolate if desired – it’s great on its own!

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Easy Butter Toffee

December 23rd, 2011 · No Comments

Toffee is a sweet treat that my family used to make every year at Christmas time. I think my mom originally got the recipe from my Aunt Deb, or at least that’s what my old recipe card says. I thought I’d give this a shot this year, since it’s always been one of my favorites and my sister-in-law loves it, too.

The instructions on my old recipe card have you adding water and corn syrup to the butter and sugar mix, but I decided to go with this recipe that only called for butter, sugar and a bit of salt and promised to be easy! Also, I halved the recipe.

My prepared pan, buttered and sprinkled with nuts.

Here’s my one problem. I didn’t have a candy thermometer so I bought a thermometer at the supermarket, but when I tested it at home (it should read 212 degrees in boiling water) it didn’t work. The reading was way low. So I read up about what color the toffee is when it’s done (brown paper bag) and how it should be brittle when you drop a sample in a cup of cold water. Basically, I guessed about it was done. If it’s not done enough it wont be crunchy enough. And once I remember having a batch that was really grainy and sugary. So, I was kind of afraid how this would come out.

At the exact right moment, I hoped(!), I poured the butter and sugar mixture out onto the prepared pan. Some of the butter separated a little so I was a bit worried. I remember one year making this and the chocolate just slid off the toffee. I didn’t want that to happen. I blotted the toffee a bit with a paper towel to try to get some of the butter off. Note: Don’t do this. Your toffee will stick to the paper towel.

So, I had a feeling this didn’t turn out, but you really cannot tell until it’s cooled and you can taste it. I didn’t know what to do. You have to layer the chocolate chips on top while the toffee is still hot so that they chocolate will melt. Of course, an alternative we’ve done in the past would be to leave the toffee plain and break it up later then dip it in melted chocolate. I decided to go ahead and spread the chocolate chips on top anyway. Press my luck!

Let the chocolate chips sit on the warm toffee for a few minutes and then spread them with a spatula. Then sprinkle some ground nuts on top. I used roasted, salted almonds.

When this is all cooled down and set, you can get to breaking the toffee up into pieces.

And how did it turn out? Pretty good, actually! The toffee is really crunchy. The only thing I’d do different, besides buying a real candy thermometer, is to use a smaller pan if you only make a half batch. If I’d have used something like an 8-inch square pan, the liquid toffee would not have been able to spread as much. As it is now, my toffee is pretty thin on some pieces!

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Peanut Butter Balls

December 22nd, 2011 · No Comments

Peanut butter balls are a treat that my family would make every Christmas. I haven’t made them for a few years, so I decided to have a shot at it. I saw this recipe online and I thought I’d give it a try, even though it wasn’t my family’s recipe. Basically you just mix everything together, make balls, and dip them into melted chocolate. I used a dark chocolate to try to counter balance the sweetness of the sugar. Also, I had some peanut butter chips in the cupboard leftover from something else, so I added one to each ball before the chocolate dried. We used to make bigger balls (ha!) but I like to have them small and bite sized.

Note to self: Put lotion on your hands.

The verdict? Too sweet! My family’s recipe uses granular sugar and crushed graham crackers and less butter. I think I like the flavor and texture of those ingredients better. Also, sometimes I would use crunchy (or part crunchy) peanut butter to give them a little bit more snap. Next time… For now, here’s the recipe that I used, if you’re into sweet balls!

Peanut Butter Balls
From: Sweet Anna’s

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (Note: I did not use oil)

In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, butter & vanilla until smooth. Dump in the powdered sugar and stir until too stiff to stir with a fork… then comes the fun part.

Dig in with your (clean!) hands and stir & knead until a smooth stiff dough forms. Roll into small (teaspoon-full size) balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Once you are done rolling all the dough, place the sheet in the fridge to chill and set for a few hours, until very firm.

In a small, deep bowl… microwave the chocolate chips and oil together in 30 second intervals – stirring well between each time – until smooth.

Using a fork, dip each ball into the chocolate, tap off the excess and set it back on the parchment; repeat. Again, once the pan is finished, place it back in the fridge to set completely for a few hours!

If you have excess chocolate, reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds and then scrape it into a ziploc bag. Cut off a tiny bit of the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the partially cooled chocolate balls.

*Alternately – and much more time-efficiently, especially great if you have littles running around!:

Instead of dipping the balls, place all of the melted chocolate in a ziploc bag and drizzle generously over the peanut butter balls. A little less chocolate to peanut butter ratio, but still great and much quicker & cleaner… and in my opinion cuter!!

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Whipped Oysters

December 21st, 2011 · 2 Comments

Long before I ever tried oysters on the half shell or oyster shooters or fried oysters, there were whipped oysters. I don’t think I knew what a real oyster was when I was a kid, but I knew we made this candy every year. I have no idea why these treats were called oysters. They don’t resemble an oyster. I can’t find out much about whipped oysters online and found only one recipe that was similar to our family recipe, but it seems like this was an ultra-local northeastern Wisconsin specialty. Not that I grew up in that part of Wisconsin. Go figure!

This is a recipe card I made while I was a teenager that shows the recipe that my family uses. Hey, whip some cream, dump in some melted chocolate, roll in nuts! Easy! Well, it is pretty easy, but I took some photos and added some notes below.

I melted a pound of chocolate in the double boiler. I used a mix of semi-sweet chocolate and some chocolate almond bark I had. I thought I remembered using almond bark as a kid. I didn’t even know that wasn’t really even chocolate back then. Just like I didn’t know these weren’t really oysters!

I kind of wish I’d used all semi-sweet or combined it with another higher-end chocolate. I mean, almond bark is cheap for a reason, right? Also, these came out really sweet. I would have liked to use a darker chocolate to cut that down a bit.

While the chocolate was cooling I whipped the cream until it was stiff.

After the cream is stiff and the chocolate has cooled a little bit, fold the chocolate into the whipped cream. This is a little tricky. I was trying to combine these, but didn’t want to break the whipped cream down. Later on I found a ribbon of pure chocolate in my mix, so I guess I didn’t do so great of a job. Not sure if I should have left the cream bowl on the mixer and pured the chocolate in while it was beating, or what the best method is. Maybe the whipped cream won’t break down anyway. Not sure.

After you mix the chocolate and whipped cream together, put it in the fridge. The recipe I saw online made it seem like this mixture is finicky and said to refrigerate it for 5-30 minutes until it has a “chiffon texture.” It even recommended checking on it every 5 minutes. My recipe said to refrigerate overnight. I probably refrigerated for 24 hours, just because I didn’t have a chance to get to it before then.

Take the chocolate mixture out of the refrigerator. You need to roll it into balls. We used to just use a teaspoon to do this, and that would work fine, but I decided to use my small cookie scoop to make uniformly sized balls. So I first scooped out all of the chocolate and then rolled them between my hands to make them more ball-like. If you need to, refrigerate the scoops before rolling them. These have a tendency to melt easily and stick to your hands. Make your balls small. They’re rich. Two bites is plenty big (or one big bite!). Just as a note, I made 50 oysters from this batch.

After you have your balls made, roll them in chopped nuts. I used roasted and salted almonds because I thought that the crunchiness and saltiness would be a good contrast to the sweet and smooth oysters. I was right!

After you roll the balls in the nuts, return them to the trays and refrigerate. After these are set, put them in storage containers, with clean waxed paper between layers. You need to store these in the fridge. They’ll stay good for a long time, like a week or two, but the nuts are the crunchiest if they’re served within a few days.

Cross section of an oyster. Overall, these are pretty easy to make and very tasty! Try your hand at this Wisconsin specialty!

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