Yearly Archives: 2009

Homemade Holiday Gifts that Rock: Hard Tack Candy and Homemade Caramels

November 19, 2009christmas, food, friendshipKirsetin

When I give candy at Christmastime, it’s truly a gift from the heart. My Aunt Jo used to make hard tack candy every year, and grabbing a handful was near the top of my list when my family made the trek north to visit. Later, in college, my girlfriend Missy’s mom sent us a box of homemade caramel during midterm exams. I think I ate most of the box. When I graduated, I got myself a fancy Williams-Sonoma cookbook (I was living in California, after all) and gave the caramel recipe a whirl. It was HARD. Really. The next time I saw Missy I mentioned her mom’s caramels and she told me how easy they were. Huh. I came away with the recipe and a great homemade holiday gift idea. The hardest part is the wrapping, for sure.

Hard Tack Candy

2 c sugar
2 c water
2/3 c white Karo corn syrup
½ t oil flavor (NOT extract)
food coloring
powered sugar

You’ll also need: a candy thermometer.

Grease the bottom of an 8 x 11 or 9 x 13 cookie sheet.

Stir together sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook on medium stovetop temperature until the temperature reaches 310°. (This takes quite awhile – usually over ½ hr for me). Remove candy from heat. Stir in desired flavor (I use cinnamon, peppermint, etc. and always leave one plain. Then, I coordinate the color with the flavor). Stir in desired color quickly and thoroughly, then pour onto a lightly greased 9 x 13 cookie sheet. (I use a smaller one for slightly thicker pieces.)

Wait just a few minutes until the edges start to harden. Cut into pieces with kitchen shears. It will be HOT to handle & is best to do with a friend so you can work quickly. If you can’t get it all cut by hand, let it cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap & hit pan on counter, or twist to break. These pieces will have sharper edges than the hand-cut pieces. Put the candy in a bowl and sprinkle with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking.

Mix the colors and flavors together in mason jars, tie with a festive bow, and your gift is ready to give.

Easy Homemade Caramel

½ lb (2 sticks) butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 c sugar
1 c white Karo corn syrup

You’ll also need: waxed paper, cut into squares and a candy thermometer

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 pan.

Melt all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly over medium/high heat until the temperature reaches 240. (On my stove, this takes around 25 minutes.) Remove from heat. Add 1t vanilla. Pour into well-greased 9 x 13 pan. Cool caramel, then turn out onto cutting board. Cut into bite-sized pieces and wrap in squares of waxed paper.

Put these wrapped-up gems in a cute little container and say Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

Other Homemade Holiday Gifts that Rock:

If you have additional ideas, leave them in the comments section, with a link. I’ll post links to great homemade gift ideas on Friday.

Homemade Holiday Gifts that Rock: Easy Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels

November 18, 2009christmas, finances, friendshipKirsetin

Aren’t these chocolate-dipped pretzels just so pretty? Wouldn’t you want to receive them for a gift? So why not make some this year–a few to give, and a few to keep? Dipping pretzel rods is significantly easier than dipping the traditional twisted pretzel, so I suggest you stick with the pretzel rods if you’re a newbie. But if you want to get creative down the road, you can adjust this idea to any sort of pretzel out there. (You can also use milk chocolate, but then you’ll get your best results with a double boiler. Start slowly, try this for a time or two, and work your way up if you want to try the milk chocolate!)

Easy Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

Pretzel Rods (about 4 dozen)
Chocolate CandyQuick (in the bakery aisle at the grocery)
Crisco
toppings: vanilla CandyQuick (or melts) and nonpariel sprinkles are my favorite

You also need: waxed paper and a ziplock baggie (or an icing decorator bag)

Heat the CandyQuick in the microwave, according to directions on the package. If you need to thin the chocolate, add a little bit (just the tip of a spoonful) of Crisco to the heated chocolate and stir. Quickly dip a pretzel rod in and roll around, making sure to coat all sides (but not the part you’re holding!). Hold the pretzel rod up & let extra chocolate drizzle back into the container. Carefully place the chocolate-coated pretzel rod onto the waxed paper. Repeat. Reheat the chocolate CandyQuick as necessary but be careful not to overheat it.

NOTE: IF YOU’RE USING NONPAREILS for your topping, you must sprinkle them onto the pretzels before the chocolate cools. You can still do several at a time, but keep your eye out to make sure you don’t get busy dipping & forget to sprinkle your topping.

IF YOU’RE USING WHITE CHOCOLATE for your topping, no worries. The dark chocolate must cool first, anyway, before you begin getting fancy with the swirly white stuff. Once you’ve finished with the first step, and the dark chocolate has cooled, you can get ready to drizzle.

Melt the white chocolate (CandyQuick or melts) in the microwave. (Again, you can use white chocolate chips, but then you’re better off with a double boiler. This is much easier.) If you need to thin the white chocolate, add a dab of Crisco and stir. Put the melted white chocolate into a ziplock baggie (sandwich size) or icing decorator bag. If you’re using the ziplock, snip a tiny corner off. Drizzle the white chocolate, slowly, back and forth over the pretzel rods.

Let everything cool, place pretzel rods in a container, wrap with cellophane and a festive bow: Voila! You’re practically Martha.

Another Homemade Holiday Gift that Rocks: Homemade bread and jam

If you have additional ideas, leave them in the comments section. I’ll post links to great homemade gift ideas on Friday.

Homemade Holiday Gifts that Rock

November 17, 2009UncategorizedKirsetin

If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a great homemade gift, you know how cool it is. Taking the time to make something says something both about the recipient, and how you feel about them. So whether you’re looking for homemade ideas because this year’s budget is a little tighter, or because you want to step up the personalization factor, here are a few ideas.

Homemade bread and jam.

If you’ve ever received either of these as a gift, you know how awesome receiving BOTH would be! This is the gift of time, because, really, that’s what it takes.

Homemade (white) bread:
5 3/4 – 6 1/4 cups all-purpose
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 T sugar
1 T shortening, margarine, or butter
1 t salt

This is all you need to make great bread! My favorite traditional cookbook is the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, and this is the recipe I use.

Homemade strawberry jam:
4 c prepared strawberries (about 2 qts)
7 c sugar
1/2 t butter
1 pkg CERTO Fruit Pectin

Again, this recipe calls for just a few ingredients, but this jam is wonderful. My friend Holly has made it several years in a row and swears by it. I’ve been the lucky recipient and I can vouch for its tastiness. Here’s the recipe she uses.

Chocolate-dipped pretzels.

I make and give these almost every year to rave reviews. The hardest part is getting them out of the house before the children claim them for their own. They’re easy, I promise–again, it just takes some time. Wrapped with cellophane and a festive bow, they’re gorgeous and tasty. Click here for my post with the recipe.

Candy: the universal crowd pleaser.

When choosing a candy, I suggest making something you really love to give. As a little girl, I visited my Aunt Jo’s house at Christmas time and loved to indulge in the hard tack candy she’d made. As a grown-up, it’s one of my candies-of-choice to give.

Homemade caramel is another of my favorites, and people love it. I have a couple of recipes, but one is significantly more difficult for basically the same end product. Check back Thursday for both the hard tack candy recipe and the easy caramel recipe.

Cookies.

Homemade, decorated cookies are a scrumptious treasure in a sea of same-old slice-and-bakes. I love to plan an afternoon to bake with a friend, then split the goodies—we end up with twice as many varieties for the same amount of time in the kitchen. Fair warning: talk about what you’ll make. My friend Sheri and I did this one year and laughed ourselves silly when we realized how many of our cookie traditions were the same.

You guessed it: I’ll share the recipe (and a couple of icing tips) on Friday.

What about you? Do you have tried & true homemade gifts you can share with the rest of us? If so, please write about it in the comments. If you’ve done a post about it on your own blog, leave me the link and I’ll link to any great homemade gift ideas on Friday.