Saturday, December 20, 2008

A Sweet Day

After lunch, my mom and I started on our candy making extravaganza. We always make some sort of candy/ fudge to give as gifts for people we don't care about enough to buy gifts :]

First we made English toffee.
Mmmmmm toffee toffee toffe I lurve you!! Never leave me! Toffee is so flipping easy to make.
Here is our recipe:
  • 1 c. butter
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tbs corn syrup
  • 1 c. chocolate chips
  • Pecans or white chocolate or candy canes or whatever you want to use for garnish
  1. Melt butter in small saucepan. Add sugar, salt, vanilla, and corn syrup.
  2. Bring to a boil. Boil for 6-7 minutes, until mixture is slightly darker than light brown sugar.
  3. Remove from heat and quickly pour onto a buttered cookie sheet. Spread with a wooden spoon to even out.
  4. Drop the chocolate on top of the butter and sugar mixture. Let it melt, then spread it evenly.
  5. Press whatever toppings you like into the chocolate.
  6. Let cool in the fridge for about an hour. Pry toffee off the baking sheet (it comes of easily with a butter knife) and break into chunks.


Then I made Toasted Almond and Cranberry Chocolate Bark. Dun dun da duhhhhh!

It was deliciously different! I hate peppermint bark because I don't like white chocolate much. This was mostly semi sweet though, and went really well with the almonds and cranberries. And so festive looking too. I didn't spread the chocolate thin enough, so I'll have to make another batch later. It was originally supposed to use dried cherries. Here's my recipe.
  • 3/4 c. almonds, chopped and toasted (microwave for 30 secs, stirring every once in a while)
  • 3/4 c. dried cranberries (Craisins)
  • 12 oz. (1 and 1/2 cups) semisweet chocolate
  • 8 oz. (1 cup) white chocolate
  1. Combine almonds and cranberries and set aside.
  2. Melt the semi sweet and white chocolate in different saucepans over medium high heat. Stir frequently. It's best if someone helps you to stir the two pots at once.
  3. Once melted, remove both chocolates from the heat. Stir half of the cranberry almond mix into the semi sweet chocolate.
  4. Quickly spread the semi sweet onto a buttered baking pan. Try to get it as thin as possible so it isn't too hard.
  5. Spoon the white chocolate on top of the semisweeet. Attempt to marble the chocolates together (key word here is attempt, it's pretty hard with the almond and cranberry chunks).
  6. Sprinkle the remaining almond and cranberry mix on top of the white chocolate.
  7. Refrigerate for 1 hour at least. Break into chunks.

For once, ED let me enjoy my food without thinking of the calories. It was really nice to have a couple pieces of toffee and bark without calculating all the cals.

I didn't really have dinner. Before I left for my orchestra concert, I had a PB sammich and a clementine. Then when I got home at 9:30, I was ravenous so I just made a bowl of antioxidant oats and had it with a string cheese. Too hungry for pics, sorry. My concert went really well. pics tomorrow.

Sorry for being so quick about this post and for not commenting a lot, I'm just dead tired and I have to go eat more to make up for missed cals. Tomorrow!! I will catch up tomorrow, I promise!

9 comments:

Jemima said...

You're doing SO well kiki *hugs* keep going strong. xxx

Sharon said...

You're doing great!

maya said...

your doing so well,kicking eds but! iam amazed. toffee used to be my favorite.

Sophia Lee said...

wow, THAT'S your gift to people you don't care enough to gift? haha! they look so good and carefully thought presentS!
good job on not counting cals...it's a tough thing, I know!
btw how much PB do you use in your sammie usually?

Jenny said...

thank you for sharing those delicious candy recipes!

yay for enjoying those delicious treats ED-free =) congrats girl - you're doing great!

alaina said...

holy jeez that looks amazing!! i'm putting that toffee on my christmas treats list.

Anonymous said...

Hi! Thank you for commenting on my blog. :)

Glad you enjoyed those treats without ED saying anything. Congrats :)

Jemima said...

Kiki you are one of the most mature people I know - age is a number, it's your mental maturity that counts. I got ill when I was 14 and so many psychologists have told me that emotionally I'm still 14 years old.. XD But yeah - just wanted to let you know I think you're a star!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Woohoo! That's right-- ED has no place in Christmas!