Cherry Turkish Taffy

Is there a candy from your childhood that you miss? Something that reminds you of warm summers riding your bike around the neighborhood? Maybe a sweet that you always bought at the candy store? Perhaps it was a confection that made a trip to the movies worthwhile? I think that we all have that one treat that holds sweet memories and most likely you can’t get that candy anymore. Why do candy companies do that to us? They get us hooked on something delicious then take it away, like dealers. Sucrose dealers.

When I was little, my mom worked nights. She was the banquet manager at a hotel and had to manage the big events that occurred on the weekends. This meant that it was up to dad to entertain my brother and I. One of our favorite Saturday night events was to head to the movies. I remember watching Jurassic Park, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country and Titanic with my boys. Guess who picked the last movie, ha ha, winner!

Before we would head to the movie theater, we would stop at the local 7-11. We would stock up on cokes and candies, because who wants to pay ridiculous movie theater prices? My candy of choice would inevitably be Tangy Taffy. A big (HUGE) slab of taffy, with a sour bite and an amazing flavor. With your choice of grape, strawberry or cherry, it was hard to go wrong with this treat. It would last for hours and turn your tongue colors. The perfect movie candy.

It’s funny that this was my favorite candy, because my mom also had a childhood love of taffy. Although oddly enough, you can still buy her favorite brand. My mom recalls heading to the theater with a dollar and being able to purchase her ticket and have enough left over for some Bomono Turkish taffy. Bomono taffy was available in strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and banana, just like a banana split!

This recent batch of candy came out more like Bomono than it did like Tangy taffy. I think it needs some citric acid to get that tangy flavor. Next batch!

Homemade Butter Finger Bars

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I know that I’m a little late in the day, in fact it’s only still Valentines for the Western hemisphere. It’s plain old February 15th in Europe right now. Good thing that I’m giving you a non-Valentines specific treat! I spent the first half of my Valentine’s Day flying around the country. It’s a very exciting month in the Wilde household!

This weekend I spent packing up boyfriends house for his upcoming move to the east coast. We spent hours going through bins and bins of toys. Fabulous 1980’s toys! Everything from Ninja Turtles to G.I. Joes to Batman. It was a very Toy Story 3 kind of weekend, deciding what would move and what would be sent to the big Thrift store donation truck. Packing up old toys is hard! You get distracted and find yourself setting up the G.I. Joe base, when you should be deciding whether astronaut Raphael should be donated or not (donate).

So, while you may have spent your weekend heading to a romantic dinner or cooking something delicious for your favorite person, I spent it in a basement, playing with toys! Boyfriend was able to pick and choose his favorites and we set aside a big box (okay, five boxes) to take to the collection center. A big box (5) of G.I. Joe trucks and Batcaves, ninja turtle action figures and micro machines was on its way out of the house, so sad.

Fate intervened and a text message came to boyfriends phone. A friend saw us driving around town and was harassing boyfriend for ignoring him. A friend, with two kids. Kids who like toys! Perhaps boyfriends friend would like the toys? The return text message… Yes! Friend would love the toys! Hooray, the toys will have new kids to play with them! Such a Toy Story ending, everyone is happy. Except boyfriend, who wants to break open the boxes we packed and play with the toys.

Chocolate Marshmallows

So we’re almost to the end of the month. Where has January gone? I can tell you where. Half of you were sick for at least a week. Facebook, twitter and blog posts have told me this. At least half of you were hiding inside, getting away from the horrific snowstorms, torrential rain and floods. The vast majority of you were busy avoiding your mailboxes and inboxes, afraid of those Christmas bills arriving this month. Luckily, we still had each other.

 

To celebrate our hard work this month, I thought we deserved some sweets. Did you know that you can make your own candy? For the longest time I thought those Hershey and Mars people were magical. How do they churn out those chocolate bars, filled with caramel and cookies? How are these gummy bears so cute? As a kid we didn’t have a lot of candy in the house. It was a special treat for when we went to the movies. I would get cherry Tangy Taffy, it was awesome. If someone can locate some Tangy Taffy, please send me a box!

When I was in college we got cable. Yes, college! I went to college in 1999, not thirty years ago. According to boyfriend, I was a deprived child. I never got to watch Nick at Nite or MTV and apparently I will make a terrible Trivial Pursuit partner in ten years. (Seriously, boyfriend has refused to be my future Trivial Pursuit partner!) This lack of cable until the new millennium meant that I didn’t get to watch the Food Network until ten years ago! And then I was introduced to Unwrapped.

Unwrapped, that fantastic show with Mark Summers (the TV game show host from Nick at Nite, see I know stuff) that shows us exactly how foods are made. Suddenly the mysteries were beginning to unravel. Snickers bars are made in layers, by a robot. Gummy bears are formed in cornstarch molds, by a robot. Luckily we don’t need robots to make candies at home. And for the fact that we do not use robots, we can call our candies “Artisan” chocolates. Enjoy.

Also, the secondary purpose for posting these chocolate marshmallows is... You can bid on them in an online bake sale on Monday, January 31st!  Stephanie at Steph's Bite by Bite is hosting an online bake sale to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  She will be running a marathon to benefit this cause and needs to raise $1,900 to help battle against Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease and Myeloma.  Stop by and check out all the goodies up for action and help surrport a good cause!

Candied Orange Peels

As I cook more and more I get a little more confident with trying new things. Of course we’ve discussed the issue of cooking fears. When it comes down to it, the likelihood of killing someone with my food is pretty low. Also, the chances of me causing myself serious harm in the kitchen is equally low. Although, some days I feel like I should be wearing my safety goggles in the kitchen.

You may have seen some people already posting their December Daring Bakers Challenge pieces. I’ll be getting mine up tomorrow because it is currently rising on my parents kitchen table. The process involved in making the stolen took a few days.

Two days ago I ventured into making candy, my first time making candies! The Christmas stollen recipe calls for candied citrus peels. I don’t know if you’ve ever had store bought candied peels, but they aren’t terribly good. I think they taste like sugar, nothing citrusy about them. After a little looking around online I determined that the recipes are basically the same. Boil peels, boil sugar, boil peels in sugar. Tada! The flavor of these homemade orange peels is something akin to orange gems.

We decided to use half in the Christmas stollen and dip the other half in dark chocolate. The dark chocolate really balances the citrus and sugar. These were also really easy to make in boyfriends kitchen, because all I needed was a pot.



My mom and I decided they look like chocolate covered french fries



Merry Christmas eve everyone!  (And a merry christmas to my friends in New Zealand, Australia and Korea!)

Raspberry and peppermint marshmallows (2 recipes)

I do not drink coffee. There I said it. In fact, I do not even like the smell of coffee. Telling this to some people leaves them with the question of “how did you make it through grad school without coffee?” Apparently I’m just a naturally hyper person, you don’t want me caffeinated. I get my energy from the gym, not the mug.

Boyfriend is trying to convert me to a coffee drinker. Suggestions from others include starting with Dunkin’ Donuts lattes. Sugary milk with a hint of coffee. I’m all for sugary milk, but it’s that hint that I can’t get past. I’ve been told to be a grown-up and drink coffee. Grown-up? Bah. I’m going to keep drinking my hot chocolate.

Mmm, hot cocoa. What is even better than plain hot chocolate? Hot cocoa with marshmallows! What about fluffy, pink, raspberry marshmallows? Now, that sounds just perfect.

Do not fear the marshmallow. This is one of the most straightforward recipes there are. If you have a stand mixer, then this is super simple. All you need is a candy thermometer and a heavy pot. In my course of making marshmallows this weekend I tested out two different recipes. One is a simple eggless recipe with fruit puree, the second uses egg whites for structure.