Candies and Desserts

  Makes about 10 dozen
Equipment:

1 flour sifter or fine mesh strainer

Parchment paper 1 cookie sheet

1 medium saucepan

1 candy thermometer

1 bench scraper 

Pancake spatula

Ingredients:
4 1/2 ounces (1 1/4 cups)powdered sugar or maple sugar (if using maple sugar, be sure to give it a whirl in a small food processor or coffee grinder to make it more “powdery”)
3/4 ounce (3 tablespoons plus 3/4 teaspoon) nonfat dry milk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 1/2 ounces (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
3 1/2 ounces (4 tablespoons plus 3 teaspoons) honey
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Food coloring (yellow and red or orange) (Optional I do not Use)
Non-stick cooking spray
Directions:
1. Over a medium bowl, sift together confectioners’ sugar, dry milk, and salt. Set aside. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Combine granulated sugar, honey, and butter in a medium saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium heat. Stir together until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil, and continue to cook until syrup registers 230 degrees on a candy thermometer, 1 to 2 minutes. Mixture will be pale and frothy.
3. Remove the saucepan from heat. Whisk in vanilla and the reserved dry sugar mixture. Continue to whisk until the mixture is combined and most of the lumps have been smoothed out. Pour mixture onto parchment-lined cookie sheet.
4. Let the mixture rest until it has stiffened and is cool enough to handle, about 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Using a bench scraper or knife, divide dough into three equal batches and transfer each to its own bowl. Add 7-10 drops of yellow food coloring to one batch of dough and knead until the color is consistent throughout the dough. Add more coloring if necessary. Add 7-10 drops of orange food coloring, or 7 drops of yellow and 4 drops of red, to the second batch of dough. Knead until the color is consistent throughout the dough. Add more coloring if necessary. Leave the third batch white.
6. On another piece of parchment paper, roll each piece of dough into a snake about 18 inches long. Cut each snake in half and roll until each snake is 22 inches long and about 1/2 inch thick.
7. Lay the three snakes side by side in the following order: orange, yellow, than white. Press them together with your fingers. Cut into sections about 4 inches long. Repeat with the remaining snakes. Spray bench scraper (or ruler or pancake spatula) with non-stick cooking spray. Use bench scraper to press each piece into a wedge; the orange section should be the widest point and the white section should come to a tip (see photograph). Repeat with remaining pieces.
8. Using the bench scraper or a knife sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, cut each wedge into individual candies, about 1/4-inch wide. Lay the candies out on the parchment-lined cookie sheet, and let dry overnight. Store in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper.

Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter
2/3 cup of honey
1/2 cup chocolate chips [milk, dark, or semisweet to taste]
 

How To:
Place honey, peanut butter and chips in a small sauce pan.
Melt all ingredients together over medium heat.
If you tend to get distracted, use a double boiler. If you get distracted it may burn
Put melted batter in an 8×8 pan, place in fridge to cool.
 

Note:
If you sub out peanut butter for cashew or almond butter it would be a paleo recipe

 Ingredients
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar or maple sugar (if using maple sugar, be sure to give it a whirl in a small food processor or coffee grinder to make it more “powdery”)
3/4 cup tapioca flour (+ a little more for kneading)  (Sometimes hard for me to get)
Food Coloring (optional I do not Use)
 

Directions
1.  Mix your honey, vanilla and melted butter in a bowl.
2.  Add the powdered sugar and mix well until completely incorporated.
3.  Mix in the tapioca flour a 1/4 cup at a time.  It will seem difficult to get it fully incorporated but believe me, it will eventually all mix in.  As you get to the final 1/4 cup, you may need to start kneading the “dough” to fully incorporate the flour.
4.  Split the dough into three equal pieces.  Leave one piece as-is.  This is the white part of the candy corn.
5.  Add two drops of yellow food coloring to one of the remaining pieces and knead until the “dough” is fully colored.
6.  Add two drops yellow and one drop red food coloring to the final piece of dough.  Knead until the dough is fully colored.
7.  Put in the freezer for 5 minutes.  (This makes the dough easier to work with, especially after all the softening that occurs when you knead in the food coloring.)
8.  Remove from freezer and shape each ball into a long (about 1-1.5 foot) rope.
9.  Line your ropes up as shown in the picture and form them into one long rope by pushing the pieces together slightly.
10.  Put in the freezer for 5 minutes.
11.  Remove and cut into triangles.
12.  Enjoy!  My kids love these.  I store them in the fridge to keep them from softening too much.

Be sure to have your pan prepared before you begin heating the caramel as you'll be actively stirring the whole time it cooks.
Ingredients
1 cup honey
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Kosher salt or other flaky salt to finish
 

Instructions
Line an 8-inch x 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, allowing parchment to line sides as well as the bottom. On one side, fold the parchment in so that the width is 5", otherwise the caramels will be too thin.
Cut out 40 parchment wrappers, about 3 1/2 inches wide and 2 inches long.
In a narrow, heavy saucepan heat the heavy cream and salt to a simmer – don’t allow the cream to boil. Stir in honey. Heat to boiling and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, for 20-25 minutes, until the mixture reaches 250-260F degrees. (Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature)
When the caramel reaches 250-260F degrees, remove from heat, add vanilla and stir.
Carefully pour caramel over parchment in pan, taking care to keep the width to about 5 inches.
When the caramel is nearly cool, sprinkle with kosher or other flaky salt.
Allow caramel to cool completely and then transfer, with parchment, on to a cutting board.
With a lightly oiled, sharp knife cut caramel longwise into 10, 1/2-inch strips. Then cut crosswise into 4, 2-inch strips.
Place one caramel on the edge of a parchment wrapper and roll up. Twist ends to seal. Repeat with remaining

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