Sweet Thoughts
Making our own sweets is fun to do - children love to get involved. Here are some easy ideas, followed by a couple of recipes.
Use the best dark chocolate, although children may prefer some milk chocolate to make an assortment. Melt the chocolate in a bowl standing over hot water, then start dipping pieces of no-soak apricots, tiny squares of fudge, glace cherries, marzipan, pieces of cinder toffee.. Use a fork to remove and let the chocolate drip off for a second or two before placing on parchment paper to dry. The longer you leave to set the easier chocolate is to remove (If using moulds, leave for at least 24 hours).
Make after-dinner-mints by dipping small thin circles of peppermint flavoured fondant (just add a drop of peppermint essence to fondant icing and knead. Or sandwich rolled fondant between thin layers of chocolate and cut into squares
Tips: To easily remove fragile flat chocolate shapes from paper,first lay the paper on a table-top, then drizzle over the shapes you require. Once set,. pull the paper towards the edge of the table then downwards - as the paper goes down, the chocolate moves on towards you and can be carefully captured with a piece of cardboard.
Cinder Toffee keep children away from the making as it uses boiling sugar.
4 oz (three heaped tablespoons) golden syrup, 7 oz caster sugar
1 1/2 oz butter, 1/2 tsp vinegar, 1 rounded tsp. bicarb of soda
2 tblsp cold water, 1 greased loaf tin
Put syrup, sugar, butter and water into a heavy based saucepan and stir until dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil until the mixture reaches 290 F. (when mixture becomes still and snaps when a little is dropped into cold water). Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar and bicarb. soda,
Immediately the mixture rises in the pan, pour this into the loaf tin. Cover with another tin so prevent the toffee from subsiding too much. When quite cold, remove from tin and break into pieces, any leftover bits can be crushed and used as topping for ice-cream etc.
Economical Marzipan
8 oz (225g) icing sugar, 2 0z (50g) each caster sugar and ground almonds
1 tsp. golden syrup, 2 drops almond essence, 1 egg white
Put everything into a bowl and mix together. Knead until smooth. Keep wrapped and chilled if you are not going to use it immediately.
Use the best dark chocolate, although children may prefer some milk chocolate to make an assortment. Melt the chocolate in a bowl standing over hot water, then start dipping pieces of no-soak apricots, tiny squares of fudge, glace cherries, marzipan, pieces of cinder toffee.. Use a fork to remove and let the chocolate drip off for a second or two before placing on parchment paper to dry. The longer you leave to set the easier chocolate is to remove (If using moulds, leave for at least 24 hours).
Make after-dinner-mints by dipping small thin circles of peppermint flavoured fondant (just add a drop of peppermint essence to fondant icing and knead. Or sandwich rolled fondant between thin layers of chocolate and cut into squares
Tips: To easily remove fragile flat chocolate shapes from paper,first lay the paper on a table-top, then drizzle over the shapes you require. Once set,. pull the paper towards the edge of the table then downwards - as the paper goes down, the chocolate moves on towards you and can be carefully captured with a piece of cardboard.
Cinder Toffee keep children away from the making as it uses boiling sugar.
4 oz (three heaped tablespoons) golden syrup, 7 oz caster sugar
1 1/2 oz butter, 1/2 tsp vinegar, 1 rounded tsp. bicarb of soda
2 tblsp cold water, 1 greased loaf tin
Put syrup, sugar, butter and water into a heavy based saucepan and stir until dissolved. Bring to a rolling boil until the mixture reaches 290 F. (when mixture becomes still and snaps when a little is dropped into cold water). Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar and bicarb. soda,
Immediately the mixture rises in the pan, pour this into the loaf tin. Cover with another tin so prevent the toffee from subsiding too much. When quite cold, remove from tin and break into pieces, any leftover bits can be crushed and used as topping for ice-cream etc.
Economical Marzipan
8 oz (225g) icing sugar, 2 0z (50g) each caster sugar and ground almonds
1 tsp. golden syrup, 2 drops almond essence, 1 egg white
Put everything into a bowl and mix together. Knead until smooth. Keep wrapped and chilled if you are not going to use it immediately.
posted by Shirley at 6:20 am
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