Tag Archives: Candy Making

Candied Grapefruit Peel

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Candied Grapefruit PeelLast week at the market, I wore my grapefruit shirt.  Therefore, I bought grapefruits.  Of course.

Not only was it a no-brainer to buy the fruit that I was advertising on my shirt, but I had been craving candied grapefruit peels ever since I had a greyhound a few weeks ago adorned with a little slice of the sugared candy.  The actual greyhound was kind of mediocre, but that candy!  The bartender ended up giving me a few extra pieces because I was raving so wildly about how much I loved it.

So this week I broke out the peeler and got to candying.

Candied Grapefruit Peel Candied Grapefruit PeelFor some reason, I thought the naked grapefruits were really entertaining.  It’s kind of weird how many pictures I took of them.  And posted to Twitter about them…Candied Grapefruit PeelAnyway, enough with the grapefruit porn.

I found a couple of different recipes and took the best of the feedback from both of them to come up with my method.  I wanted them to be sugary sweet, but to still have the bitterness that I love. Continue reading →

Dipped In Chocolate

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Are you sick of Easter candy yet? Sorry, this isn’t going to help.

When Brad ate one of those decedent salted caramel shortbread cookies I made last week, I expected him to just melt with their amazingness.  Instead, he had another idea.

“Tastes like a Twix bar without the chocolate.”

Palm to forehead.

Duh!

So what did I do?  I grabbed myself a bag of milk chocolate chips and melted them down.  And then I covered the rest of those little bites of goodness in chocolate.

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Although I loved the candy-cookies just as they were, now they were even more delicious.  Because chocolate, once again, proves it is the most awesome thing to eat ever in the history in the world. Continue reading →

Salted Caramel Shortbread Cookies

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Caramels have become my new obsession.

I was buying cookie-making materials recently and happened to see one last jug of Martinelli’s Apple Cider hidden on the juice shelf.  Normally just available in the colder months, I snatched it right up to make another batch of those apple cider caramels from smitten kitchen.  They are to die for.  And shouldn’t be limited to certain times of the year by such a thing as seasonal fruits…

But then, after I forced Brad to take bags of the addicting wrapped candies to work so I would stop eating them by the handful, I started brainstorming different ways I could eat caramels no matter the season.  Things I could put in caramels when apple cider is unavailable.  Things I could put caramel on.  Things I could put caramel in.

Endless possibilities.  Expect a lot of variations on caramel coming up.  Like these.  Salted caramel on shortbread.  It sounded delicious.

salted caramel shortbread cookies

Gooey caramel on top of a flaky, sweet, buttery cookie?  Yes.  Sign me up.

salted caramel shortbread cookiessalted caramel shortbread cookies

So I gave it a try.  I found myself two tart’s recipe that didn’t use cornstarch (because – really? is that necessary??) and got to work.

salted caramel shortbread cookies

I only changed the recipe a tiny bit, using unsalted butter because I like to have more control over the amount of salt in my candies.  I think I’d rather sprinkle the salt on top than have it all mixed in.  I also got really excited and forgot to let the shortbread chill for 30 minutes before baking.  It still turned out wonderful… but I recommend using patience if possible. Continue reading →