Half-baked Idea

My mom and one of her friends from college used to make Christmas chocolates every December when I was young. It was a fun tradition and last year I decided to try it myself. Rolling and dipping chocolates by yourself without every having actually participated in the event is not what it is cracked up to be. It was not a particularly successful venture and calling home every ten minutes with a question made me feel like a fish out of water. I added too much flavoring to one type of candy and not enough to another. The peppermint patties were a recognizable shape, but only if you were blind as a bat. Powdered sugar was all over my apartment kitchen and the dipping process left me a little down in the mouth with chocolate dripped on everything. It was truly a half-baked idea to try making chocolates all by myself.

Dipping chocolates went much better this year because I decided to save myself the headache and mess. I used my mom as a cat’s paw to help me with the dirty work and in two evenings we had every thing done. (My brother, Eric, in the picture helped by eating.) Last year I used a little hand-mixer and it was like sending a boy to do a man’s job because this year my mom’s stand-mixer made whipping up the filling a breeze. Peanut butter balls are my family’s favorite type so I made two batches. I also made rum, mint, cherry-almond, and peppermint flavored candies. It was fun to spend time with my mom (and much easier than calling every time something went wrong) and I am sure the people I am sending the chocolates as gifts will not have to take any bitter with their sweet.

These are mint balls.

Rum cubes. I try to make different flavors different shapes so it is easier to tell what is what when they are covered in chocolate.

Dipping cherry-almond logs. I only burned my hand a few times on the hot chocolate.

Recipes

Peanut butter balls
1 Package of graham crackers (1 ¾ cup) crushed
3 ½ cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter melted
1 cup peanut butter

Mix all ingredients well and form into balls. Freeze. Dip into chocolate and refreeze. Once the chocolate is set the candy does not have to stay frozen, but it tastes better if it is.

Generic candy centers
2 pounds powdered sugar (plus extra for rolling)
1 cup butter (softened but not melted)
1 can sweeten condensed milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients and add extra powdered sugar as necessary until dough is not sticky to touch. Add candy flavoring of your choice to taste (most flavors get stronger with age). Roll into balls and freeze. Dip into chocolate and refreeze. Once the chocolate is set the candy does not have to stay frozen, but it tastes better if it is.

Peppermint Patties
2/3 cup sweeten condensed milk
1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
4-4 ½ cups powdered sugar

Mix ingredients by hand and form into patties. The thinner the patties are, the harder they are to dip. Freeze patties. Dip into chocolate and refreeze. Once the chocolate is set the candy does not have to stay frozen, but it tastes better if it is.