Christmas Spirit: Homemade Amaretto

Last weekend I found this post titled "Homemade Liqueurs as Christmas Gifts" on La Buona Cucina (that's Italian for "The Good Kitchen").  Ann, who writes La Buona Cucina had made lovely gifts of homemade Amaretto and Limoncello. While my gifts have already been given away or are wrapped and awaiting Christmas morning, I thought that it might still be fun to bring homemade Amaretto to the family Christmas dinner. Plus, I had everything (besides vodka) that I needed to make this super simple recipe. After trekking through the Christmas shopping traffic to the grocery for some vodka, I whipped up this easy homemade Amaretto this afternoon.

Check it out!

First, combine a cup of granulated sugar with a half cup of packed brown sugar in a saucepan. Add a cup of water and stir.

Bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and cool, then stir in vanilla and almond extracts.

Pour in 2 cups of inexpensive (read: cheap) vodka. I spent less then $4 for the bottle.

Now bottle it up...or in my case, "jar" it up. Ann used glass bottles that she had recycled by thoroughly cleaning, then she dressed them up with labels. Very pretty. They look totally gift-worthy. You can take a look at her work HERE. However, I went the moonshine route and poured mine into quart-sized canning jar. I am so classy! : )

While I'm more likely to use this in baking, I needed to do a taste test... for the sake of truth in reporting. So....CHEERS!

While I'm not a fan of vodka, the Amaretto was good. It was what it should be; sweet and almond-flavored. I'd totally stir this into a pound cake...or an Amaretto Sour.

Homemade Amaretto

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
2 cups of inexpensive vodka
1 cup water
2 tablespoons almond extract
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions for Amaretto
Combine water, white sugar and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat until boiling and all sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let mixture cool down for 10 - 20 minutes. Pour in vodka, almond and vanilla extracts. Mix well and store in a sealed glass bottle.

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And now for one more recipe on this lovely Christmas Eve before I rush off to stuff a stocking...or 3.

Recipe for a Merry Christmas

To a cup of tradition, time-honored and dear,
Add a generous portion of holiday cheer,
Combine with the memories of Christmases past,
Then sprinkle the mixture with joy unsurpassed.
Add a dash or good spirits, stir fondly until...
You set it to rise in the warmth of good will.
Pour love over all in generous measure,
And garnish with laughter and heartwarming pleasure.


~~By Barbara Burrow~~

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Homemade Turtles

When I saw these homemade turtles at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker, I had to give them a try! What a perfect addition to my collection of holiday goodies. They looked easy enough to make, plus my grandma had sent 2 big bags of pecan halves home with me after Thanksgiving. I couldn't think of a better way to use some of them.

While the turtle construction is simple, it is also time consuming! First, you need to unwrap caramels and then, using a rolling pin, flatten them. My caramels were on the hard side, so this took some muscle!

Once the caramels are flattened, I arranged the pecans on a baking sheet in the shape of a star. 5 pecan halves for each. 1 for the turtle's head and the other 4 to make the legs.

Kristin, from Frugal Antics posted a link to the YouTube video where she found this recipe. I really wish that I had watched it before making these, because I would have been more likely to line my baking sheets with parchment paper. I strongly recommend lining the baking sheets, because many of my turtles stuck fast to the sheet after I melted the caramels. In the process of prying the turtles off of the baking sheet, some of them lost legs and heads and therefore were not acceptable to give as gifts (although perfect for eating at home...so not a complete loss!)

Place a rolled caramel in the center of each group of pecans.

Then, melt for about 6 minutes in a 325 degree oven. Just long enough to melt the caramel and bind the pecans together, but not so long that the caramel melts all the way to the baking sheet and gets bubbly.

Now for the chocolate topping step: I just melted a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave and spooned chocolate over the caramel and smoothed it a bit. I will do things a bit differently next time. Read on to see why...

Once they had completely cooled, the chocolate on one batch of my turtles had lost it's sheen, and the other batched exhibited the dreaded chocolate bloom. Bummer.

What is chocolate bloom, you may ask.

Well, it is visible by whitish streaks or dots, fogginess, or even graying on the surface of chocolate and can be the result of two things. One cause of chocolate bloom is that chocolate that is allowed to get warm, allowing the cocoa butters to separate from the chocolate and rise to the surface in whitish streaks or swirls. This is not a sign that your Chocolate is inedible, just that it does not look as pretty.

Another type of chocolate bloom is "sugar bloom". Sugar bloom occurs when moisture is allowed to get to the Chocolate (such as in a refrigerator) and the water draws the sugar to the surface as it evaporates, leaving white dots of sugar crystals on the surface of the Chocolate. Though sugar bloom does not affect the taste of the Chocolate, it does result in a somewhat grainy texture.

I searched the web to find out where I had gone wrong. One site said that I needed to keep the temperature of the chocolate more stable, that it had probably gotten too hot. Another source said that the chocolate should have been cooled quicker. That I was working in a room that was too warm, that I should've put the turtles in the fridge to chill after putting on the chocolate. From watching the YouTube video, I noticed that the person making those turtles stirred in some vegetable shortening to help the chocolate maintain it's gloss and also that the chocolate was melted in a double boiler to keep the temperature stable. Next time I will apply those suggestions to my candy making.

That's great...for next time. But in the here and now I needed to fix my turtles! I certainly wasn't going to start over! For all of the information that I found about chocolate bloom and preventing it, I didn't find a single suggestion for how to fix it once your candies are made and cooled.

I came up with a solution on my own. I melted more chocolate and then, using candy painting brushes, my daughter and I "painted" over the chocolate bloom. My mother-in-law was visiting and she pointed out that the spots were "cute" and it looked like we had put them there on purpose for spots on the turtle's shells. She made a good point....but I was concerned that people would see the spots and be afraid to eat them.

And so we painted all of those spotted turtles. They turned out alright. Not candy store quality, but definitely delicious!

I boxed them up for gift giving. I purchased half pound boxes at my local candy making store, but you can also purchase them online: Candy Boxes 1/2 Lb. 3-Pack: White

My daughters and I had fun decorating the boxes. For teacher gifts, this is a neat way for your kids to personalize their presents. In our house it was also an excellent way ward off boredom on a snow day!

Our Tower of Turtles! Now we just need to put the finishing touches on our gingerbread cookies and hopefully we can start delivering treats tomorrow.

Homemade Turtle Candies

Pecan Halves (5 halves per turtle)
Caramels (1 per turtle)a bag has about 40 in it
1-12 ounce package chocolate chips
Vegetable shortening
Melt the chocolate chips in either a double boiler or a microwave. Place the pecan halves on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper!). Cluster together to form the turtle head, arms, and feet. Unwrap the caramels and flatten each one with a rolling pin. Place a flattened caramel on top of each cluster of pecans. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 6 minutes or until the caramels are just melted, but not bubbling. Remove from oven and spoon a dollop of chocolate on each turtle.

Mint Meltaways

Rendered homebound by the latest snow storm, I decided to take the weather-imposed downtime to try out a couple of candy recipes that I've had my eye on. Last month, Kristin, the writer of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker posted recipes for both Frango Mints and Turtles. As a matter of fact, Kristin has been posting a TON of wonderful "Make Your Own" holiday gifts for the last month. If you're still looking for ideas or you just want to file some away for next year, give Frugal Antics for a Harried Homemaker a look!

Her recipe for Frango mints caught my eye because Frango mints were one of my favorite childhood candies. Only available at the nearest mall, an hour's trip from our farm (it still amuses me that it only takes 5-10 minutes to get to the mall from my current home), we'd buy a box to share on the car trip home. Around the holidays, these minty chocolate truffles were frequently found as stocking stuffers. I haven't seen Frango mints in a few years, and so after spotting this recipe I "Googled" them and got the whole history from Wikipedia. Apparently, the Frango mint has been around since 1918. In 1927, Ray Alden, who ran Frederick's in-store candy kitchen, developed the Frango mint meltaway chocolate. Alden's secret recipe used chocolate made from both African and South American cocoa beans as well as triple-distilled oil of Oregon peppermint and 40% local butter.

They were some high quality chocolates!

Here's a little more of the story...

"A few months after Marshall Field's agreed to buy-out Frederick & Nelson's and take control of the Seattle company in 1929, the Frederick & Nelson candy makers in Seattle were summoned to Chicago to introduce Frango mints to Marshall Field's to help build slumping sales during the Great Depression. Soon, the candy kitchen at Marshall Field's had produced its own Midwestern interpretation of the Frango Chocolate recipe. Although the Northwest version still uses the original Frederick & Nelson recipe, the Marshall Field's recipe has been modified a few times. This, as well as the use of different ingredients and equipment, would account for any difference in taste between the two versions."

Well, this homemade version, no doubt, modifies and simplifies the recipe again. My evaluation after making and tasting these candies is: Frango mints, these were NOT (hence, the "Mint Meltaway" title of this post). However, if you're looking for a relatively easy and delicious mint meltaway recipe, then you've come to the right place! I thought that my daughters were going to make themselves sick on all of my "screw ups" and I've had more than a few myself. The girls were circling like vultures, just waiting for one of the squares to break so that they could split(my rule) and devour the spoils of my Christmas candy making.

For those of you who are long-time Frango mint fans like me, read up on the history provided by Wikipedia. It was interesting to read about where they came from, the evolution of the recipe, the controversy surrounding this one little truffle, and where they are now (according to Wikipedia...available at Macy's).


Here's what I did:

First, for the filling, I combined the butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl until combined and smooth.

Then I mixed in an egg and peppermint and vanilla extract.

Beat until combined.

Then, melt a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave.

Pour the melted chocolate into the butter mixture and...

mix again.

Now transfer the mixture into a buttered 8 X 8 inch pan.

Spread evenly to cover.

Then freeze for at least 30 minutes. (I refrigerated mine overnight.) Once chilled, cut into little squares or rectangles.

The filling was pretty crumbly, much to my daughters' pleasure, since they got to eat the "ugly" pieces. I still dipped the "screw ups" in the chocolate coating and then refrigerated them in a baggie for snacking.

I might suggest using a knife warmed in hot water to try to minimize the crumbling.

To coat the mints, use candy melts. I went with a dark chocolate version that I picked up at my local candy-making store. If you don't have access to a local candy-making or cake decorating supply store then you can purchase them online here: Wilton Dark Chocolate Candy Melts 12 Oz.

Gently brush any filling crumbles away before dipping in the coating so that your coating doesn't end up with lumps from those crumbles suspended in the candy coating. Using a fork or spoon, roll the filling around until completely covered with the chocolate.

I can't seem to find my candy making supplies, so I used a fork to scoop out the candies. Then I tapped the fork against the edge of my bowl so that the excess chocolate fell away from the filling. A candy fork or candy dipping tool would certainly make this step easier and less messy. I ended up using 6 forks over the course of the dipping process because the chocolate coating kept clumping together in the closely placed tines of my forks. Again, you can purchase a candy dipping set at a candy making or cake decorating store OR you can purchase this set online and save yourself the trip and the search. Just click on this link:  Wilton Candy Dipping Set

Set the coated meltaways on waxed paper to dry. I made a design on the top of each candy by touching my fork to the top, then quickly lifting it away after placing the chocolates onto the paper.

It's hard to believe that these messy looking chocolates looked so very pretty once placed in candy papers and arranged in a gift box.

See?

Let's go in for a close-up:

Ahhh. Mint meltaway perfection!

If you're giving these away as a gift or taking them to a party, I strongly recommend dressing them up in candy papers. Again, I found mine at the candy making store. But I found these at Amazon.com too: Wilton Green/Red Mini Glassine Paper Candy Cups, Package of 72

Oh, and package them in gift boxes! It makes them seem so "fancy"! I used single layer, 1/2 lb. white candy boxes. If you're giving these as teacher gifts, your kiddos can decorate/embellish the boxes however they choose for a personalized touch. Decorating the boxes was a perfect "boredom busting" craft project on snowy afternoon  with the kiddos stuck inside!  I had fun decorating a few myself too. I used some shiny, elasticized string to bind the boxes before transferring them to our fridge. Here are some Christmas-y boxes that I found on Amazon.com: Wilton set of 3 1/2 Pound Candy Boxes, just in case you can't find them at a store close to you.

Now for the recipe, as found on Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker:

Homemade Frangos


1 1/3 cups powdered sugar

2 sticks butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cap mint extract

1 12 ounce package chocolate chips

Dipping Chocolate (like those discs Wilton sells...or better quality if you can find it)

In a mixer, beat the sugar and butter until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg, vanilla and mint and beat again. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or a double boiler and add to the sugar mixture. Spread in a buttered 8X8 pan and cool in the freezer for 30 minutes. While the fudge is cooling, melt the dipping chocolate according to package directions. Cut the fudge into 1X.5 inch rectangles and dip in the melted dipping chocolate. You must refrigerate these because of the raw egg.

*Notes: I suppose that the size of a capful of peppermint extract varies from brand to brand. The cap that I used probably measured around a teaspoon...maybe more. My recommendation: taste the mixture after the addition of the melted chocolate and THEN determine if you prefer to add more mint. You can always add more, but it's difficult to deal with a product that is too minty once the extract has been stirred in.


*  While this recipe was not complicated, making candy is messy and time consuming... just a head's up. : )


* In my opinion, these ARE worth the time. YUMMY!


Tomorrow's featured recipe:  TURTLES!  Please stay tuned....

14 of My Favorite Holiday Treats, Cookies, and Gift Ideas...

One of my family's Christmas traditions is to bake treats for our friends, neighbors, teachers, and just about anyone else who crosses our path on a regular basis. You know how you have certain traditions that just "make" the holiday for you? Well, for me, one of those "BIG" traditions is baking.  A Christmas season without baking cookies and other goodies would be like not putting up the tree...not singing Silent Night at the Christmas Eve candlelight service...not watching a single Charlie Brown, Grinch, or It's a Wonderful Life....

Yep, holiday baking is near and dear to my heart. From the time that my sisters and I were old enough to stand at the kitchen counter until we all married and started baking in our own kitchens, my mom and "us girls" would spend a couple of days before Christmas in our warm, cozy kitchen together, making the recipes and assembling giant trays of treats to deliver to friends and neighbors. I can still remember the usual line-up: Date Balls, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Buried-Cherry Cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Peanut Butter Balls, Crazy Candy Hash, Chex Mix and/or caramel corn, and something with Fruit Loops, mini marshmallows, and white chocolate coating (I can't remember what it was called now).  On top of these, we tried out new recipes each year too.

These days I bake with my daughters. Today kicks off our annual cookie baking effort. The gingerbread dough is chillin' in the refrigerator as I type this, just waiting to be rolled out and turned into cute little ginger-people.

I realized this morning that there are only 14 days until Christmas. Just in case you haven't started your holiday baking, or if you're still looking for that perfect treat to add to your Christmas cookie trays or teacher gift bags, here are 14 links to recipes from my collection of holiday favorites. One for every day! : )


1. Caramel Corn. I love this recipe. Put it in a tin or bag and tie with ribbon. Give me caramel corn over fruitcake any day!



Or....

2. Caramel Puff Corn.(For those who loves the taste of caramel corn, but despise the seeds. Also, better for your loved ones who find themselves in the throes of orthodontia) Puff corn is super easy...you can even make it in your microwave.



3. Oreo Truffles. I realize that I made these for Easter last year (hence the lavender sprinkles in the picture), but they're perfect for Christmas too.



And now a couple of recipes for those of you just dying to use your mini-muffin pan this holiday season:

4. Pecan Tarts



and....

5. Gingerbread Cookie Cups with Cream Cheese Frosting



Moving along to these beauties...

6.  Red Velvet Whoopie Pies



7. Cherry Almond Fudge. Love this fudge recipe!



8. Cranberry Orange Scones. A tin filled with these, an assortment of teas, and wrapped up with a pretty tea towel would make for a lovely gift.



9. Peppermint Stick Cocoa. This one was a HUGE hit last year. The perfect cocoa to warm up with after an afternoon of sledding!



Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite holiday BAR COOKIES....

10. Apricot Pecan Bars




11. Cranberry Blondies

12. Streudel Bars. These double as an excellent addition to Christmas morning breakfast.



And finally...the traditional cutout cookies:

13. Gingerbread Cookies


And...

14. White Velvet Cut-out Cookies



Happy Baking and Happy Holidays!

To share your favorite recipes and holiday baking traditions and see what other readers are baking up this month, click on the Facebook icon in my top left-hand sidebar and join the conversation!