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Gorgeous Halloween Candy Dish (MUST have!)

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I love to decorate HEAVILY for each season and each holiday. It’s just a wonderful, colorful way to celebrate and embrace each moment we’re currently living in.

While Christmas is my Super Bowl, I have to say that Halloween is right behind it. As I’m typing these words, I already have the house and yard decorated with Halloween colors and characters. Am I early this year?

I am RIDICULOUSLY early this year! But, as I explained in the last post, I have two daughters who all but live for this time of year and three grandbabies (all boys under 4) who I live to entertain and amuse… so early it is!

I found this gorgeous Halloween Candy Dish (Amazon link) earlier, online, and I am completely in love. One of the Halloween things I collect are what I call “Happy ghosts,” that is to say ghosts that aren’t scary or looking for trouble. This one absolutely fits the bill and I love her pumpkin friend and candy corn.

You can find this beauty on Amazon – as well as a LOT of other Halloween decorations and dishes to make your world come alive with the season.


Nightmare on Elm Street Freddie Kruger Halloween Bowl Holder (YIKES!)

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This A Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Krueger Candy Bowl Holder (Amazon Link) are SO up my oldest daughter and oldest son-in-law’s haunted alley it isn’t even funny. They love Halloween as much as some people love oxygen and go ALL OUT each year – inside the house and outside the house, they leave no doubt as to what season it is.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of his favorite movies of all time (right up there with Top Gun), so I know this candy bowl holder would make his entire Halloween season.

If you embrace Halloween like they do, you might want to click through and take a closer look at this macabre little dude.

Product Description from Amazon:

  • Lightweight injection molded figure crafted from heavy duty foam, with hollow back designed to stand flush against a wall
  • Base is approximately 10-inch square, stands approximately 18-inches tall
  • Includes plastic bowl, 9.75” across and 3.5″ deep
  • Officially licensed figure adds personality to your home or office
  • Not just for candy, can be used to hold business cards, keys, coins, pens, party favors, and much more

For more information and a closer look (if you aren’t scared!) see A Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Krueger Candy Bowl Holder (Amazon Link).

“Candy Cookies” – No Bake Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies (With Gluten-Free Option)

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Candy Cookies or No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

Over the years, I have baked, sliced, cut, and molded every kind of cookie imaginable. Given that I am the human equivalent of Cookie Monster who also happens to love to bake – this is completely understandable.

Expected, even.

What isn’t understandable or expected, however, is the fact that one of my absolute favorite cookies is one of the simplest.

What’s more, it doesn’t even have to be baked. No need to turn the oven on for these guys!

Most people refer to this type of cookie as “No Bake Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies” or “Haystacks.” When my daughters were little, I would actually shape them into little haystacks because they got such a kick out of how they looked.

Today, however, I just drop them by a tablespoon onto parchment paper and allow them to spread. I have always referred to them as “Cookies that are Really Candy,” I recently began calling them Candy Cookies. I mean… that’s what they are after all.

Below is the easy as it gets recipe.

Notes:

  • For gluten-free cookies, use gluten-free oats. I use Quaker Gluten-Free 1 Minute Quick Oats… available online or in just about any store.
  • If you want “haystacks,” use a teaspoon when you drop onto the paper. As the mixture cools, shape the cookies into cute little haystacks.
  • For the “Candy Cookies” pictured here, use a tablespoon to drop the mixture onto the parchment paper.
  • Keeping the ingredients for these cookies on hand at all times is always the right thing to do – especially during the months leading up to Christmas. You never know when you’ll need to whip up a batch of something delicious to give as a “Well.. of course I got you something too!” gift. Been there, cooked that.

I preach a lot about parchment paper and it’s many, many, many, many wonders but, when it comes to candy and cookies, it is all but downright necessary. I give a lot of my candy and cookies to family members and having parchment paper on hand to put between layers makes my life easier and everything neater for those who dive right in.

Seriously, once you start using parchment paper regularly, you’ll wonder how in the world you ever got along without it.

Easy Christmas Cookies

Sally’s Candy Addiction (Review)

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Sally's Candy Addiction Cookbook

Sally’s Candy Addiction and Peanut Butter Buckeyes (Page 53)

I’ve made myself a Chai Tea Latte and am sitting down to do my best to give Sally’s Candy Addiction the review it deserves. The more I like a cookbook, the harder it is to do a review. I get so excited that my adjectives tend to run around and bump into each other. I’m hoping the Chai Tea Latte will give them some direction.

When I was sent a copy of Sally’s Candy Addiction to review, I didn’t just walk back in the house with book in hand, I flew.  My outside cats never knew I could move so fast. The inside cat knows – after all, she witnesses it each time a chocolate craving hits me.

I have always been a huge candy lover – eating it AND making it. I’m one of those who makes candy year-round. I just don’t understand those people who only make candy at Christmas.

What’s up with that anyway?

I almost always have some sort of fudge or other candy made up for my family to enjoy – a fact that has always set well with my husband, daughters, and sons-in-law and their many sweet teeth. Candy make their days sweeter which, in turn, makes my life sweeter.

Whether you’re a candy addict like me and the lovely author, Sally McKenney, or tend to make candy only a couple of times of year – Sally’s Candy Addiction simply has to be the next cookbook you buy. Actually, it should be the next anything you buy.

I think a lot of people would make candy more often if they realized that it isn’t as tough as they think. When most people think of candy making, they picture temperamental candy thermometers, hard to make fudge, and diva-like divinity.

Okay, okay, I’ll admit it. Divinity can be a real diva, but fudge isn’t remotely hard to get along with and today’s thermometers couldn’t be more agreeable. Many candy cookbooks in the past would lead you to believe that candy making takes endless time, ingredients, and patience.  In her gorgeous, colorful, and endlessly FUN cookbook, Sally McKenney proves that candy making isn’t difficult and it doesn’t require endless time, ingredients, or patience.

One of my favorite recipes from the book (Chocolate Crunch Candy Bars, page 59) only has two ingredients. Two!

In addition to tons of delicious, easy to follow recipes, Sally’s Candy Addiction has an opening section that serves as sort of a Candy Making 101 – whether you’re new to candy making or a sticky-handed pro, you’ll absolutely love this section. You’ll refer to it often as you enjoy the delectable world of candy making.

Some of the topics covered in this section include:

  • kitchen essentials for making candy
  • why you needn’t fear the candy thermometer
  • the difference between chocolate tempering and melting
  • candy cooking stages
  • candy-making basics
  • key ingredients, with Sally’s expert advice on each

Chapters in Sally’s Candy Addiction:

  1. Can’t Beat a Classic
  2. The Chocolate-Covered Chapter
  3. Endless Truffles
  4. Caramel, Toffee, and Brittle
  5. Nuts and Sweet Treats
  6. Oh-So Fabulous Fudge
  7. Just Add Candy

Recipes in Sally’s Candy Addiction Include:

  • Marshmallows
  • Southern-Style Pecan Pralines
  • Easy Vanilla Buttercreams
  • Candy Apples
  • Vanilla Cake Pops
  • Strawberry Buttercreams
  • Chocolate Coconut Candy Bars
  • Strawberry Pretzel Bark
  • Simply Chocolate Truffles
  • Caramel for Dipping
  • Chewy Cream Caramels
  • Easy Pretzel Toffee
  • Salted Honey Cashew Brittle
  • Peanut Brittle
  • Sweet Heat Caramel Corn
  • Pretzel M&M’s Puppy Chow
  • Popcorn Balls
  • Rocky Road Fudge
  • Peanut Butter Fudge
  • Fluffernutter Swirl Fudge
  • Shortcut Chocolate Fudge
  • Birthday Cake Fudge
  • Cookies ‘N’ Cream Fudge
  • The Great Milky Way Cake
  • Snickers Cheesecake
  • Crazy Candy Deep-Dish Cookie Cake
  • And many, many more…

In a candy-coated nutshell, Sally’s Candy Addiction Cookbook is the only candy cookbook you’ll ever need.  Throw out any candy cookbooks you have that make candy making sound as complicated as calculus or as fun as a tooth extraction and replace them all with Sally’s Candy Addiction.

Order your own copy today and (like me!) you can begin testing out candy recipes for Christmas baking and gift-giving. My family loves when that sort of thing goes on.

Not only are there countless candies that’ll be ideal for delicious gift-giving, you might also consider grabbing one or two copies of the book for gift giving as well – paired along with a great candy thermometer, it’d be the sweetest gift imaginable.

The way I figure it, anyone I give a copy of this book to will make some candy that they’d feel compelled to share with me.

Always thinking. Always.

About the Author

Sally McKenney is a food blogger with an enormous sweet tooth. Or should we say… a mouth of sweet teeth! She worked in finance for four years before dedicating herself full time to the millions of fans that follow her increasingly popular website and now books,Sally’s Baking Addiction and Sally’s Candy Addiction. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband, Kevin, and their rescue German Shepard/Rottweiler mix, Jude. Sally is a food blogger for People.com. When Sally isn’t on the computer, practicing yoga, or spending time with family and friends, you can find her baking in the kitchen or behind the camera.

Sally’s favorite dessert is apple pie, and her perfect weekend would always involve baking something yummy and hiking with Kevin and Jude.

See Sally’s Candy Addiction for more information.

 

300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes (Review)

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300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes

The Definitive Collection of Candy Recipes!

I was recently sent a great candy cookbook to review, FILLED with some of the best recipes of all time. I was actually planning to save my review of 300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes: Brittles, Caramels, Chocolate, Fudge, Truffles and So Much More (Amazon link) for September because I wanted to tell you all about it right before Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas baking.

Then, this morning, it hit me – what if you’d like to try out some of these recipes over the summer before making candy for your family and gifts.

Besides, is it ever the wrong time to make candy?

I’ve read a lot of candy cookbooks in my time (I even own a couple of great ones), but I’ve never seen a collection of candy recipes quite like this one.  Not only does this cookbook contain every type of candy you can imagine, it has a lot you could never even begin to mentally conjure up!

One of my favorite things about 300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes is the fact that each recipe has ingredients you can easily find – no matter where you live, you won’t find yourself asking, “Will my store even have that… and, if not, what am I going to use for a substitute???”

The recipes are also highly do-able, for any level of cook – newbies and veterans, alike.  The step-by-step instructions are crystal clear and the author includes countless tips and advice that can only come with experience.

Even though I’m a chocoholic and am more fudge and divinity obsessed than anyone has a right to be, the first recipe I actually looked for when the cookbook came in the mail was for a childhood candy I remember my mom making – “Potato Candy.”   It’s hard to find the recipe and on the few occasions I have come across Potato Candy recipes, they’re never “quite” like I remember.

I’m THRILLED to say that I found exactly what I was looking for on page 104 –  the Potato Candy recipe I remember and I’m beside myself with happiness!.  It’s called “Potato Pinwheels” and has the exact ingredients I remember using when I made this candy with my mom – a cooked potato, vanilla, confectioner’s sugar, peanut butter, and pecans (or walnuts or peanuts).

300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes

Tuxedo Fudge (left) and Chocolate-Cherry Creams and Elegant Sparkling Strawberries (right)

 

Some of the 300 Candy Recipes Include:

  • Elegant Sparkling Strawberries (Gorgeous for Christmas!)
  • Buckeyes
  • Golf Balls
  • Potato Fudge
  • Classic Pecan Roll
  • Caramel Pecan Roll
  • White Taffy (and other taffy recipes)
  • Glass Candy
  • New Orleans Roasted Pecan Pralines
  • Mom’s Divinity
  • Cherry-Nut Nougat
  • Peppermint Taffy (also a must for Christmas)
  • Brown Sugar Taffy
  • Chocolate Fudge Recipes
  • Five-Minute Fudge
  • Christmas Fudge
  • Candied Citrus Peel
  • Peanut Butter Fudge Recipes
  • Creamy White Fudge
  • Pumpkin Fudge (A Halloween tradition)
  • Creamy Orange Fudge
  • Coconut Fudge
  • A lot of other fudge recipes!
  • Martha Washingtons
  • Coconut Bonbons
  • Kentucky Bourbon Balls
  • Spiced Pecans
  • County Fair Nuts
  • Toffee
  • Lollipops (again, great fun for Halloween)
  • Old Fashioned Popcorn Balls
  • Microwave Caramel Popcorn
  • Carnival Candied Apples
  • Old-Fashioned Caramel Apples
  • Simple Barks (White Chocolate, Chocolate-Nut, Cherry Almond…)
  • Chocolate Coconut Drops
  • Chocolate Marshmallow Turtles
  • Triple Delight Pecan Patties
  • Chocolate Peanut Clusters
  • Rocky Road
  • Heavenly Hash
  • Caramel-Nut Marshmallows

And the list goes on and on and on and on.

300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes

Marry Me Toffee (left) and Lollipops (Right)

Book Description:

The step-by-step candy bible for home candy-makers.

With hundreds of recipes for mouthwatering candies, chocolates, pralines, crèmes, fudges, toffee, holiday treats and no-bake cookies, this candy cookbook covers the traditional to the exotic.

Complete with easy-to-follow instructions and 75 step-by-step photos, this is a treasure trove of information and inspiring recipes. Although many are intimidated at the thought of making candies at home, Jane Sharrock shows how to master a few basic principles that every candy maker should know. She makes it easy to produce delicious goodies in the home kitchen.

See  300 Best Homemade Candy Recipes for more information. This is definitely a cookbook you’ll want to have in your candy-making hands long before Halloween and Christmas. This is going to be our most delicious holiday season ever.

 

Holiday Baking with Oh! Nuts: The Best Walnut Chocolate Fudge Recipe

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Walnut Chocolate Fudge

Walnut Fudge

When I love a product, I am possibly the most loyal consumer in the world.  I use it so frequently it becomes second nature. Oh! Nuts is my GO TO source for nuts. Period.   People who aren’t as nuts for nuts as I am may say, “A nut’s a nut,” but I beg to differ. I love everything about Oh! Nuts – from the website to the packaging.  The entire experience of shopping, ordering, and receiving is a joy and no one will ever convince me that the nuts don’t taste and even LOOK better than all other nuts.

They recently sent me a few bags of nuts to use in holiday recipes and, even though it’s just the middle of November, I’ve already taken a few “test drives.” The recipe below is for my favorite Walnut Chocolate Fudge – made with Oh! Nuts sensational walnuts.

Best Walnut Chocolate Fudge

Yield: 45 pieces of the best fudge you ever ate

2 cups sugar
3/4 Cups milk
2 squares (2 oz) unsweetened chocolate (cut up)
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 – 3/4 cups Oh! Nuts walnuts, chopped (or, if you’re extra clever, buy their Chopped Walnuts and save yourself a little trouble)

  1. Lin a 9x5x3 inch pan with foil (or buy a disposable tin pan). Extend the foil over the edges and butter the bottom and sides.
  2. Butter the sides of a heavy 2 Qt saucepan.  Combine the sugar, milk, chocolate, and corn syrup in the buttered saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat to boiling. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, being careful not to splash any on the sides of the pan. After about 5 minutes, the sugar should be dissolved – this is when you want to clip on your Candy Thermometer on the inside of the pan. Make sure the bulb on the end is fully immersed in the chocolate mixture, but don’t let it touch the bottom of the pan.
  3. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the candy thermometer registers 234 degrees (the “soft ball stage”). You want the mixture to boil at a moderate but steady rate across the top.  Reaching the “soft ball stage” usually takes between 20 and 25 minutes.
  4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the 2 tablespoons of butter and vanilla extract. DO NOT STIR.  Cool – without stirring – to 110 degrees on your candy thermometer. This usually takes just under an hour, between 50 and 55 minutes.
  5. Remove the candy thermometer from the pan. Beat the mixture vigorously with the wooden spoon until the fudge begins to thicken. Now add the walnuts. Continue beating with your wooden spoon until the fudge becomes very thick and begins to lose its shiny gloss (about 7 minutes total).
  6. Quickly pour (more like plop) the fudge into your buttered pan and, while the fudge is still warm, score it into 1 inch squares. When candy is firm, use the foil to lift it out of the pan and cut into squares.
  7. Store tightly covered.