candy Archives ⋆ Big Wanda Knows

December 16, 2017December 21, 2017BLOG, COOKS

Christmas Toffee

Toffee candy is so easy to make. The holidays are an awesome time to start baking and making sweet treats for your family and friends. Make a big batch, then place the pieces inside a parchment lined container. Add a festive colored bow and you have a delicious gift for lots of folks.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Steps

Heat sugar, butter and water to boiling in heavy 2-quart saucepan, stirring constantly; reduce heat to medium. Cook about 13 minutes, stirring constantly, to 300°F on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into cup of very cold water separates into hard, brittle threads. Watch carefully so mixture does not burn.

Immediately pour toffee onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Spread mixture to 1/4-inch thickness. Sprinkle with chocolate chips; let stand about 1 minute or until chips are completely softened. Spread softened chocolate evenly over toffee. Sprinkle with pecans.

Let stand at room temperature about 1 hour, or refrigerate if desired, until firm. Break into bite-size pieces. Store in airtight container.

December 11, 2017December 13, 2017CRAFTS, DOLLHOUSE

Dollhouse Printables

A nice collections of PDFs for your room box or dollhouse. Add a sea chest to nautical room or games to a child’s room. A candy case would be ideal for a candy shop. An old folk art box would look nice in a den. Click on each PDF to download.

November 25, 2017December 13, 2017BLOG, COOKS

Gingerbread House

Ingredients

Gingerbread Dough

1 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

1 cup molasses

1 egg

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

lots of assorted candies,mints, taffy, pretzels etc

Icing

2 cans of vanilla frosting

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Line jelly roll pan, 15 1/2×10 1/2×1 inch, with heavy-duty foil, leaving 1 inch of foil overhanging at each end of pan. In large bowl, mix sugar, shortening, molasses and egg with spoon. Stir in all remaining Gingerbread Dough ingredients. Divide dough in half. Press half of dough in pan.
Bake gingerbread about 15 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched in center. Cool 5 minutes; carefully lift foil and gingerbread from pan.
Cut gingerbread lengthwise in half, then crosswise 2 times to make 6 rectangles. Cut angles from 2 corners of each rectangle to form roof of house. (The corners make good nibbles.) Cool completely, about 1 hour. Repeat with remaining dough. Decorate houses with frosting and candies.