Candy Dish Blog

You probably thought it would never come, but here it is – English Toffee Day. For people like Tori and me, this is like and extension of Christmas, except that we celebrate the goodness of one of our favorite candies. What makes English toffee different from regular toffee, you may ask? This isn’t an arbitrary assignment of country names to make foods seem more exotic, like we see with Belgian waffles, Dutch apple pie, American cheese, French fries or German potato salad. As I understand it, the English really do eat this and might even call it by the same name, although I doubt it.

According to Wikipedia, “A popular variant [on toffee] in the US is English toffee, which is a very buttery toffee often made with almonds.” Okay, so the English probably do not call it that after all, but I will wait to hear it from a proper Englishman.

Probably the most famous commercially produced English toffee is the Heath Bar but you can find others as well, many of them probably referred to as almond toffee. However, you can also make this treat at home if you are daring enough. Me, I do not like to make candy at home because of the high temperatures. I tend to burn myself while making things like spaghetti sauce, so working with molten butter that gets to 300 degrees is a little nerve-wracking for me.

If you are ambitious and less of a crybaby than I am, Cooking for Engineers has a good recipe for it. Here are their ingredients:

• 6 oz. (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• about 1/2 cup (60 g) chopped almonds
• 1 (5 mL) teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Go check out the recipe on their site for the method they use. Something nice about Cooking for Engineers is that they break down the recipes into easy-to-follow instructions and have both English and Metric units, both of which are appropriate when making something called English toffee.

English Toffee by jessicafm.

Yes, you heard it right.  Today is the day we set aside once a year to celebrate the goodness of cotton candy, which my lovely wife and her Canadian compatriots refer to as candy floss. I guess it’s like a lot of other stuff that has different names in different parts of the world.

Here’s some information about candy corn cotton candy and how it’s made from the Candy USA site:

History of Cotton Candy
It is unclear who was the first person to invent cotton candy. Four people – Thomas Patton, Josef Delarose Lascaux, John C. Wharton, and William Morrison – have all been named as the inventors of the candy.

Wharton and Morrison received a patent for the cotton candy machine in 1899. They created the first electric cotton candy machine to melt and spin sugar through tiny holes using centrifugal force. After the two candy makers from Tennessee received the patent they took the invention to the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.

Patton received a separate patent in 1900 for his process of making cotton candy. He was experimenting with caramelizing sugar and forming threads using a fork. Patton used a gas-fired rotating plate to spin the cotton candy threads. He introduced the candy at Ringling Bros. Circus and it became popular with children.

Around the same time, a Louisiana dentist, Lascaux, introduced cotton candy at his dental practice though he never received a patent or trademark for the confection.

The early machines proved to be unreliable at times. Some simply broke and others would make loud rattling sounds. In 1949, Gold Medal Products introduced a more reliable model with a spring base. This helped to revolutionize cotton candy making.

Today, cotton candy is a great treat to enjoy at a circus, amusement park or fair. Even though its beginning can be debated, it has become a favorite summertime candy.

How is Cotton Candy Made?
Cotton candy is very simple to make. First sugar is melted into a liquid state and then spun it in the cotton candy machine. The machine forces the liquid through tiny holes that shape and cool the liquid sugar. After it cools, the sugar becomes a solid again. The center of the machine is filled with thousands of tiny threads that are collected and served on a stick.

Cotton Candy by CC Chapman.

This is a picture Carl took of the remaining peppermint bark. It didn't last long in the kitchen. Thanks, Karen!

I came to work today fully prepared to remind you all how easy it is to make peppermint bark, and how your friends will devour it and love you for making it.

And then something happened.  I tried my co-worker Karen’s peppermint bark and it changed my world.  Well, it changed my view of peppermint bark anyway.

She made the top part of the peppermint bark just as we have described in the link above, but she added the most amazing chocolate cookie base.  I asked her if we could publish the recipe on the blog and she laughed.  “There’s really not a recipe,” Karen said.

So, here’s my interpretation of how she made it.

Crush up some chocolate cookies or chocolate graham crackers in the food processor (Karen used Oreos).  Add some sugar.  Mix in enough melted butter to make a crumble that will hold together.  Put the mixture on a parchment- or wax paper-lined cookie sheet and press it down very hard.  It’s basically like making a graham cracker crust.  Once your mixture is pressed into place, pour the bark mixture onto the base and spread evenly.   Sprinkle some additional crushed cookies on top. Allow to cool.  Break into many pieces and place into your confectionery gift wrapping of choice (small tins, glassine pouches, etc.).

It is amazing.  Trust me.

Do you have an unusual recipe for candy bark?  Tomorrow I will share one I found in Real Simple magazine this month that features chocolate and nuts instead of peppermint candy.

Peppermint Bark by Carl Weaver

And a good day to you for asking! I am about to go celebrate right now with my afternoon tea and a square of chocolate from the candy room. I am almost excited enough to wear my Halloween costume a bit early but I didn’t bring it to work today.

How are you celebrating National Chocolate Day?

You may think from this week’s theme that we have a candy corn fixation. You are right. As Susan pointed out yesterday, it’s one of the few candies that is available for only a short time, and that preserves its magic and keeps the spark and love alive. However, we are not the only fans of the treat. Many thanks to Yum Sugar for posting a recipe that’s sure to delight Halloween partygoers everywhere. Well, adult partygoers, anyway. Candy corn cordials? Yes, sign me up!

Ingredients
For the infused vodka:
1/2 cup candy corn
1 1/2 cups vodka
For the cordials:
2 ounces orange liqueur
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large egg white
Candy corn, for garnish

I don’t want to steal the thunder away from the original author, so you will have to go read the rest of the recipe on the original site. But anytime you have candy corn infused vodka, you can’t go wrong. This is the stuff of epic-sized parties.

Our wonderful office coordinator Kristin, maker of the Dirt Dessert, had a great idea of sending out a daily email saying what’s going on in the office and decided to include some fun trivia as part of it. It turns out that we have an overlapping set of celebrations today. It is both chocolate chip day and Coast Guard Day. How do we choose? What are we to do?

Fortunately, I have it on good authority that Coast Guard folks love chocolate too. My friend Bob, a former Guardsman, is always bugging me to bring him chocolate when I see him. Roger, also a former Guardsman, has never harassed me about bringing him chocolate but was excited as a left-footed mule when I gave him some a few months ago. I am not saying there is any causality here or that love of chocolate is one of the requirements to join but there is an awfully suspicious correlation at work.

Here’s where I am going with all this. Let’s celebrate these two days together. Give them some chocolate chip cookies or Oreo Fudge Bars and find some Guardsman to give them to. It will brighten their day for sure and give you a rosy feeling inside, knowing you did a random act of kindness. Seriously – I challenge you to do this. The Coast Guard does great work that often goes unnoticed and I know they would love a thank you and a little bit of sweetness in their day.

So the big question – what kind of chocolate chip product are you making/buying for them?

As Susan said earlier, today is Gummi Worm Day and to celebrate, our wonderful and talented operations coordinator, Kristin (see her behind the desk?), made a dirt dessert for us. I know Ma Weaver would have insisted that I only eat such a thing after first partaking of my noontime repast but I figured that waiting that long might mean I would miss out. Thank goodness I brought my laptop today and thus could make the kitchen my office for the day, standing guard over this delicious treat.

Kristin was also good enough to share her recipe. When she came on board with NCA nobody knew we were getting yet another culinary deity but we sure won’t complain. Thanks, Kristin, for helping us celebrate this very important holiday, and thanks for making the office a sweeter place!

Ingredients:

• 2 (8 oz.) cream cheese
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 (3 oz.) instant vanilla pudding
• 3 c. milk
• 1 (16 oz.) Cool Whip (thawed)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 lg. pkg. Oreo cookies
• Gummy worms

Preparation:

• Cream sugar and cream cheese. Beat milk, pudding and vanilla until thick, and then add to cream cheese mixture. Fold in Cool Whip. Grind Oreo cookies in blender or food processor.
• Layer Oreo mixture and creamy mixture, hiding gummy worms in flower pot (or bucket), ending with cookie mixture and gummy worms on top. Chill overnight in refrigerator or until ready to serve.
• Enjoy!