Candy Corn Fudge

So, if you have small children and you allow them to watch even a small amount of television, you are probably familiar with Moose A. Moose and Zee from Nick Jr. (formerly Noggin).

*photo courtesy of Nick Jr.

If that is the case, then you most likely are familiar with the seasonal song now infiltrating every toddler home in America known as “I Don’t Like Candy Corn” That would be Moose singing the song, who does not like candy corn. If for some reason you have not had the pleasure of hearing this psychotically annoying song, let me share. You can view it here.  The song plays no less than 100 times per day during the month of October.  After every showing, my children  say “Mama, why does Moose not like candy corn.? I like candy corn. Moose is strange.”  I couldn’t agree more my little Runwild Princesses. So, in the light of the Trick or Treating season, (and just to tick Moose off), we’re gonna make him some Candy Corn Fudge today.

This is a great way to use up some of your leftover candy corn, if for some reason you have found yourself in an overabundance of candy corn.  It’s a really cute and colorful way to make a simple treat for Halloween.  Of course, it wouldn’t be quite the same without the extra half pound of sprinkles on top.
Enjoy!

Candy Corn Fudge
adapted from here
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 20 ounces candy corn ( about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 cups roasted peanuts
• halloween candy sprinkles (optional) or extra candy corn (optional)

Directions

1. Butter a 9x9 brownie pan (I use a silicone pan but still butter it) and set it aside.
2. In a deep skillet over low heat, melt butter and marshmallows, stirring constantly, until marshmallows melt.
3. Add peanut butter and stir until mixed in and melted. Then add powdered sugar, stirring until smooth. Don't add candy and nuts until these are mixed and smooth.
4. Fold in candy corn and peanuts, stirring until nicely mixed. Some of the candy may start to melt, and that's fine. The candy corn really don't need to melt so don't worry about that.
5. Pour mixture into the buttered brownie pan, and using a buttered pancake turner, flatten mixture completely.
6. If you like, sprinkle with extra candy corn or Halloween "cupcake sprinkles", pressing them down with a sheet of waxed paper to keep your hands clean. Be careful not to burn yourself!
7. Allow mixture to cool, then cut into small square

Nutter Butter Ghosts & A Free Halloween Printable Bag Topper

 The first time I ever saw these cute little Halloween treats, was in my HomeEc class in high school. My teacher seemed to always have the cutest ideas. I didn’t really care for her during the portion of the year that we focused on sewing, but that had less to do with her and more to do with my lack of ability. For some reason, I don’t like doing things I’m not good at. Imagine that!
Anyways, my sweet HomeEc teacher taught me how to make these cute little Nutter Butter Ghosts. They are incredibly simple. As long as your candy coating is not too hot, your kids will love making these.

Probably not a treat I would share with a group when I let my girls help, since you can only imagine the finger-licking temptation that leads to bacterial contamination of the dipping chocolate.  It starts out fine. The two little angels dip their little ghosts so neat and tidy. But soon enough one of them, usually the little one, “accidentally” lets her fingertips dip into the candy coating. Well, its all down hill from there. And, you know you can’t get them to wash their hands before repeating the “accidental dipping.” No, the entire bowl of candy coating is already contaminated with little Runwild Princess germies. I think they worked together as a team to accomplish this, knowing well upfront that the goal would be to take control of the white candy coating. Goal accomplished Runwilder Princesses, goal accomplished......

Now, back to the cookies. So, super simple. You only need 3 ingredients.  These would also be soooo very cute bagged up and given as treats for your Trick or Treaters. Here are some I bagged, I created these cute little bag toppers on Photoshop.

And just because I love my Sinful Southern Sweets readers, you can download them yourself here. This is a freebie printable for y'all. After you print them on heavy cardstock, cut them out and fold them in half. Then attach to your cellophane bag with a stapler.
Enjoy!!

















Nutter Butter Ghosts

Nutter Butter Cookies
White Almond Bark
Mini chocolate chips

Melt almond bark according to pkg directions, until smooth. Dip Nutter Butter in almond bark. Place on wax paper or silpat. While candy is still wet, place the mini chocolate chips on the ghost for the eyes. Let dry until almond bark is completely set.

Ghost Pops

I’m bored.... I’m sick...... And I’m spotted......
That’s right…. I have waited some 30+/- years to get the chicken pox. THE CHICKEN POX! The lovely doctor. that examined me said that medically, I had made his week. He had not seen a case of chicken pox in over 10 years. Well, what do you say to that. The oh-so-sweet Southern Belle in me wanted to say “Oh, so very glad to be of help.”  The tiny bit of redneck-girl that stays hidden behind that Southern Belle’s debutante gown wanted to hurt the man….and say things that a nice southern girl should not say.  I just glared at the man. As my mother says, everything does not deserve a response.

Anyways, I’m getting behind on all my Halloween treats I want to make, because no one wants to consume food  made by someone that looks like they have leprosy.  So,  today I’m going to show you more of a craft than a recipe. I remember these from when I was a kid. I loved them then and I still love them. They are cute and so simple to make. You probably already have the few things needed to make them. Your kids will love helping with these. And all your little trick or treaters will adore them!

So lets get started.

You will need :
Tissues
Lollipops (I used Dum Dums, but Tootsie Roll suckers work the best)
Markers, Ribbon, wiggly eyes, etc…

I stand my lollipops up in a  bit of florists foam. Its not necessary, but it helps. Cover your lollipops with a
Single tissue. Then tie a bit of ribbon around the sucker (where the candy meets the stick).

  Really, you should probably use orange or black ribbon. That’s a bit more festive. But if you have chicken pox and are stuck at home, you can use any darn color you want.  If you want them to look like they stepped off the set of Rainbow Brite, well, you go right ahead.
 Then, decorate the ghosts face. You can use a marker and just draw his/her face.

Or you can use cute little googly, wiggly eyes. They’re pretty cute.

And, if you have the chicken pox…by all means, you can use a red marker and make your little ghost have dots just like you.

Hehe!
Really you could decorate these any number of ways. The sky’s the limit. Think of how cute they’d be with a little yarn for hair. Have fun making these. I’m going to go recover and be thinking of all the cute Halloween treats I’m going to blog about next week!
Enjoy!

Owl Cupcakes

Hhooo-Hhoo’s ready for fall…..
Ok. I know. That was about as corny a lead-in to a post as possible, but I simply couldn’t help myself. I mean look at these cute guys. 

I adore fall. When it does finally arrive here in the South, it is welcomed with open arms. Southerners know how to appreciate the first relief from soaring temperatures. The cooler temps and slight breezes  are a near perfect combination. It’s all we can do to stay inside to get our necessary indoor-work accomplished.   It also seems that everyone is ready to start bring out their fall decorations the moment the first chill is in the air.  Lots of pumpkins and scarecrows flanked by beautiful pots of mums.  This year it seems that owls are also making a huge appearance in the fall scene. I’ve been seeing them every time I turn around in the stores and online. 

When I found these cute cupcakes in Hello Cupcake! ,  I knew I had to give them a try. Amazingly, they are very simple. Your kids or grandkids would love helping with these, unless you’re making them at night and you fear the mega sugar overload that could occur from the helpers consuming the decorations. That’s what went down at my house. Since Little Runwilder has decided that she loves to bake, I almost feel like I'm hiding in the kitchen doing something of an illegal nature when/if she catches me. She will march into the kitchen with her most demanding voice and say “I must bake it!”
God, I love that little kid. I must say I can relate…I feel the same way sometimes.

I will offer one word of advice.  I do not recommend you use the el cheapo version of Oreos (aka off brand). I did. And they do not twist the white icing off on both sides. The white stays on one side and you end up having to use 2 cookies to get eyes for one owl.  And, to make matter worse, you have little bits of the cookie on the white (that makes for dirty owl eyeballs :(  so you must use a knife to scrape that away so that you’ll have perfectly white owl eyes. Seriously, just spend a buck more and get the real Oreos.  I will say despite my use of off-brand Oreos and the extra work on my part, my little taste-testers did not seem to have any complaints. See for yourself...

Little Princess Runwilder, aka "Miss I Must Bake it!"

"Yikes, my mommy needs to dress me in disposable clothes"

Princess Runwild, thank goodness one of you knows how to properly consume a cupcake with little/no waste.

Enjoy!

Owl Cupcakes
adapted from Hello Cupcake!


12 chocolate cupcakes
1 can chocolate frosting
24 Oreos
Medium bag of M&M’s

1. Separate the Oreos. You might want to microwave them for a few seconds first. Use a knife to remove any crumbs from the cream filling.
2. Using a serrated knife, make 2 parallel cuts 1/2 inch in from the edge on each plain cookie half. The two outside edges will be used for the ears.
3. Spoon 1 cup of chocolate frosting into a Ziploc bag, press out any excess air and set aside. Spread the remaining frosting on the cupcakes.
4. Using a little frosting, attach 2 of the large ear pieces, rounded sides in and about 1 1/2 inches apart, on top of each of the cupcakes. Angle the ears slightly away from each other, and allow them to extend about 3/4 inch beyond the edge of the cupcake.
5. Place two cream-sided cookie halves, cream side up, on the upper half of each cupcake to make the eyes.
6. Snip an 1/8-inch corner from the bag with the chocolate frosting. Pipe lines of frosting along the length of the cookie ears to cover. Starting with the edge at the top of the cupcake, pipe the feathers with the frosting using a squeeze-and-pull motion. Work inward from the edge in slightly overlapping rows until the section above the eyes is covered. Pipe a few feathers on the edge just below each eye.
7. Press a yellow M&M in the middle of each cupcake to make the beak. Use a dot of frosting on the cream of each cookie to attach a brown M&M to the eyes of the cupcakes.

Football Cookies-September '10 Daring Bakers Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

In all honesty, decorated cookies are not really my forte. I love them. I love to look at them. No doubt, I love to eat them. But, I do not love to make them. For me, they are a bit time consuming. Besides that, my hands just do do not acquire the patience or the precision required to make these delicate works of art.

So, when I saw this month's Daring Baker's Challenge, I can't say I was terribly jazzed about the thoughts of the drippy icing, the piping, the flooding, the drying with little Runwilder fingers trying to touch them every few minutes....I'll be honest, I started to bow out for this month. But, after mulling it over, I decided just to go with a simple design so that I would not lose all patience and sling them to the backyard for the squirrels. And, what better (and simple) design  to make since September has ushered in football season. Here in the South football is serious business.  Mr. Sweets believes it is morally imperative that one only cheer for one team. And its a viscous (and sometimes a bit tacky) few months among the rival team fans.  I just try to be quite and stay out of trouble as much as possible, so I made my football cookies "team neutral"
The appearance was just so-so for me. They are what they are, but there was nothing terribly intricate about their general detail to begin with. The sugar cookie recipe provided by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?! was really incredible. I would have loved to have this cookie with no icing at all. Now, my little Runwilder Princesses declared these cookies to be the best cookies ever. Though... now that I think about it, I think they say that every time I make cookies. The icing is S-U-P-E-R sweet and chocolaty(probably why they love them so much).  Not that that's a problem, but its always good to know something like that, especially if your don't like to indulge in a little sugar shock every afternoon ;)


Enjoy!

Decorated Sugar Cookies
Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies
200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Directions
• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during
baking, losing their shape.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid
flour flying everywhere.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an
hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and
then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in
some cookies being baked before others are done.
• Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
• Leave to cool on cooling racks.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated
cookies can last up to a month.

Quick Pour Chocolate Fondant :
From All Recipes

Ingredients

• 6 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 5 fluid ounces water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:
In a saucepan, combine confectioners' sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches a temperature of 92 degrees F (33 degrees C.) Remove from heat and stir in chopped chocolate and almond extract until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

CSN Giveaway Winner!!

I  have really enjoyed reading through all the comments detailing your CSN wish list and your suggestions for my upcoming baking adventures. Thanks for all the great ideas!!


Now, I know you're waiting patiently so I will get to the winner
My CSN Giveaway winner was:

Donna


Congratulations Donna!!
I have sent you an email and forwarded your info on to CSN.
Have fun browsing the CSN site for your prize!!!


Thanks to everyone for entering. I'll be back tomorrow with my Daring Baker's Challenge for the month.
Have a great Sunday!

Bad Day Brownies

Has it been a bad day, or week? Or perhaps a bad month? Sometimes life just seems to deal us that hand. Poor Mr. Sweets was having several bad weeks not long ago. He had 3 vehicles break down on him, ran over a fire pit cover, our bedroom ceiling fell in (this was a very long story, and I don’t want to say “I told you so”, but this one could have ended differently :).Wow the streak of bad luck just went on and on and on.  You know it really is true that men and women are wired differently. Mr. Sweets got frustrated about his luck. But, if this had been me that all this was directly happening to, well lets just say I would have easily put on about 20 pounds over those few weeks.

This……

This is the kind of thing I make when I’m having a bad day.


What is it you ask?? It is a Caramello Blondie topped with Cookies and Cream Fudge. No….not fudge icing, its an actual layer of fudge.….on top of a blondie filled with Caramello bars.  That’s right. We'll just call them Bad Day Brownies.

Oh, and please note. I do not share when its been a bad day. Hence the reason, those of you that know me are thinking “I’ve never seen those brownies before…”

No, you haven’t…..

But I will share the recipe. Its sure to be the perfect solution to a bad day/week/month.
I don’t even have to tell you that they're worth the effort….
Enjoy!

Bad Day Brownies

Blonde Brownies:

Ingredients

• 2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup butter
•  2 cup packed brown sugar
•  2 eggs
•  2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 Caramello bars (king size)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Measure sifted flour. Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift again.  Mix well and set aside.
3. Melt butter. Add  firmly packed brown sugar and mix well.
4. Add eggs (beaten) and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well.
5. Spread half of mixture in 9 x 13 inch pan. Break Caramello bars into scored pieces. Evenly space candy over blondie mixture. Cover with remaining batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes. 

 Cookies & Cream Fudge 

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 12-oz.  package White  chocolate chips
1 7-oz. jar marshmallow creme
1 cup crushed Oreo cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Oreo cookies (for topping, broken but not finely crushed)

Traditional method:
Combine sugar, margarine and milk in heavy 2-1/2 quart saucepan; bring to full rolling bail, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring. Remove from heat, stir in white chocolate till melted. Add marshmallow creme and vanilla beat till blended. Gently stir in crushed cookies. If not pouring on brownies, pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Let cool and cut into 1-inch squares. 

To assemble:

Make blonde brownies as directed. Let cool. Prepare fudge. Pour over cooled brownies. Let cool until fudge is set. May need to refrigerate for quicker set up. Slice into squares and serve.

Petit Fours & Pie..Oh My!! And a CSN Giveaway!!!

Ok, so now that I have your attention :)

Not too long ago, I was asked to do a product review for CSN stores. I’ve said it before, CSN is a fabulous online source for most anything. Can you believe they've got everything from dining room tables to toys. I’ve done a few giveaways and reviews for them,  but I seriously shop at CSN stores even when I’m not in blogging mode. I really like the selection, the prices, and how quick they are to ship their products out. I’ve not had a single issue with any of my transactions. Ok, ok, I’ll stop bragging on CSN now. On to the review, recipe and GIVEAWAY!

I chose to review the Pink Emile Henry Pie Plate

And the

NordicWare Tea Cake/Candy Molds

So, with my review products, I made 2 recipes. The first, with the pink Emile Henry Pie Plate, I made a classic Apple Pie. 

This apple pie brought back a major rush of memories due to its flavor. One of my very favorite great-aunts made fried apple pies often when I was a child. The filling on those fried pies was so extraordinarily sweet and cinnamony. This filling is very much the same. Plus, who doesn’t like apple pie!?!
(Ok, if you don’t that’s ok, please don’t flood my inbox with emails stating that its ok to dislike apple pie. It was rhetorical:) On the pie plate itself, I seriously love it! I love its color, pretty pink on the outside white on the inside.  Its stoneware, but its finished with a lovely shiny glaze making it naturally non-stick. So, you get the great even cooking of the stoneware, but not all the sticking issues that is sometimes associated with stoneware. Best of all, the pink pie plate is part of the Bake for the Cure campaign which supports The Susan G. Koman for the Cure, formerly known as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Emily Henre donates 10% of the sales of the Bake for the Cure products to Susan G. Comen for the Cure. Great products for a great cause.


Next, I tried the Nordicware Pan to try out a few different options. I loved the idea of making petit fours.

Which, thinking back, I’m not really sure why. I really despise making petit fours. I don’t know…it just seems like a lot of work for something so small. Perhaps, it’s the idea of petit fours that I love. Yes, that must be it. Anyways, I did make Petit Fours, which turned out cute. I suppose this pan really made it easier since there was no slicing and trying to make perfect squares and layers. One annoyance that I have with Petit Fours is that the icing never seems to cover as well as I would like. I can always seem to see the actual cake under the icing. Now, I’m certain this is user error on my behalf and certainly this has nothing to do with the pan. And perhaps it is only an issue for me, because I do not recall anyone that tried the petit fours making remarks about the sight of underlying cake. That said, this recipe for petit fours is wonderful!! They do have the flavor and texture of the petit fours that you would buy in a high end bakery, but they start with a cake mix. The recipe worked great in this pan, picking up the beautiful, intricate details. The release was perfect. No sticking. 

I did also try the Nordicware pan to make candies.

This I thought was even better than the petit fours. I did find that pouring the chocolate/candy coating into the pans would produce tiny holes in the surface of the candies. This absolutely drives me nutty. I banged the pans repeatedly to try to produce candy with no holes, but my efforts were fruitless. So, finally I read the instructions that came with the pan. Well, apparently, those things are quite useful on occasion. The instructions indicated that I should “paint” the chocolate into the pan first. Let it set and then finish filling the molds. Well, it worked. 

No holey chocolates after that. Well, at least fewer and less noticeable holes. See the blue ones were poured and the pink ones were painted and then poured. I love how well the chocolates picked up the details of the pan. Very pretty. I did find, for some reason, if I greased the pan, the candy seemed to stick. Go figure… it’s a non stick pan to start with so I don’t know if that had something to do with it. But that’s how it worked out for me. I think these cute candies would be perfect for a bridal/baby shower, ladies luncheon, or a tea party with some sweet little princesses! Recipes will follow the giveaway info. Enjoy!

And here’s the part you‘ve all been waiting for!! CSN has offered to giveaway a $65 gift certificate to one of my Sinful Southern Sweets readers. So, you can get some great cooking gadgets, homewares, toys for the kids (Christmas will be here before you know it!), or anything your hear desires from one of their 200+ stores.

How to enter:

Leave a separate comment below on each of the things that you do for your entries.

* Visit the  CSN website and comment below on a product you might like to have in your own home.

*Become a Sinful Southern Sweets follower via Google Friend Connect. If you are already a follower just comment that you are.

*Follow me on Twitter

*Follow CSN on Twitter

*Tweet this giveaway with a link back to this post.

*Blog about this giveaway on your next post! (3 Extra Entries-leave a comment for 3 separate entries)

*Follow me via email or let me know you already do (3 entries-leave 3 separate comments)

*Leave a comment telling me a recipe you'd like to see me blog on Sinful Southern Sweets.

Deadline: Midnight Eastern Time on September 25th .  Contest open to all US and Canadian friends) residents only. You do not need a blog to enter. Good Luck!!

Classic Apple Pie

• 7 cups baking apples, thin-sliced, cored, peeled
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Prepared Pie Crust, unbaked (need a crust for top and bottom) This is my favorite

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place one crust into a 9-inch pie pan.
2. Place sliced apples into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Combine sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle mixture over apples and toss. Spoon apple mixture into piecrust. Place the second crust over the filling. Seal edges, trim and flute. Make small openings in the top crust.
3. Bake in preheated 425 degrees F oven 40-50 minutes or until the top crust is golden. Serve warm or chilled.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Petit Fours
   via Land O Lakes
   Cake
   
   
   
   1 (18 1/2-ounce) package white cake mix
   1/2 teaspoon almond extract

   Icing

   3 cups sugar
   1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
   1 1/2 cups water
   1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
   1 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla
   3 drops food color, if desired

   Directions

   Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 (8-inch) square baking pans. Set aside.
   
   Prepare cake mix according to package directions, adding 1/2 teaspoon almond extract with water. Evenly divide cake batter between prepared pans. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely. Trim edges from cake; cut each cake into 24 (1 1/2 x 1-inch) pieces.
   
   Combine sugar, cream of tartar and water in 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil (12 to 14 minutes). Cover; boil 3 minutes. Uncover; continue cooking until candy thermometer reaches (228°F. to 234°F.) or small amount of mixture dropped into ice water forms a 2-inch soft thread (15 to 20 minutes). Remove from heat; cool to 110°F. or until bottom of pan is slightly warm to touch (do not stir) (1 hour). Stir in powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon almond extract and food color.
   
   

Note:Candies were created using Wilton candy melts

Pecan Toffee Crunch Ice Cream Petit Fours-August '10 Daring Bakers Challenge

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”

Browned Butter, (Hello my little friend) also known as Beurre noisette, which  in French  literally translates to, "hazelnut butter." This unbelievable nutty phenomenon has been used since medieval times in French cuisine.  The French knew exactly what they were doing when they allowed the clarified butter to brown. In essence, the water begins to evaporate, leaving only milk solids and butterfat. The milk solids sink to the bottom and  become small brown flecks among the mixture. So, do not fear if you see these in the browning process. You have not ruined the butter. But, do keep in mind. We are making browned butter, not burnt butter. As I’ve said before, there are mere minutes in cooking time between the two, but a universe of difference  between their tastes. You will know if you’ve burned it. It will smell burned and repulsive, rather than nutty and wonderful.
Let’s take a little walk through its cooking process. Its started bubbling up and breaking down a bit:

Now here, wow, its really starting to foam up. For a moment, you may think its going to overtake your kitchen like one of those weird science experiments.But, it won’t…

Now finally, we are starting to see some beautiful color creep into our butter. Lovely, swirly colors. But, look closely..its a beautiful coppery brown, not black. (Yes, that is important)

This, beautiful, nutty, rich chocolate brown (ok, I’ll stop now) butter is what you’re looking for. Remember, don’t worry about those brown bits at the bottom of your pan. They are part of this browned butter too!

Now, I just want to get up on my Sinful Southern Sweets soapbox for a minute. ***If you have never tried browned butter in a recipe, you must do this!!! Soon! Browned butter is one of those little surprises in life that will make you want to be mad at your Mama because she never told you at an early age how unbelievable it tastes. You’ll be very ticked that you’ve wasted all your life not enjoying it!! Seriously, people, this is not an option, you must try it. If you would like to try it in something a little simpler, check out these Browned Butter Rice Krispie Treats ***Ok, I’m down off that soapbox now. Don’t make me go back up there….

So, moving on…When I first started thinking of this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge, I was a bit torn. We had two options. We could make Baked Alaska. Which, I can not begin to tell you how appealing this option was just for the mere fact that I was going to get to use a little blow torch to brown the whole thing. OK, well, that was the main reason I was attracted to the Baked Alaska. But, then I saw we could make petit fours, well, I’m a sucker for itty bitty cakes. And Mr. Sweets said he’d rather have the petit fours because he didn’t really like meringue. So it was settled. Then I began thinking of the ice cream for the filling. We could use any homemade ice cream recipe we wanted.  I don’t really do well when given so much free reign. I tend to become compulsive and search for hours through recipes trying to make a decision. I knew the ice cream needed to have a bit of mature complexity. No kiddy flavors like grape or cookie dough. Well, I like grape and cookie dough ice cream as much as the next person, but it just didn’t seem like it paired correctly. Imagine displaying your petit fours and offering to a guest “Please try my delicious browned butter and grapico ice cream petit fours.”  Its just not right….Yet, I just couldn't stomach the thoughts of doing a "too mature" ice cream like caviar, feta and pear ice cream or some oddity that my palate has just not developed enough to accept (When did ice cream get that mature anyways!?!). Let's face it, part of me still wants the kiddy flavors. So here's what I came up with.... Pecan Toffee Crunch Ice Cream (with a fudge swirl!).

The ice cream is my new favorite. (Well, 2nd favorite. Mama's Peach Ice Cream will always be my number one favorite!) Mmmm….I’m not sure I can even continue….No, I’m going to just go  lust over these little frozen beauties. You go make these. You will not regret it.  Try to share them. Even if they’re a pain to assemble. You will make new friends or you could patch up old relationships. You need these in your life…….Enjoy!

Pecan Toffee Crunch Ice Cream Truffles with Browned Butter Pound Cake

Brown Butter Pound Cake
19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

 Pecan Toffee Crunch Ice Cream

• 6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup coarsely chopped Emerald Glazed Pecans, Pecan Pie flavored  
• ½ cup coarsely chopped Heath Bars (about 1½ 1.4-ounce bars)
• 1 jar Hershey's Hot Fudge Ice cream syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make the ice cream: In a medium-size bowl, with an eggbeater or a whisk, beat the egg yolks until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until incorporated. Set aside. In a double boiler, over simmering water, scald the half-and-half. Add ½ cup of the half-and-half to the egg mixture, stirring to warm the egg yolks. Return the entire mixture to the double boiler and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and place the pot in a bowl of cold water. Cool the custard to room temperature (about 45 minutes), stirring once about halfway through to prevent a skin from forming on the top. When the custard has cooled to room temperature, stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, preferably overnight. Pour into an ice cream machine and freeze until partially set, about 20 minutes. Stir in the almonds and Heath Bars, and continue freezing until firm, about 5 more minutes, following the manufacturer's instructions. Turn off the ice cream machine, and using a small offset spatula or knife, swirl in the hot fudge syrup.

Glazing the Petit Fours:
You can glaze petit fours with a number of different coatings. I used a peanut butter confectioners coating. It is great if you are in a hurry. If you have the time, and would prefer a chocolate glaze you can try this recipe:
Chocolate Glaze
9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract
Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.