Busy Making Candy

Over the last two days, I've been busy making candy fillings . . . and I'm not even close to finishing. 

For the most part, I enjoy this task that I set myself every year.  I make my own truffle fillings for my filled candies.  I also make caramels, fudges, turtles, peanut brittle and toffee.  And I'm not like some people who keep their recipes a closely guarded secret.  If you want my recipe, I'll give it to you. 

BUT I make my candy fillings visually.  In other words, I eyeball everything--no measuring, which makes it difficult for me to 'write' down a recipe and duplicate it exactly.  I basically follow the same technique for most of my fillings.

I invented a Strawberry Margarita filling yesterday. Here's my rendition:

Take handful of frozen strawberry slices (roughly 1/2 cup) and place in glass cup measure, add roughly 1/4c tequila (Cuervo Gold has more flavor than the clear stuff) and add the juice of one large lime.  After the strawberries melt, blend together with hand blender (should be about 1 cup--add tequila to top off).  Pour into heavy saucepan and add enough sugar to sweeten (See?  Told you, I don't measure stuff), anywhere from 1/4-2/3 cup (don't over sweeten because you will be adding white chocolate to the mixture).  Boil down (alcohol cooks out, but the flavor stays), stirring regularly until it resembles the thickness of cold pancake syrup. Taste, adjust flavors (add sugar, tequila, or lime if needed).  Turn off burner and add white chocolate, stirring constantly until desired texture and thickness (again, no clue as to how much I use, probably 1/2 lb-ish). I store my fillings in a quart-sized Ziploc freezer bag.

Now that I have my ten fillings ready and chilled, I need to make a plan to fill my candy molds.  I have about 35 people (husband's coworkers and employees, both of our families).  So I want to make at least five extra of each flavor in case of accidents.  Accidents could be from too thin chocolate coating, or the filling bursts through the bottom, or the bottom slides off, or someone steals a 'sample'.  All have happened.   Candy molds are plastic and can mold anywhere between 8-12 candies per mold.  I prefer the hard plastic over the rubbery silicone. I've found working three to four molds at a time seems to be the most efficient, but for beginners don't try to do more than two until you get comfortable. 

I also use pre-tempered chocolate (Merkens).  This chocolate is very smooth and flavorful, giving me one less thing to worry about.  Get two work areas ready, laying down waxed paper:  one to fill the candy, and the other area for the finished products.  I usually use a sharpie to write on the paper, so I remember the flavors.  Before starting, pull the fillings out of the refrigerator to warm up.  The fillings should be thick, but malleable. If too thin, keep refrigerated until needed.  If too thick, you can pop them into the microwave for a few seconds.

I melt about 2-3 lbs of chocolate in the microwave.  Start at about 3 minutes, then take out and stir, continue nuking for 30 seconds at a time until melted.  Using a plastic spoon (trust me--the chocolate hardens on the spoon and you will want to nuke it) fill each mold to the rim.  Tap mold against counter to remove air bubbles.  Do this with each mold.  Return to the first mold, flip over and dump excess chocolate on the waxed paper (let harden and remelt as needed), roll the mold around tocoat the walls of the shell thoroughly.  Use flat scraper to wipe away excess chocolate and level the rims of the candy.  Pop mold into freezer.  Repeat with other molds. 

I used different mold shapes for different flavors.  I have a heart-shaped mold for Amaretto, a rose for my Chambord, etc.  I also wrote on a piece of painter's tape and put it on the mold so I can keep track of the mold and the flavor. 

Remove first mold.  Snip a bottom corner of the bag, squeeze filling into frozen shell until it is about 1/4 below the rim. If the filling is stiff, then gently press down to fill the air spaces.  If the filling is thin, pop into the freezer to firm up.  Repeat with other molds. 

When you 'top' off the candy, make sure your chocolate is warm.  If it has thickened and cooled too much, then pop it in the microwave to warm it up.  Using the plastic spoon take a half scoop of chocolate and spread over the filling, sealing the edges around the candy. Try not to make a mess as it will mean less work later. If the filling is too liquid and thin, the heavy chocolate will sink, causing all sorts of problems.  Thicker filling is better in the long run.   Seal all the candies in the mold and pop it into the freezer.  Repeat with remaining molds.  By the time you finish the last mold, it should be time to release candies. 

Take your filled candy mold from the freezer, flip over onto second area of waxed paper.  If the candies are ready, they will drop out of the mold.  If some candies fall out, but not all of them, take your hand and rub it over the outside of the mold.  The warmth of your hand will release the candy.  When you flip the candy out, try to do it as close to the waxed paper as possible.  If your chocolate shell was too thin, then the drop from the mold can crush the candy. Been there, done that.

Repeat a gazillion times.  Then you have to trim the excess chocolate from the bottoms of the candy (a sharp paring knife works well) and place in cute little candy cups.  I have a pair of cotton gloves that I use to handle the finished chocolates.  I don't want to melt fingerprints into the candy.  I store the candy in airtight containers.  I can usually fit two flavors in each 7 in. X 11 in. container.  Keep in a cool room until all candy is made.  Filling gift boxes is quick and easy as I make a circuit around my table.  Repeat until all boxes are filled.

Merry Christmas!