Orange Cream Bonbons

The last Easter candy went into its little cellophane baggies today. C'est fini. I had a hard time deciding what to make today for my last hurrah, and then I remembered I had seen some orange cream somewhere. Or thought I did because when I went back to what I thought was the source, it was actually not orange cream. So I improvised. The lovely thing about these candy creams is they are essentially all the same make up -- sugar, fat, and flavor.

Orange zest and vanilla provided the flavor, butter and a bit of cream the fat, and powdered sugar the sugar. Simple. And really super tasty. The great thing about these is they are not limited to the Easter season.

Orange Cream Bonbons

makes 12 - 18 depending on size of balls

1/4 cup softened butter

1 lb powdered sugar

the zest of one large orange

1 t. vanilla extract

1 1/2 T. heavy cream, or half & half

2 cups or more melted milk or dark chocolate

In a mixing bowl, mix butter and orange zest for a couple minutes on low to get them really good and mixed up. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix. Then add cream. Let mixer run until mixture forms into tiny little balls -- resembling white Nerds. Stop the mixer. (If you get a frosting consistency add more powdered sugar until it forms the little balls -- if it's too much like powdered sugar, add more cream -- just a little at a time)

Using about a scant tablespoon of mixture, form into balls with your hands, rolling between the palms (I'm guessing the size of a small super bouncy ball). Place balls on waxed paper and refrigerate for an hour or so until completely chilled.

Melt half of the chocolate in a small teacup or bowl. Using a toothpick, skewer one ball at a time and dip into the melted chocolate, allowing the extra chocolate to run off. Place on clean waxed paper and chill until chocolate is firm.

If desired, place in candy wrappers and bag in cellophane.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Cups

I have been pretty pleased overall with my candy creations this week. Depending on how the children like them, I'd say I could do this every year. It's rather nice to know exactly what is in the treats in our Easter baskets.

On the third day of candy making, I made some Chocolate Coconut Cream Cups. These are a coconut lover's dream -- just like a peanut butter cup, but with coconut and coconut oil and butter and... mmmmm.

The key to these little babies is creating a thin layer of chocolate on the top, bottom and sides, because you want to save room in the middle for the coconut cream. I can't guarantee I did that on each one, because we are talking homemade and, thus, less quality control, but I think I managed o.k. Time will tell.

I really sort of made this recipe up, but it's not rocket science -- sugar, coconut, fat, chocolate. I used half coconut oil and half butter for the fat, but you could probably use all coconut oil and dark chocolate for a (mostly) dairy-free treat (some dark chocolates have a small bit of milk in them). I made 12 dark chocolate coconut cream cups and 12 milk chocolate coconut cream cups, for a little variety.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Cups

makes 24

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

2 T. powdered sugar

2 T. melted coconut oil

2 T. melted butter

1/4 t. coconut extract

2-3 cups melted chocolate (it's hard to tell how much chocolate you have when you are using melts)

candy sprinkles (completely optional)
paper or foil mini muffin cup liners

Fill a mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners.

Mix together melted oil and butter with coconut, sugar, and extract, until combined. Cool until it becomes creamy and semi-sold (you can pick up a bit with your fingers and mold it).

Melt about one quarter of your chocolate. I found it easiest to use Wilton disposable bags, using the microwave on medium power.

Fill the bottoms of the paper cups with a small bit of chocolate. I found the best method to be squeezing a ring around the bottom and then tapping the pan until it filled in, so that you (hopefully) have a thinner layer on the bottom in the center (so you can pack in more coconut cream!). Chill until almost solid.

Take a scant teaspoon of coconut mixture and mold into a sort of ball shape. Place on top of chocolate and flatten a little.

Melt another quarter of the chocolate. Squeeze (or spoon) on top of coconut mixture and tap pan until it flows over the coconut, using a small spatula or infant spoon if necessary to spread over coconut completely. Sprinkle on a few candy sprinkles if desired. Chill until solid, and bag in cellophane.

Just a little quality control check (I can't give my children candy I don't know is good)

Toasted Coconut Nests

My second day of making Easter candy went better than the first. It turns out it really is a patience issue (whaddya know) and as long as I can keep things moving I feel successful. Of course, this is really just an issue in my head as neither candy turned out better than the other -- I just enjoyed doing the second more since it didn't involve waiting for chocolate to drip off.

These treats are one of my favorites and have been since I was a little girl. Russell Stover coconut nests were always in my Easter basket. I realize coconut is one of those love/hate things...but I love it, and so do three-fourths of my kids (I'll keep another yummy treat hidden until after Easter morning and let the one coconut hater trade his in -- hmmm, more for me). And these homemade coconut nests are really much better than even Russell Stover's -- surprised me! I think the key is letting that coconut get nice and toasty in the oven. It crunches so much better when it's toasty.

Again, I used my nut-free melting chocolates, but you can use milk chocolate chips and/or vanilla candy chips or bark. You really don't need a recipe here, just toast some coconut and mix it into some melted chocolate.

I toasted a whole bag of sweetened coconut -- 12 oz in the oven on 350 degrees F.

this is not the whole bag -- this is half, as I forgot to take a picture before I made the white nests

I let it bake for a total of 16 minutes, but I stirred it every four minutes to keep it from getting too dark in one place. Be sure to set your timer, or you'll forget. My pan and oven tends to toast it around the edges first, so I keep stirring it up to get the untoasted stuff toward the edges.

Because I wanted to make both white and milk chocolate nests, I used roughly half the coconut in the first batch -- the white. I didn't measure, just poured about a cup of melts into a bowl and melted them in the micro -- 30 seconds at a time, stirred, and 30 more seconds until it was melted and creamy. It didn't take long, especially with the white. Then I dumped a couple of handfuls of toasted and cooled coconut into the chocolate. Stirred and added more if necessary until the mixture was wet but not soupy.

Then I placed a wax paper square into a custard cup -- you can use a ramekin, a small tea cup, anything that will hold the shape of a nest -- and scooped a couple tablespoonfuls in. Using a teaspoon, I pressed the coconut mixture down into the bowl and made an impression in the center -- not perfect, just nest-shaped. I used some smaller jellybeans for the eggs, I think they were Lifesaver brand.

Repeat with all the mixture and then chill the nests until they are firm. Bag in cellophane and chill until it's time to fill the baskets.

A 12 oz bag of coconut, about a cup of white melts and a cup and a half of milk chocolate melts made about 12 nests.

Cream Easter Eggs

This year I have decided to make my own Easter candy. I am not certain what possessed me, other than my great fear of witnessing anaphylaxis in my 15-year-old son (just a little thing). We have been free from accidental ingestion for 13 years, so I don't want to start now. I used to be able to find a few types of Easter chocolates in stores that did not have the warning: "May contain peanuts/tree nuts" or "Processed on shared equipment with peanuts and tree nuts," but it's almost impossible any more.

When I decided to make my own candy I thought, "how hard can it be?" and really it's not hard, just a lot more time-consuming than checking out at the grocery store. I started by ordering some nut-free chocolates from the Vermont Nut Free Chocolate online store. I bought the melts in milk, dark and white chocolate. I've only had a couple nibbles, but it's pretty darned tasty. (Note: even if you don't order from a nut-free shop, it's much easier to find baking chocolates that don't carry dire warnings than ready-made treats.)

Then, I ordered a couple of candy molds from Sur la Table,  to make solid chocolates, along with some foil wrappers. I picked up some cellophane bags at Joann's to bag the eggs (you can also find candy molds and foils at Joann's and other craft stores). And even with all that ordering, I still don't think I have matched what I usually spend on candy at the store.

I found a couple of recipes for eggs and started with this cream style egg from La Table de Nana. I can't say mine are very beautiful, but one had an accident and Doug cut it open to check it out. He declared it "very yummy," so I guess I started in a good place. Like Nana, I colored a bit of the filling and created a Cadbury style egg, although the filling is not runny like a Cadbury. They would, obviously, taste the same without the "yolk" as it's just for novelty's sake.

The recipe was simple to make and I even got a pretty good shape on my eggs, but it always falls apart for me at the dipping. I think I might have a patience issue (just maybe). I can't stand waiting for the chocolate to drip off, so I end up with chocolate puddles. I found out that a sharp non-serrated knife takes care of puddles in a jiffy (a hot knife is even better).

I made one change to the recipe, and it was entirely an accident. The recipe calls for melting the butter and I did not, which would explain why it was rather hard to get mixed up (and why a good quarter cup of powdered sugar went on the floor below the mixer). I do believe it was a fortuitous mistake, however, as I think the mixture would have been rather difficult to form into eggs had I not started with room temp butter. You can melt yours if you like. I also added a bit of Crisco to my chocolate as I think it makes it shinier and easier to keep liquid.

Cream Easter Eggs

makes about 2 dozen

1 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
1 stick butter (melted or not, your choice)
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
2 T. corn syrup
1 T. vanilla
1/2 lb semi sweet chocolate, melted

1 to 2 T. Crisco

Place butter, condensed milk and corn syrup in mixing bowl. Add about half the powdered sugar and mix slowly until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until combined -- it will be thick.

Grab a bit in your fingers and if it is too soft to hold its shape, refrigerate for a while.

~~~

If you want a bit of yellow "yolk" in your eggs, scoop out a couple tablespoons and color it yellow. 

I used a cookie dough scoop for quality control on my portions -- so they would all be about the same size.

Scoop out some cream and make a well in the middle. 

Add a little bead of yellow and fold the white over it. Form into an egg -- I found it easier to put the "bottom" on the table and mold the top, then pick up the bottom and round it out. Place on waxed paper and when you get a tray-full, refrigerate until firm.

Melt chocolate with Crisco in the microwave or over a double boiler. Take chilled eggs and dip them into the chocolate. I found the best method was to stick a long toothpick into the fat end of the egg and dip, using another toothpick to hold the other end up. When you lay the egg down on the clean waxed paper, turn the skewer until it comes free. take a butter knife and touch up the end where the skewer came out.

Refrigerate until chocolate is firm. Wrap in cellophane and chill until ready to dole out.

It would be enjoyable to make these with a friend and split the batch -- 2 dozen eggs is a lot for one family. But my kids might disagree.