Candied Coconut

I love the dried coconut we used to buy from Costco for road trips. Now that we're in Okinawa without Costco (SNIFF!), I ventured to make my own. SUPER tasty! Takes some time peeling, peeling, peeling, but it's so worth it. Especially if you have easy access to fresh coconut. I found this on one of my favorite recipe websites, allrecipes. Enjoy!!

Candied Coconut

1 whole coconut
1/4 c water
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Bake coconut for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, let cool and crack open with a hammer. Remove meat of coconut in as big of chunks as you can from hard shell. Peel brown skin off meat with peeler. Use peeler to cut meat into thin strips (or use sharp knife) about an inch or two long.
2. Add coconut strips to medium saucepan, cover with water and boil 5 minutes. Drain. Place coconut back into saucepan and add 1/4 c water, 3/4 c sugar and 1 tsp salt. Bring to boil over medium heat. Lower heat to as low as it’ll go while still simmering. Stir constantly until syrup dissipates.
3. Spread coconut out on cookie sheet to cool, separating and opening pieces before they cool. Store in an air right container.

Mom's Homemade Caramels

My mom made these often during Christmastime growing up and they are sweet and gooey and delicious! My kids LOVED them. They're a fun treat to add to Christmas plates for the neighbors or just for fun anytime.

Mom's Homemade Caramels

2 c sugar
1/2 c butter
2 c half and half, divided
3/4 c light corn syrup
1/2 c chopped nuts, optional

1. Butter square 8x8 baking pan, or similar sized other, or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In medium sauce pan heat over medium heat sugar, butter, one cup half and half and corn syrup. Let boil, stirring constantly, five minutes (still over medium heat). Stir in other cup of half and half and continue stirring until candy thermometer reads 245, or soft ball.
3. Pour into buttered 8x8 pan and set out to cool. Once cooled, remove from pan and cut into desired pieces with sharp knife or pizza cutter. Wrap in pieces of parchment paper. Tie ends if you'd like to be fancy. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS

Heat 2 squares unsweetened chocolate with sugar mixture.

Fudge

I always used the recipe on the back of marshmallow cream (and highly recommend if if you haven't tried it), but tried something different this year. I've gotten nothing but compliments from the neighbors on this fudge (what about the other treats I slaved over?!). :) I loooooove to add peanut butter chips. Then again, peanut butter and chocolate are just about the perfect combination. Be creative. If you love Almond Joy, add toasted coconut and chopped, roasted almonds. :) You can add what you want and make it to your liking, tasting the liquid mixture to make sure it's to your liking before pouring it into the pan and letting it set. Makes one 8x8 pan.

Fudge

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1-oz square unsweetened chocolate

optional add-in's:
1 c peanut butter chips
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c chopped nuts
mint extract, to taste
1/2 c toasted, sweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 c chocolate chips, for added chocolatey-ness
1/2 c rice crispy cereal
caramel sauce
whatever you love with chocolate, be creative!

1. Butter 8x8 pan, OR line with foil. Set aside.
2. In medium saucepan, heat milk, chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate (as well as any other add-in's you may want) over low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat; add vanilla and mix well. Spread evenly in pan; it will be thick. To smooth the top, use a warm and moist butter knife. Refrigerate until cool; cut into pieces.

Mom's English Toffee

My mom would make this almost every Christmas. It is so. good. Seriously. I'm drooling right now just thinking about it. I have a hard time adding this to Christmas plates for the neighbors. I want it all. Mine. My English Toffee. If you like Almond Roca, you'll love this because it's that much better. Sprinkle the crumbs in the bottom of the pan over your ice cream...or in your mouth. Either way. Makes one jelly roll pan full.

Mom's English Toffee

2 1/2 c sugar
1 lb butter
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c water
2 c blanched almonds*
2 XL Hershey or other plain  milk chocolate bars
1 c finely chopped walnuts

1. Place a jelly roll pan on a wooden bread board or other thick and sturdy hot pan holder. Set aside. 

2. Place sugar, butter, corn syrup, water, and almonds in a heavy 3 quart pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until 280 to 290 degrees (if candy begins to smoke remove from heat fast). It takes awhile so pull up a barstool. I wear a long-sleeve shirt so as not to burn my forearms. 

3. Immediately pour toffee into jelly roll pan and spread evenly with the wooden spoon. This stuff is HOT and the pan is heavy. BE CAREFUL. If someone can help hold the pot while you scrape out the last of the bits onto the pan it's helpful.
4. Place Hershey bars on top of toffee right away and spread evenly after it melts. Sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts.
5. Let it cool completely in cool. I put it in my cold garage covered in a clean cloth (don't use plastic wrap, it's too hot). Once cool (it'll be cool underneath the pan in the middle), break candy apart by stabbing with a knife (let out all your aggression as you'd like, but be aware of denting your poor pan).

* To blanch almonds: bring them to a boil then rinse them immediately with cold water and skin them. I like popping the meat out of the skin (it pops out of the skinny end easiest). My kids love helping with this. You're left with the white meat of the almond. Set aside.