A quick side link here, for anyone needing a little chuckle this morning. Forrest has been playing around with our “home movies” of snowmobiling, and a new-found program for video editing. The end result is pretty amusing…
Peppermint Bark and Chocolate Coconut Balls
Now for sharing Sunday recipes… where did time go this month??? It’s almost Christmas and all the holiday recipes I wanted to share will be obsolete before you know it. So I’ll share two today. Both for candy. One of my favorite ways of getting in the festive spirit is stirring up all sorts of sweets and sharing them with visitors and neighbors, far and wide. Not to mention my boys. A plate full of assorted candies was a tradition and gift inspired by a remarkable elder woman I knew on another mountain in another day. It was a gift which represented time. Time. One can ask for nothing more precious. However, we also learned to anticipate those treats, and our mouths would water when she’d drive up to our ranch, and step out with a perfect little plate every year around this time.
Here are two of the many I make during this month. By the way, candies freeze well, so you can put small portions in ziplock bags, put them in the freezer, and pull out a sampling from each bag to share with your guests. I hope you try and enjoy.
Chocolate Coconut Balls
In a medium bowl, stir together with a fork until well combined:
1 14-oz bag flaked coconut
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
Let sit for about an hour. Then with two small spoons, roughly shape and form into small balls about 1” diameter. Let these sit for about an hour, then take each one up gently in your hands and roll it around in your palms to smooth out the shape. Let sit about another hour. Then in a double boiler (I just use a small pot to hold the chips, then a slightly larger pot filled with a couple inches with water that the smaller pot can easily fit into) on medium/low heat, melt:
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels. I use Ghirardelli – they melt very well.
With a soup spoon, pour a dab on top of each of the coconut balls. It will cover the top and drip down the sides. You may want to use wax paper underneath to help in clean up. Let these cool and dry out a bit over night before putting them in bags and into the freezer (or consuming them all right away..).
Peppermint Bark
In a double boiler over medium/low heat, melt:
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips (again, I’ve had the best luck with Ghirardelli)
When completely smooth and melted, use a spatula and spread this out thin, about 1/8 inch, on a cookie sheet lined with wax or freezer paper. Allow this to cool – almost completely, but not hard. Then, in a double boiler, melt:
1 bag white chocolate chips
When these are melted smooth and creamy, use a spatula and spread this out thin over the chocolate layer. If your chocolate is still warm, the two will swirl and blend together a little bit. If the chocolate is too cool and hard, I find the two layers may not hold together when broken apart. Then on top of the warm, smooth white chocolate, sprinkle:
4 candy canes, broken into small pieces (I put candy canes in a ziplock and tap with a rolling pin)
Press the candy cane bits gently into the white chocolate so they stick in there. Let this all cool until hard (about an hour or so) then break off into smaller assorted size pieces with your hands or the tip of a sharp knife.