Thrill Them With Candy

The sweetest recipes for holiday gift-giving, plus tips for cooking up confections

Had it up to here already with loaded-down stores and budget-busting pricetags? Food editor Heather Garvin suggests taking comfort in your own kitchen with homemade treats pretty enough for hand-delivery. Check out our collection of simple and delicious candies perfect for gifting, but first, a lesson in cooking with sugar (note: it can get tricky):

Overcooking or undercooking sugar solutions can cause candies to have tough textures or not set correctly, so monitor your candy thermometer carefully.

For the most accurate reading, clip thermometer to the side of the pan so the probe is submerged in the liquid but not touching the bottom of the pan.

Be sure to use heavy-bottomed, nonreactive cookware and leave plenty of room for contents to expand, as many sugar solutions foam up and can double in size while boiling.

Allow yourself to indulge this season. Subbing lighter ingredients, like Splenda, will not yield the same results.

Recipes
Spiced Toffee Bark
(Makes approx. 2 lbs.)

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbs. molasses
1/4 tsp. allspice
Dash of salt
2 cups chopped pecans, divided
1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Spray a 10 x 15-inch baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed stainless steel pan over low heat. Add the sugars, water, molasses, allspice, and salt, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine and dissolve sugars. Increase to medium heat and attach a candy thermometer. Let the mixture boil, stirring constantly, until thermometer registers 300ºF, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1½ cups of the pecans. Pour the toffee onto the prepared sheet, spreading all the way to the edges. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and allow toffee to harden for one minute. Spread the chocolate over the toffee until completely melted. Sprinkle the remaining pecans over the top and refrigerate until completely chilled, about two hours. Break into bark pieces and transfer to airtight container. Toffee will keep tightly covered and refrigerated for two weeks.

For easy chocolate truffles, toasted coconut marshmallows, and more, go here.

Speaking of Yuletide cheer, check out editor Ellen McGauley’s “On the House” blog for more holiday inspiration, and tune into My News 2 with Tara Lynn (WCBD) this Wednesday, December 8, 11 a.m.; Ellen will offer simple ideas for dressing your table, including:

* vintage placecards using photos of Christmas past
* simple centerpieces that don’t break the bank
* stenciling projects for the kids’ table.