What better way is there to say “Merry Christmas” than giving family and friends a present of homemade candy? Of course it’s lovely to receive a store-bought box of chocolates or other holiday favorite for a gift, but it seems more personal when you receive a box or dish of your favorite fudge or other confection, knowing your loved one took the care to make you that special gift.
It used to be a very time-consuming and often tedious task to create sweet treats in your kitchen, but with the products available today, you can make delicious candy in no time, and with fewer ingredients. In fact, you can make your own Kit Kat bars with just two ingredients: a package of Vanilla Cream Wafer cookies and a 12-ounce package of milk chocolate-chocolate chips, or if you prefer an equal amount of chocolate almond bark.
Just melt the chocolate according to package directions and dunk each wafer cookie into the melted chocolate until completely coated. Lift the cookie with a fork and allow the excess chocolate to drip off. Place them on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet and let chill in the fridge a few minutes until set. Then, store them in a covered container at room temperature.
Another quick and easy candy to make is Maple Walnut Fudge using the following recipe. If you make either one of these candies, you better hide it if you’re going to give it as gifts, or there may not be any left to give away!
MAPLE WALNUT FUDGE
3 cups white chocolate chips
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon maple flavor
1 1/2 cups broken walnuts
Butter an 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish. Melt white chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and butter in a microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl. In 30-second intervals, stir mixture after each interval until it becomes smooth. Do not overheat or chocolate will scorch.
When mixture is smooth, stir in maple-flavored extract until just combined and then add walnuts. Combine all ingredients and pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Cut into squares and store in a covered container at room temperature.
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