Sweets for Christmas

[ChrisB]

Has anyone got a recipe for coconut ice? DDL

In old money again

2 lbs sugar
8 ozs dessicated coconut
1/4 pint of milk
1 oz unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
red colouring

Put sugar milk and butter in a suacepan and heat gently till sugar dissolved
Bring to boil and cook for approx 10mins till it reaches 120 C or 248 F

Remove from heat add coconut and vanilla essence. Beat with a wooden spoon till thick and creamy. Pour half into an oiled 8" baking tray. Quickly add a few drops of red colouring, mixing well and put on top of white mixture.
Leave to set then cut into squares

[ChrisB]

How about a gngerbread house. It can be as simple or elaborate as you like

[nick the grief]

Coconut Ice

1lb Sugar
1/4 pint Water
5oz desperated coconut
Drop of red food colouring

Preperation time: 15 minutes
cooking Time: 30 minutes

Put the sugar in a fairly large saucpan with the water, heat & stir frequently till the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil without stirring, and allow to boil steadily until soft ball stage (know it well ) 115c/238F is reached; when a teaspoon of the syrup is dropped into cold water will forma soft ball.
Add the coconut to the syrup and reboil to 119c/246F. At this stage a little syrup dropped into cold water will form a firm ball. (sounds better to me !)

Pour half of the mxture into a 7"square tin lined with nonstick silicone paper. Add a drop of red food colouring to the remainder and keep this soft by standing the saucepan in hot water (that's where I am usually). When the whit is sufficiently set, cover with the pink coconut Ice and smooth level. Leave to set until completely cold & then turn out & cut into 8 bars ( wasn't that Status Quo?) or individual squares.

Keeps upto 4 weeks in an airtight tin (some hope)
Makes 11/4 pounds

[JazzDuke]

candied oranges I'd recommend

[rustylady]

Used to get my kids to make sweeties for the neighbours on Xmas Eve, kept them out of my hair while I was getting everything else ready.

Marzipan stuffed dates are good - buy dates, remove stones and replace with rolled marzipan.

Marzipan can also be coloured with food colouring and made into little fruit shapes. Or layered (different colours) and rolled up then cut into slices.

Peppermint creams are good.

Look in charity shops for "old fashioned" cookery books.

Can post some recipes tomorrow, but it's getting a bit late now and I need to do some research (that is find the flaming books)

[Waffler]

Chocolate coated candied peel:

225g /8oz prepared peel (see below)
280g/ 10oz granulated sugar
115g / 4oz plain chocolate, melted

1. Cut fruits in half cross-wise. Scoop the flesh out, leaving the white pith and skin intact. Cut the peel in to thick strips. Cover with cold water and leave overnight.
2. Drain the peel, place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then drain. Repeat the process twice more.
3. Place the sugar in a large saucepan and then stir in 350ml cold water. Stir constantly over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the syrup to the boil, then add the peel.
4. Cook the peel in the syrup until it appears transparent.
5. Remove the peel from the syrup using a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack to allow the syrup to drain off. Separate the pieces and allow to dry for 48 hours.
6. Cut the peel in to strips using scissors, then dip each piece of peel in the melted chocolate, either to give a 'half and half' effect, or using a cocktail stick to rotate the peel to completely cover the peel (removing the stick whilst chocolate is still wet). Leave to dry.

[Waffler]

Liquer cups:

Make chocolate cups by melting plain chocolate then brushing round the inside of a sturdy petit-four paper case several times, to a thickness that allows you to pull away the paper once chocolate has set.

To fill 25 cups:

375g /12oz granulated sugar
90ml cold water
60ml liquer of your choice

1 Combine the sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan and stir continuously over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. If any crystals of sugar remain on the side of the pan, dip a pastry brush in cold water and brush them down in to the syrup.
2. Increase the heat to moderate and allow the syrup to boil until it reaches a temperature of 108C / 225F. Immediately remove from heat and place pan in cold water to arrest the cooking process.
3. Have a second saucepan, or large jug to hand. Add the liquer to the syrup, but do not stir it in. Instead, pour the syrup backwards and forwards from pan to pan. This reduces the risk of sugar crystals forming the in syrup. When the liquer is incorporated in to the syrup, ocver with cling film and leave until cold.
4. Once it is cold, the syrup can be used to fill the cups.
5. To seal the cups, use the back of a teaspoon to form little 'lids' using melted chocolate (on greaseproof paper or similar). Paint a rim around the edge of the set lid, then quickly place over the liquer filled cup, ensuring it is sealed. Allow to set, before inverting to make the 'lid' the base of the chocolate. The cups can now be decorated if you wish.

Chocolate Florentine Petit-Fours:

(Makes about 25 petit-fours)

140g / 5oz plain chocolate
60g / 2oz whole nuts (brazils, almonds, hazelnuts etc.)
60g / 2oz coloured glace cherries, quartered
60g / 2oz seedless raisins

1. Line a baking tray with non-stick parchment.
2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Allow it to cool slightly and thicken.
3. Drop a teaspoonfull of chocolate on to the tray and use the back of a spoon to swirl it in to a flat disc about 4cm/1.5" across. Immediately push a whole nut, 2 pieces of glace cherry and two raisins in to the chocolate disc.
4. Continue until all the ingredients are used. Do not attempt to make more than one florentine at a time or the chocolate will harden too much to allow the fruit and nuts to stick.

Rich Chocolate Fudge:

(makes about 675g / 1.5lb)

450g 1lb granulated sugar
250ml whole milk
150ml unsweetened evaporated milk
90ml double cream
90g / 3oz unsalted butter
115g /4oz milk chocolate

1 Lightly oil a 20cm / 8" square baking tin, and line the bottom with baking parchment.
2. In a large, heavy-based saucepan, combine the sugar, milk, evaporated milk and double cream. Dice the butter and add to the pan. If you have a sugar thermometer, place it in the pan at this stage.
3. Place the panover a low heat, and stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon until all the sugar has dissolved and the butter melted.
4. Raise the heat slightly and bring the mixture ot a steady boil, stirring frequently. Take extra care here as it is quite easy to burn fudge with such a high milk and cream content.
5. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
6. When the temperature of the fudge reaches 114 - 115C / 237 - 239F, or the 'soft ball' stage, remove pan from the heat and beat the mixture for one minute.
7. Beat in the melted chocolate and continue to beat until the chocolate is evenly distributed and the fudge appears thick and creamy. Turn the fudge in to the prepared tin. When almost set, mark in to squares.
8. When the fudge is cold and firm, turn it out of the tin and remove the parchment. Cut in to squares as marked.

[monkeybum]

That's fantastic guys thanks. Should keep me out of trouble for a while.
The onlly recipe I have is for rum truffles but if anyone wants it here goes:

4 oz dark chocolate
2oz butter
1 egg yolk
1tsp apricot jam
2tsp rum essence
6oz icing sugar
4oz digestive biscuits
2oz dessicated coconut

Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan and take off heat once melted.
Add crushed biscuits and all other ingredients except the coconut.
Roll mixture into small balls and toss each in dessicated coconut.
Try to stop eating them........they last about half an hour in our house.

[kirsty b]

Dried Fruitgums

Just found this in a Jamie Oliver book.

Use either 500g or a kilo of dried fruit. Can either be one variety or you can do your own mixes to suit your own tastes.
Whiz the fruit down to a smooth puree in a food processor then scoop it out onto some greasproof paper.
Smooth it out using a palette knife or something similar until it is around 1/4 inch thick.
Put in oven at gas mark2/160 degrees for a couple of hours. Cooking time depends on how moist the fruit was to start with.
When cooked, the fruit should be soft but firm, a similar sort of texture to a winegum.
Peel off greaseproof paper and cut into assorted shapes and sizes and they can be kept in an airtight jar until you need them.

Have not tried it yet but hope it helps.
Kirsty

[nick the grief]

......Look in charity shops for "old fashioned" cookery books..........

I've got Old fashioned cookery book

[JennieAtkinson]

Years ago I used to make mint creams from peppermint oil and icing sugar and then dip then choclolate, but sure there was more to it than that, but can't find the recipe. (Without this thread OH asked if we could do them this year.

Anybody got a recipe for mint creams?

[monkeybum]

I have just found this one in the RC family book.

Mint Creams

250g icing sugar
free range egg white
Peppermint essence
green food colouring

Sift two thirds of icing sugar into bowl
Whisk egg until light and frothy but not really moussey
Pour beaten egg and peppermint ess into icing sugar
Mix with fork and then kneed when stiff enough
Add food colouring and more icing sugar if needed.
Make into rounds and place on greaseproof paper
Place in fridge to cool and set.
No chocolate in this one though.

[JennieAtkinson]

Thats it! Knew there was another ingredient - egg white! Thanks Monkeybum.

[martini]

Treacle Toffee

1 lb treacle, 1 cup (normal size teacup) caster sugar, 4 oz butter

Put everything in a pan and bring to the boil. Boil for 20 minutes, stirring all the time. Pour into a buttered tin, leave to set then break with a hammer.

[Earthbabe]

I have recipes for fudge, pineapple kirsch creams, special truffles (involves alcohol) and probably others if I have a fertle. Need to find Good Food mag for jelly sweets recipe.