CANDY!!!!!

OK monkeys time to stuff your eyeholes with truth bananas... or something...

SO, today i tried my hand at something new... CANDY MAKING!!!

Firstly i have been delving the ancient texts on the dark art and learning all i can about tempering sheen and all the stuff that goes particularly with CHOCOLATE yeah i said CHOCOLATE!!!

last year y uncle was craving something called Almond bark from Disneyland- They stopped making it so he was a bit bummed... this year i went all out and i wanted to share my thoughts experiences and general ideas about the experience.. here goes!

Firstly lets get the deets outta the way... I made a batch of milk chocolate almond bark and a batch of the more popular peppermint bark.

 ::the ingredients::
24 oz. of milk chocolate chips OR MELTING CHOCOLATE the latter WAY easier to find but any milk chocolate will do.
12oz. bag of slivered almonds (NOT SLICED) or anything you wanna drop in this...
24 oz. white chocolate chips OR MELTING WHITE CHOCOLATE same as above
1 pound bag peppermint candy or 1 doz Candy canes or any hard candy you wanna add...

::tools youll need::
 pyrex glass bowl
spoon or spoonula
large cookie sheet (with sides)
parchment or waxed paper
refrigerator
microwave
resealable containers. 

first you want to clean your mixing bowl really well, then youll want to rinse it off and dry it as best you can, water will seperate milk chocolate and i found a great way to start off the melting AND make sure the bowl is water free... I have an 1100 watt microwave, so I dried the bowl and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes to ensure the water was evaporated off the bowl - amazing side effect, the bowl became pretty warm to the touch!

NEXT


Used the warm bowl to start the melting process of both bags of chips.
Place bowl in the microwave at 20 second intervals stirring after each time until all the chips are melted... now you want to go easy from here... you want to keep heating the chocolate but NOW at 10 second hits until the chocolate is liquid (about the consistency of honey or a little thicker...)

you will also want to get ready any and all things you want to add for the almonds we toasred them in the oven at 350 moving them around every two minutes for about 10 minutes *you'll smell the almonds when they are starting to toast make sure they are a golden brown.

Now add the almonds (or whatever ) to the chocolate folding it in making sure its evenly distributed through the chocolate. 

place parchment on the cookie sheet and start to pour the chocolate out of the bowl and into the cookie sheet. spreading it evenly, once spread i take the cookie sheet and lift it a little and drop it to "tamp"" the chocolate and remove any bubbles.

place in the fridge for 90 minutes. once cooled and re hardened, break apart in whatever size you want and place in resealable container. lasts about a week.

For the peppermint bark you want to do the same thing, only watch the heating more closely as the main thing in white chocolate is cocoa butter chemically its all sorts of different and can "set up" on you in no time. follow the above steps only youll end up with more of a cake batter consistency with the whie chocolate. if yo uoverheat the chocolate at all it will clump up and be all sorts of nasty looking... start again.. rule of thumb take it slow 10 to 20 seconds in the microwave!!!

if you are using a double boiler... Keep a closer eye on the melting.

so thats it this yeilded three large rectangular tupperware bowls of pieces roughly the size of a quarter candy bar.

enjoy!!!