Ever since I can remember my Grandma Ann would make hand dipped chocolates every year around Thanksgiving time and then box them up in a pretty box and hand them out to family and friends for the Holidays. What sweet and precious memories I have of this time of year and now it is my turn to take what I have learned from her and my mother and keep this memory alive!
The fondant is used as the creamy center inside the chocolates. There are so many different colors and flavors that you can add to this recipe to make it to your own liking. A few that I love and remember that my grandma would do are: Almond (which was used to enclose a single cherry), Rum (either plain or once dipped in chocolate it went directly into toasted coconut and rolled around for a beautiful look and texture), Orange, Lemon, Peppermint (I remember these as being dipped in pink chocolate and then topped with a edible silver bead), Caramels, Cherry Nut (almond flavoring with diced cherries and chopped walnuts), Maple Nut (maple flavoring with chopped walnuts), Raspberry and Strawberry. I know there are many others that were used and created and so it is really up to you and your taste buds to create something wonderful with this basic fondant recipe.
Some special equipment that is really helpful to use while doing fondant and chocolates are:
Marble slab (a cool surface is what really is needed for fondant and chocolate to set up correctly, and a marble slab is really a great cool surface-but these can be quite expensive, but well worth it. If your counter tops are already marble or granite those will work great as well).
A good candy thermometer that will hang on the side of the pot.
Metal putty knife (get a really heavy duty one, making fondant requires quite a bit of strength and a good putty knife that can handle pressure).
Pastry brush which you will use while cooking the fondant (this will allow you to "wash" down the sides of the pot to make sure all of the sugar is dissolved, having sugar not dissolved and then being poured out with the rest of the fondant will ruin the batch of fondant, so it is really important to have a pastry brush and a glass of water by your pot of candy to run along the sides of the pot and to also "wash" the steam away from your candy thermometer to correctly read the temperature. Also with the sugar, it is important to not use a wooden spoon-sugar can be trapped in the wood, it is probably a good idea that once your fondant is pretty well dissolved of sugar to rinse your spoon off, I use a nylon spoon).
I have also been told a heavy pot is another great thing to have when doing candy. For fondant you need a big tall pot because once the fondant has reached to a boil it will boil up to the top of the pot. I use an 8 quart pot for my fondant.Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup half & half
1/3 cup Whole milk
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. Light Karo Syrup
*Later on add things such as, flavoring (1-2 teaspoons), food coloring, nuts and cherries/fruit pieces.
Instructions:
Boil to 225 degrees.
Stir all ingredients together on medium heat. Once butter is melted and sugar is dissolved rinse your spoon and use your pastry brush and glass of water to "wash" down the sides of the pot to allow all of the sugar to be dissolved. Place your candy thermometer down into the mixture and attach to the side of the pot. Continue stirring the mixture until the fondant comes to a steady boil. At this point there is no need to stir, just let it cook until it has reached 225 degrees on the thermometer. Once it has hit 225 degrees take your thermometer out of the pot and pour the fondant directly in the middle on your marble slab. The marble slab should be square (or close to) and at least the size of a 17x20 slab, because the fondant will spread out into a circle almost to the size of a large pizza. At this point the fondant will be hot and shiny. Allow it to cool and lose it's shine. Add your choice of flavoring (1-2 teaspoons)/nuts/cherries and food coloring. Mix this with a metal putty knife by scooping and folding/slapping down the fondant until it hardens and can be shaped in a square or rectangle. Wrap with Saran Wrap and store in the refrigerator.
Dipping your candy in chocolate
When ready to dip in chocolate, cut off sections of refrigerated (but brought up to room temperature, 62-68 F) fondant to be rolled into a ball about the size of a nickel to a quarter-depending on how big you would like your chocolates to be. Make sure the room you are dipping your chocolates in is very cold, anything below 65 degrees F is great. There is a technique for melting your chocolate, this is called tempering the chocolate. My grandma would always melt her chocolate in a crock pot on a low to medium heat. The trick is to not get your chocolate too hot or it will burn and ruin the chocolate. The chocolate in the crock pot needs to be stirred often. If you think you are stirring it enough, it is probably better to stir it some more. When the chocolate is melted it is helpful to have a digital thermometer to not exceed 120 degrees with your melted chocolate. If the chocolate is getting too hot and exceeding 120 degrees add more chocolate pieces and stir or simply lower the temperature on the crock pot. When ready to dip, pour out a ladle or two of chocolate onto your marble board. Using the marble board will again, cool down the chocolate to it's proper temperature. Use your hand to mix the chocolate on the board by using, with your fingers together, an "S" motion through the chocolate. Continue this mixing and cooling process until chocolate feels cool to the touch, about 85 F. Now your fondant or candy is ready to be dipped in the chocolate. Cover the candy and place on wax paper. My grandma would always use a symbol that would be written in the chocolate when she placed the covered candy on the wax paper, by dipping her finger on the top of the wet chocolate covered candy and draw the symbol. Most times it was the initial of the flavoring used; such as an M for maple nut, O for Orange, a cursive L for lemon, diagonal line for Caramels and so on.
