Home made sweets

JIL

For Christmas this year rather than big tins of chocolates I thought I would have a go at making some home made sweets.
I have had a practise and made some fudge using the recipe from the carnation web site. It turned out better than I expected.
I also had a go at the tablet from MF in 3 site and again that was good.
But apart from coconut ice I'm a bit stumped as to what else I can try.

Does anyone have any tried and tested recipes for some toffee or any other sweets?
Also how long can the finished product be stored?
Thanks in advance.

rufydoofyM

Not sure of recipes, but remember making homemade sweet boxes with mum back in the 60s and 70s. We made peppermint creams and dipped some in chocolate. Also various flavours of fudge and then there was honeycombe, one of my favourites at the time. Mum would also do marzipan and cherries and chocolate dates and mini florentines.
Hope that gives you some more ideas.
Thanks for triggering some wonderful childhood memories.

Anne_Marie_2

A couple of favourites that I used to help Mum to make was sherry balls and rum truffles. There's plenty of recipes on the web.

Tiffany_Aching

There are loads of recipes on allrecipes.co.uk. Below is a link to take you specifically to the sweets section. The thing I like about this website is that that users get try the recipe and leave feedback on how good it is, where it needs tweeking and different variations they have tried - it's as good as being given tried and trusted recipes from a friend

Link to lots of sweetie recipes!

Generali

Salted caramels?

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/28649/salted+caramel+squares

You need a sugar thermometer.

PasturesNew

Just make sure that whatever you do make will really get eaten. It's easy to get caught up in the idea and end up with unappetising sweets nobody likes ... while everybody's craving a miniature cadbury's twirl

JIL

Generali wrote: »

Salted caramels?

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/28649/salted+caramel+squares

You need a sugar thermometer.

As if by magic my sugar thermometer arrived this morning, thanks for the recipe.

JIL

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just make sure that whatever you do make will really get eaten. It's easy to get caught up in the idea and end up with unappetising sweets nobody likes ... while everybody's craving a miniature cadbury's twirl

Is there such a thing as an unappetising sweet?

greenval

This is a recipe from Nov/Dec Mo*risons magazine.
200g butter
200g condensed milk
800g Icing sugar
I found it easiest to melt the butter but don't let it get hot, add the condensed milk, mix.
Sift in the icing sugar beating well after each addition.
On one batch I added a few drops of vanilla essence. In another I diluted a teaspoon of instant coffee in a tiny amount of water (mainly because I didn't have any coffee flavouring) Someone else suggested doing rum & raisin.
I lined a toffee tray with greaseproof paper, spooned the mix in, levelled it out a bit and decorated with those edible silver ball things, probably worth lightly pressing them in. Chill overnight in the fridge.
Lift out and cut into small squares.
Makes 80 small squares. My 'product testers', next door neighbours said it was lovely and want more.
Also, on the back of nestle condensed milk or their website, there is a recipe for chocolate fudge.
Hope this is helpful!

SDG31000

Homemade marshmallows are wonderful and so much better than shop brought ones.
I use James Martin's recipe and will be giving them as presents this year with a jar of hot chocolate mix and ingredients to make s'mores.

theoretica

JIL wrote: »

Is there such a thing as an unappetising sweet?

Yes - I have made a few in my experimentation.