2011 Annual Craven Candy Making

One of our favorite holiday traditions is making homemade candy, chocolates and confections for Christmas gift giving. It always reminds me of my childhood and the fun food traditions we had growing up, creating in the kitchen with my Mom. This year Holly & I had a fun time mixing it up and doing different types of fudges and caramels to share with our family, colleagues at work and various friends & neighbors.



Starting a big batch of caramel and adding chocolate to make a chocolate-espresso batch.



Cooking it down and letting it bubble, adding more chocolate a handful at a time.



Adding the espresso and cooking it to soft ball stage.



Almost to temperate and ready to pour in my prepped pan.



After the batch cooled, I cut it and prepped it for wrapping in glassine paper candy cups.



A complete batch of white chocolate, peppermint fudge.



The white chocolate peppermint fudge all cut, wrapped and cupped.



Finished batches ready for boxing. Chocolate-espresso caramel. White chocolate peppermint fudge. And a batch of cinnamon-anise golden caramel.



Boxed and ready for lids, and custom designed labels from Holly.



The finished goodies. Have been shipping to friends across the country, making local deliveries, shipping to family, and sharing with neighbors and colleagues. A very fun tradition indeed. Grateful to have learned from my Mom, and to be able to share the talent with my many friends.