Holiday Treat Tins Now Available

It's that time of year again! This year we're doing things a little differently, too, as I've collaborated with my friend Rebecca Fouquette who is starting her own baking business, From Pie to Infinity. She makes some amazing treats, and has opened up the ordering to allow for shipping, so we're hoping to be very busy in the next 3 weeks.

Without further ado, check out our fancy order website to view these options:

Holiday Cookie Combo Tin
- Pignola Cookies
- Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies
- Peppermint Pinwheels
- Molasses Chews
- Vanilla Bean Shortbread
- Butterscotch Biscotti

Fruity Cookie Combo Tin

- Raspberry Linzers

- Fig Swirls

- Angel Whispers

Brittle & Toffee Tin
- Almond Roca Toffee
- Pumpkin Seed and Cocoa Nib Brittle
- Butter Pecan Bark
- Thai Cashew Brittle

Holiday Candy Combo Tin

- Butterscotch Chews

- Coconut Rum Marshmallows

- Chocolate Cherry Fudge

- Eggnog Fudge

Caramel Popcorn Tin
- made with fleur de sel

Spiced Nuts Tin

- Chili Lime Cashews

- Honey Chipotle Almonds

A lot of these items are also available a la carte.
To order, you can email me at kathleen@kathleensconfections.com or go to the From Pie to Infinity website to place an online order (this is where you should go if you want to have the items shipped).
Please place orders by Dec 7, and choose to have them available on either December 12 or December 19 (both Rebecca and I work full time jobs still, so can only do our mass baking on the weekends).

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and maybe decide to share some of these tasty treats with your loved ones, too!

Easter Baskets

For a special Easter treat, I will be making cupcake Easter baskets, available to order. A baker’s dozen of 3 mini cupcake varieties: Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting decorated as Easter eggs, Zesty lemon cupcakes with homemade marshmallow chicks, and Chocolate malt cupcakes with ganache chocolate bunnies, all arranged in a decorative basket. 

$45, plus tax. 

Please order by this Friday, April 22. No early orders can be filled. Pick up Saturday afternoon (local orders only).

Holiday Treat Tins Available for Order

I know, it's a little scary: it's already mid-November.

It hurts every fiber in my being to talk about December holidays before it's their turn, but sometimes you just need a couple extra weeks to plan ahead. Specifically, I mean to entice you with some of my holiday offerings, now available to order. You can check out my Holiday Treat tins at www.kathleensconfections.com/tins.html. This year's line up:

Holiday Cookie Collection

A balanced variety of flavors including spiced, chocolatey, fruity, and nutty; great for pleasing a crowd. Flavors include:

• Molasses Chews - Warm spices with a hefty ginger zing are the striking flavors of these chewy cookies.
• Black Forest Biscotti - Rich dark chocolate biscotti studded with chocolate chunks & sweet dried cherries.
• Spritz - A simple, buttery flavor is the hallmark of this classic cookie.
• Buttered Rum Meltaways - Delicate, shortbread cookies flavored with rum that gently melt in your mouth.
• Pignola - A classic Italian cookie made with almond paste and covered in the warm flavor of toasted pine nuts.
• Fig Swirls - A figfilling flavored with orange, honey and spice is elegantly enrobed by a warm butter cookie.
• Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkles - Rich, chewy cookies made with hazelnuts and chocolate, and coated in powdered sugar.
• Raspberry Linzer - A nutty, spicy, crispy cookie sandwiching a tart raspberry jam filling, then sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Toffee & Brittle Tin

Crunchy, sugary bits of brittle, packed with tasty nuts and/or seeds. The toffee is not my own doing, but the mother/daughter team who makes this English Toffee holds their family recipe close, and there really is nothing like it.

• English Toffee (by Mütti's Munchies) - buttery toffee filled with almonds, and topped with milk chocolate and chopped almonds
• Maple, Chipotle, Pecan Brittle
• Pumpkin Seed & Cocoa Nib Brittle
• Vanilla Cashew Brittle

Caramel Popcorn
Enlisting the assistance of Mütti's Munchies once again, I have included this family's special recipe for homemade caramel popcorn into the gift tin options for this year. Sweet and salty, with a buttery crunch, this caramel popcorn is difficult to put down once you've started.

Spiced Nuts

2 unique varieties of nuts fill this tin.

• Spanish Spiced Almonds - very savory, roasted, almost smokey in flavor, these crunchy almonds are a perfect pre-feast snack.
• Chili Lime Cashews - an amazing combo of zesty lime, sweet brown sugar and sea salt completed with a little finishing kick.

And of course, you can order each tin individually, or go all out and get the 3 tier "Treat Tower" which includes the cookies, toffee/brittle, and your choice of the caramel popcorn or the spiced nuts.

Photography for these is by my friend Carol @ www.clickedbycarol.com

Thanks!

About Brittle

I'm not an avid candy maker by any means, but I like to dabble. Last year for the holidays, I went crazy making all sorts of gift basket goodies, including a couple varieties of candies. Luckily most of them went well (thanks to the wonderful candy thermometer by boyfriend's family gave me- thanks!), but I preferred some over others. I was most intrigued by brittle. Last year I had found a recipe for pumpkin seed brittle that had a cinnamon in it, and it was pretty amazing, and also relatively consistent (unlike my taffy which on one attempt to make was as hard as a candy cane).

I'm just starting to plan out what I'm going to make for gift baskets this year, and brittle is definitely on the list. I searched online for a variety of recipes and inspirations, but ended up making 3 variations on one recipe. I'm calling it my "brittle base".

In medium saucepan, over medium heat, stir together:

• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup sugar

until the sugar has dissolved. When it starts to boil, add:

• 1/2 cup butter

Let it keep boiling until your candy thermometer reaches 230˚ F, then start to stir it constantly until it reaches 280˚ (somewhere around 10 minutes).

At this point, you can add in your key ingredient, usually nuts + (get creative) (ideas below).

Stir constantly until it reaches 300˚. Move quickly and have your ingredients ready because this sugar mixture can burn in the blink of an eye.

Remove from heat and stir in:

• 1/2 tsp baking soda (and whatever spice or flavoring you want)

Pour onto a greased or parchmented baking sheet or jelly roll pan and spread until fairly even. I learned a neat trick where you can put a layer of parchment over the brittle and use a rolling pin to lay it flat. The thickness of whatever nut mix you used will help keep it from getting too thin.

Let it cool, then break into pieces and store in an air tight container for a couple days. Be careful of how much moisture is in your home, too. The brittle can get a layer of stickiness on it if you don't have dry enough conditions. Weather can have a big effect on this, so if you can do it, try and make you candies on a non-rainy day.

Ok, so, here are the 3 variations I made today:

1. 1-1/2 cups chopped cashews (simple)
2. 1-1/2 cups pecans, 1 tbs maple extract (not the real stuff I'm afraid), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp chipotle powder (a great flavor combo with a subtle kick)
3. 1 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup cocoa nibs (I used Askinoosie), dash of cayenne pepper

I usually use pre-roasted and salted nuts, but you can always roast your own.

Yay for brittle!