Stacey Makes It

It's that time of year again.  The time of year that people like to eat extra chocolate that isn't Easter or Christmas.  So I thought I'd put together some boxes again to sell to my mom's wonderful friends and my awesome co-workers so that I can keep deducting my ingredients from my taxes. Stacey's 2012 Mid-February (for those who hate Valentine's Day) Chocolate Boxes: Strawberry white chocolate hearts with crispies and milk chocolate bottoms Dark Chocolate Hearts with Candied Almonds Chocolate Bars:  Strawberry White Chocolate with Crispies White Chocolate with Dark Chocolate Drizzle Dark Chocolate with Candied Almonds Kahlua Truffles Two Ways: Dipped in Dark Chocolate with a White/Milk Chocolate Drizzle Rolled in Chocolate Sprinkles and Organic Turbinado Sugar And lastly, my pièce de résistance... The Walnut Meltaway in Milk Chocolate - this is my latest invention of which I am so proud.  I ate one of these and I swear I was transcended t...

I wasn't very diligent about this recipe because I was sort of experimenting.  But, here's the gist of it. Stacey's Chocolate Dipped Maple Candied Walnuts ~3c walnuts ~1c sugar, organic ~1/3c brown sugar, organic ~1/3c maple syrup 1/2 stick salted butter, organic ~2-3tsp cinnamon (it was a quick dash from the costco container) ~1/2tsp nutmeg (I used a whole nutmeg and a spice rasp until it looked like enough) Chocolate for Dipping ~1/2lb to 1lb couverture El Rey chocolate (I didn't measure) So first I threw the walnuts in boiling water for about 5 minutes and drained them.  This helps take the bitterness off the skins.  I drained them and threw them into a pot where I had the rest of the ingredients (minus the chocolate) waiting. I stirred the nuts over a flame until they reached about 250F.  At this point, the sugar started crystallizing in a weird way so I figured it was because the nuts were still wet.  I decided to finish them in the oven....