Prepare to Drool

Presenting a photo documentary of the Hansen candy making extravaganza 2005.

The tallies are in and we made a s*^tload of candy! :)

I would have to check with my MIL but this is my estimate.

246 Turtles
191 Buckeyes
175 Logs
86 Peanut Clusters
23 Coconut Clusters
12 Pecan clusters
2 trays of white mint chocolate (white chocolate with broken candy canes)
1.5 trays of rice crispy treat milk chocolate
50 dark mint chocolate Santa molds
lots of dark chocolate mint mini holly molds (much too small to count!)
28 white chocolate bell molds
24 white chocolate tree molds
4 green chocolate tree molds
12 big green chocolate holly molds
9 big green chocolate wreath molds
20 small green chocolate wreath molds

I don't think I missed anything.
This year we skipped out on doing rice crispy Santa molds and I think that saved a TON of time. Those molds are a PAIN! Way too many bubbles!.

As an added bonus we were much quicker and tidier this year. The whole process start (rolling out buckeyes and caramel (MIL makes the buckeye mix beforehand)) to finish (boxing candy and cleaning up) went from 10 AM to 10:30 PM. Not too shabby! Of course I was exhausted all the same.

This chocolate is divine. I may have tasted a bit more than my fair share yesterday. I will have to hide the extra chocolate from myself until the housewarming party.

I am going to let you in on the secret to wonderful tasting homemade chocolate. It is all in the wafers! The best melting chocolate to use is Merckens (Not sure about the spelling). Lucky for us we have a shop that sells the Merckens wafers nearby. You don't use any wax with these things! Just melt and dip and/or pour. 100% Tasty!

I slept in this morning so I am looking forward to a solo run later and lots of organizing in the home "office" :)

It snowed more last night so I will also probably get out and do some shoveling. I am under the impression that our street does not get any professional plowing done, ever. It was a sheet of ice last night while the rest of our towns main streets were fine.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

That looks like a lot of fun, but dangerous. I am a huge chocolate eater. I don't think I would be much of a help making more than I would eat.

D said...

Wow Elizabeth - that is awfully impressive.

Bolder said...

what the hell are you guys going to do with all that chocolate?

put belgium out of business??

explanation!

p.s. i am totally in to 'Love will lead us'... i'm gonnna have to rethink leavin' songs on my blog longer, this bad boy really grew on me.

Teresa said...

I LOVE COCONUT CLUSTERS!!!!!!!:)

E-Speed said...

rob- we make way too much to eat it all while making it :) The total was around 32 lbs this year!

dgc, thanks

bolder- we give out the chocolates as Christmas gifts :) The song is actually titled Dolphins Cry, sorry if I confused you! I just updated!

teresa- hopefully I have a few extra I can set aside for you ;)

Anonymous said...

Holy schmoly, that's a lot of Schokolade! Very tempting :)
Glad it went well. I have trouble baking more than one thing at once with two energetic cats around :)

islandarts said...

OMGoodness those cholocate look scrum-dilly-icious!! I have to ask, what exactly are buckeyes? I see what they look like but still can't figure it out. I LOVE making turtles but haven't done it for years. I'm really trying to keep sugar out of my diet but this time of year is a killer for me!!

Lynne said...

Wow. I am impressed.

E-Speed said...

thanks ladies!

island- buckeyes are a peanut buttery/sugary mix rolled and dipped in chocolate. I would have to ask my MIL for exact ingredients.

CJ said...

That is some chocolate you have there! Pity I don't live next to you!!!

Spandex King said...

Holy Shnikies!!! I'd put on like 500 pounds with all of those nummies in my house!!

Anonymous said...

that is quite a haul. do you pass it out to foster children?

Anonymous said...

this is ramstein (sp?), right? spinning teacher played it on thursday...not quite sure what i think about it...

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! That's a lot of candy! Jim LOVES peppermint bark (the white chocolate with crushed candy canes) but it is so expensive down here. And no one knows what buckeyes are down here! Loved the snow pics! I miss it!

E-Speed said...

anon- actually no. We make the chocolate as x-mas (or hannukah) presents for friends and family. You would be surprised how fast it goes.

My MIL does participate in a gift program through her hospital though where they go out and get gifts for families in need. So no worries we are definitely spreading the holiday cheer around.

su- yep Rammstein. This song is obviously quite political and I love it. There are a lot of their songs that I like running to. You have to be in the mood for it. Very Very Dark music. I LOVE their song Feur Frei which was featured in the XXX soundtrack.

Mon- left a post on your blog on how super easy (and less inexpensive) it is to make the peppermint bark.

Chicalookate said...

Can I get on that candy list? I am salivating just thinking about it.

Fe-lady said...

I would decide to go to your site at the end of the day with one more workout on the horizon...now I want at least a CHOCOLATE GU instead of the strawberry that is in my gym bag! Looked like you had a great time...like the BROWNS sweatshirt too. Made me homesick just for a second! :-)