Toffee, the gateway to candy making

Despite getting my annual summer cold, I am continuing to make favorite dessert foods on the weekends.  The latest treat was toffee, an easy candy and a good introduction to candy making.

There are lots of recipes available on the net and in books.  I used Better than Anything Toffee from "Mom on Timeout" because it came up high on the list and I love pecans.  You can use any chopped nut instead of the pecans, or leave them out entirely. 

Ingredients:  1C chopped pecans, 1C unsalted butter, 1C sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1C chocolate chips.  The recipe calls for milk chocolate and I subbed dark. 

After prepping the 9 inch sq baking pan, put butter, salt and sugar in a large pan (she calls for 3qt but 2 would probably work).  This calls for patience as the toffee mixture has to heat to 290 F, aka hard ball if you want to use the water test instead of a candy thermometer.  And stir regularly to avoid scorching. 

Once the candy has turned brown and hit the required temp, add vanilla and pour it over the nuts in the pan.

Cool for 5 minutes to let it get solid, then put the chocolate chips on top and spread.  Then it goes in the fridge for 2 hours or more before getting cut/broken  into pieces and eaten.    Yummy stuff and next time, I'll use the candy molds I ordered so I can better control the portion size. 

Reading during my month of downtime

I took June off.  I usually go slow on goals during the month between Jeff's birthday (6/5) and my birthday (7/6) but this year, I just needed total downtime.  So, I read novels, comfort reading.  Novels I had read and enjoyed before.   And here's what I read.

First up was the new release of Patricia Briggs' latest novel, Smoke Bitten.  I read the entire Mercy Universe series as a run up, most of that being in May. 

While I like the Mercy books, I prefer the Omega books in general as I'm not that keen on vampires.  This novel, the 12th in the series, is more about the fae coming out and how the werewolves are dealing with it.  Very enjoyable expansion of the series.

Then my friend Lisa decided to start her second novel based on a witch near the local prison who can see ghosts.  She was starting from the very spooky setting and doesn't read urban fantasy herself so she wanted me to help her out with the fantasy elements.  So, I went back to the Kalayna Price series about a grave witch who can call up the shade of the deceased and question them.  This series also has a major fae element and tends toward the romance end of the urban fantasy spectrum.  Enjoyable beach reading, definitely.

After that series, I was craving shapeshifters and B&N told me about a new Psy-changeling book from Nalini Singh.  I enjoy this series a lot when I'm in the mood for some fun paranormal romance.  Great sense of humor especially the excerpts from the Wild Woman columns.

I finished off the month with the Iron Seas series from Meljean Brooks.  Steampunk pirates in an alternate history with lots of adventure, swashbuckling and romance. 

So now I am refreshed and destressed and heading back into the studio.