Playing in the kitchen

Yeah I bet I know what you were thinkin. No Rodger was at work. I have been playing in the kitchen by my self. Well guess that didn't sound any better did it? OK so I will explain. I been making hand dipped chocolates. That sounds sophisticated don't it? Or in hillbilly terms, I been making candies. The candies are from the recipe from the previous post. But see ya know I don't do things according to a recipe. I have to tinker with everything. And that is what I did with the candy making too. So maybe I will post this as a recipe for Christmas candy-part 2. You make the basic mix of 1 12oz box of vanilla wafer, crushed fine, the finer the better, 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter and 1 lb powdered sugar. Mix this really well. It will be crumbly in texture. But thas OK. Then I separated it into 3 different bowls. In one of the bowls I added about 1/2 cup Baileys Irish Cream with a hint of caramel. Oh yeh! Ya know I like my Baileys. To another bowl I added 1/4 cup pina colada mix and about 1/2 cup of flaked coconut. To the third bowl I added about 1/4 cup of Kahlua and about 2 tablespoons of Hershey's baking chocolate (powder). I stirred em all up in each bowl real good to mix pretty well. Then I would get in there with my hands and finish the mixing and roll each batch into lil balls, these about the size of large grapes. I put these on a plate and set them in the freezer. After I got all of em rolled I melted my chocolate bark or Candi Quick and started dipping the rolled candies. Placed em back on a sheet pan lined with foil and set them in the fridge to harden. These things are so dang good. AND I bet ya can guess my favorite. Yep, Its the Baileys Irish cream. But the strawberry daiquiri is good too. And I do like the coconut ones. I might get brave tomorrow and try my hand at peanut butter fudge. Of all the things I cook and cook well, the ability to make really good cooked fudge eludes me.
Any way, with all this candy stuff I didn't fix a big supper. We had chicken soup with some stock I had canned and some leftover chicken from last nights dinner. One of the things on my to-do list for tomorrow is to siphon off or rack my bucket of wine. Dang I have put it off for a few months now. But it really needs to be done. Rodger kinda hinted at the idea of making a batch of beer pretty soon and the best place for the beer barrel is where the bucket is sittin with the wine in it. I had him stop at the hardware store on his way home and pick up one of those handy lil Kerosene siphon thingys, ya know the one with the bulb ya squeeze to get it started? Well I am gonna wash it really good and use it to siphon off the wind into another container so it can settle again and rack it the second time. After that its sweeten if need be, sterilize and bottle. Then off to the cellar to age. Maybe I will remember to take some pics to share with ya. Mouse trap mind here ya know.
I did go OUT side today. Don't laugh, I trudged thru the snow all the way to my summer kitchen. See thas where my food processor lives and I had to make vanilla wafer crumbs. It was not too bad cold out. A nice sunny day, the ground is still warm so lots of the snow we had melted today. You can see bare ground all over where the sun hit. But we posed to get slammed with more snow and freezing rain and possible 1/2 inch of ice Wednesday and into the night. I am so thankful I don't have to be out in it. But I do worry bout my guys and the many others that do have to be out on the roads and have to work out in the mess. Thas why I like to at least give them a nice filling hot meal when they get home.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella