Dec
28

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Homemade Butter Toffee

Category: Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Homemade butter toffee

Butter toffee has to be one of the best candies out there – growing up I had a mild addiction to Macintosh toffee – if I had the choice between a candy bar and one of the Mack tartan box I’d jump at the hard and chewy later option every time. Corporate consolidation saw the Canadian version I had in my childhood disappear a while ago, and while a modern version came back out after a few years it just doesn’t measure up in my view.  Fortunately homemade butter toffee has to be one of the easiest candies to produce in your own kitchen.  Simple ingredients, quick to produce and no pulling required.

So if you’ve missed that original tartan candy or never experienced it – give this recipe a try.


Dec
13

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Homemade Christmas Candy Boxes – The Christmas Tree

Category: The Kitchen, The Workshop Leave a Comment

Letterpress Christmas Candy Box

The three stages, 1. Print, 2. Cut and Score, 3. Glue to finish

For the last several Christmases we’ve gotten a bit creative with our letterpresses – first the kids have to do their own lino-cut suitable printing block for our Christmas cards, and secondly I design, carve and print up a box to hold the homemade candy we’ll give to family, friends, colleagues and neighbors.

I find the box making to be a fun and creative process that also makes the homemade candy stand out – or at least I think so!

Christmas Tree Candy Box Template

Christmas Tree Candy Box Template

So this year I came up with a Christmas tree design box.  It actually just fits on a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper – so tight that the upper flap has the corners missing – but since it gets stapled closed that doesn’t really detract from it – and I wanted the maximum volume for the candy – so it seems a fair trade off.

While you might not have a letterpress you can produce these boxes for yourself.  Download the image and print it out on cardstock.  As a heavier weight it works well for making these boxes, regular printer paper is OK for demos but won’t stand up when filled.

Cut out around the external solid line and then score along the internal solid lines in order to allow for easy bending.  Fold and glue the tabs to the back of the tree sides and your box is complete and ready to be filled.

Have fun and some great holidays.