The Very Late, I'm So Sorry, I Suck, August Daring Baker Challenge but I Made Candy So Hopefully You'll Forgive Me Post!

AM I FORGIVEN???

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

HOW ABOUT NOW?

OR NOW?

Okay, okay I apologize to my readers and the daring kitchen right now. Here publicly on my blog I'll just say it. I suck. Or at least I did last month. I have been so busy being a lazy, crazy lady that I didn't get this done. I did make both the barks in August on time but the fudge was holding me up. We needed to make two things and I did not want to make 2 barks only, nor did I want 2 chocolate items. So I waited to post this until I made the fudge. Which took frigging forever. We had house guests, then back to school prep, then back to school and I was loopy out of my mind crazy and got a puppy. Yah, I wasn't busy enough so thought I'd throw something else into the mix.  So lessons I've learned:


Do not leave things to the last minute. *cough*


Do not take pics but leave them unedited on your computer. *cough, cough*


Do not have house guests. *wait that can't be right*


Do not get caught up in chocolate and forget to do other things. *cough, cough, cough*


Do not buy puppies. *really loud cough*


See you came here and learned some stuff. Yup, I'm a giver. Give, give, give...that's me. Always willing to throw myself under the bus for a good cause.


Okay so I was late but I made some cool stuff so hopefully I am forgiven and we can all be bff's again. You all know by now I am crazy and busy and I tend to overload myself. It's what I do. And I do it well. *giggle*


So let's start with the cherry pistachio marble bark. You all know I made some lovely pistachio marble bark last month. Well color me surprised when I saw this challenge. But I couldn't make the exact same one and post it. That would be wrong. So I thought to myself "self, how do we improve upon perfection?" Then it came to me. Literally! I got a box from my sister with dried cherries in it. She sent me a recipe to try with it (coming soon!) so I stole them for this challenge and replaced them when I went to Costco. She has no idea. Er, well, she does now. She does read my blog. Er, sorry Deb. I kinda, sorta stole them from the intended recipe and used them then had to run out and buy more. But they were so good. And they made 2 batches. So thank you Deb for the inspiration for the perfect bark. I love this one more than the pistachio one. My sister also sends me this cool chocolate bar from a chocolate store called Purdy's. It is my fave chocolate factory in the ENTIRE WORLD! Honestly if you have never tried it go online and order some. You will not believe how good it is. Anyhow she sends me a chocolate bar occasionally from there as we don't have Purdy's here. It's chocolate with cherries and pistachios in it. Those are my three fave things in the ENTIRE WORLD so I go nuts when she sends it. Which reminds me, if you guys can all excuse me a minute while I talk to Deb alone...


"I need more of that Purdy's chocolate cherry pistachio bars stat! No pressure or anything. Not like there's hundreds of people now waiting to see pics when the box arrives. Really, Deb, just take your time. No rush. *cough* I understand perfectly it could take awhile. *cough, cough* I can wait. *scoffs* Patiently."


Okay you can all peek back in now. I'm done. Now where was I? Oh, okay so chocolate....good. Cherries....good. Pistachios....good. What's not to like here. Seriously this is OMG I can't take it good. This is I must make this every couple weeks good. This is perfect for gifts and think this one will be going out to tons of family at Christmastime. Especially Donna, my sis-in-law, who loved it with me while she visited. I even sent the leftover pieces home on the plane with her. You know I must really love her to give up my precious bark to her. I mean it's not like I can't make more. It's like like I ran right home and made another batch or anything. Okay so I did. Can you blame me?


The Best Cherry Pistachio Marble Bark in the ENTIRE WORLD!
 (omg I am gonna get in trouble for this one!)


Ingredients:


6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate
6 ounces of white chocolate
3/4 cup dried cherries
3/4 cup pistachios


Directions:


In separate double boilers melt your chocolates. Do NOT combine them in the same pot!


While melting, shell your pistachios.


Line a square cake pan with parchment. (wetting the parchment helps get it pliable)


Once your chocolate is melted put pistachios in the semi-sweet chocolate pot.


Now add the cherries to the white chocolate pot. 


Stir them in lightly.


Now take the semi-sweet chocolate mixture and drop in various spots in the tin.


Take the white chocolate mixture and drop that where there is no semi-sweet.


Take a knife and just drag it lightly through so the two mix together enough to create the marble effect. Do not overmix or it's just light brown bark and that's no fun.


Stick in the fridge to let set. 


*note-use tempered chocolate or be prepared to have chocolatey fingers. I used tempered for one batch but not the other. It does make a difference. My understanding is if you buy couverture chocolate it is already tempered so you don't need to do that. If not you must temper it. Just ask someone at the store if you need help. Those folks know their stuff. They go on and on and I try to listen to the specifics of tempering but I just space out and hear "blah, blah, blah" for anything science related.

SHOULD HAVE USED A DIFFERENT BACKGROUND ON THIS ONE

ALTHOUGH IT DOES NOT AFFECT THE TASTE

WHICH IS OUT OF THIS WORLD

LIKE REALLY OUT OF THIS WORLD

OR BETTER YET, THE BEST IN THE ENTIRE WORLD

LAUGHS UNCONTROLLABLY

Then I did a calmer more simple bark that we'll call:


Calmer, More Simple Bark:


Ingredients:


12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup walnuts, chopped


Directions:




In a double boiler melt your chocolate. 


While melting, chop up your walnuts.


Line a square cake pan with parchment. (wetting the parchment helps get it pliable)


Once your chocolate is melted put the walnuts in the pot.


Stir them in lightly.


Pour the mixture into prepared pan and stick in fridge to set.


Remove and cut up.



*note-use tempered chocolate or be prepared to have chocolatey fingers. I used tempered for one batch but not the other. It does make a difference. My understanding is if you buy couverture chocolate it is already tempered so you don't need to do that. If not you must temper it. Just ask someone at the store if you need help. Those folks know their stuff. They go on and on and I try to listen to the specifics of tempering but I just space out and hear "blah, blah, blah" for anything science related.

HUBS LIKED THIS ONE

WHICH WAS REALLY A GOOD THING

THAT WAY THERE WAS MORE OF THE CHERRY AND PISTACHIO ONE FOR ME

AND DONNA

CUZ US GIRLS DON'T LIKE TO SHARE CHOCOLATE

And the grand finale that held up this post for weeks on end, we'll call it:


Grand Finale That Holds Up The Lunatic's Post Peanut Butter Fudge:


Source: Daring Kitchen Site- they just call it Peanut Butter Fudge


Ingredients:


1/2 cup of butter
2 1/4 cups of firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar (icing)


Directions:


Line an 8 by 8 square pan with parchment. (wetting the parchment helps when putting it in to pans with corners. Or cut it to size.)


Put butter in medium saucepan and melt over medium heat.


Add brown sugar and milk while stirring.


Boil for 2 minutes, making sure you stir frequently.


Remove from the heat.


Stir in peanut butter and vanilla.


Place confectioners sugar in a large bowl.


Pour the peanut butter mixture over top of the confectioners sugar.


Beat or stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.


Pour into a prepared cake pan.


Chill for about an hour or until firm.


Remove and cut into squares.


Serve with a smile.


*Note- I had company pop by right in the middle of this fudge. You know how fudge can be. This is a simple version but I still had an issue with not mixing it enough. So you may notice it is not as smooth as it could be. Blame my company. Want their number to file a complaint? Lol!

SO PRETTY RIGHT

ONE OF MY BETTER PICTURES

ONE OF MY NOT SO BETTER PICTURES

WAIT, DID THAT LAST SENTENCE MAKE ANY SENSE

AH, WHO CARES

CUZ THERE'S FUDGE

AND FUDGE IS FUN TO STACK

REALLY HIGH

AND HOPE IT DOESN'T FALL

CUZ THAT WOULD BE A SHAME TO LOSE A PIECE

ESPECIALLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN THE THIRTY SECOND RULE

SO YOU THINK I'D STOP DOING THINGS LIKE THIS

So there you have it folks. I finally got this one done. I did not do the august daring cook one either but I think I'll consider that a skip at this point. Plus it was a curry and I am not a big fan of curry nor is the family. So moving on I shall be better and within my allotted time frame with these challenges. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Or often if you're like me.


Hope you guys like this one. I had a ton of fun with the fudge pics as you can see. I would say this fudge is average. It's not great. I make a killer peanut butter one that is a family recipe but I need to check with hubs family that it would be okay to share. So will keep you posted on the status of that one. And also on the status of my impending cherry pistachio chocolate bar coming from Purdy's from my sis. Again, no rush or anything. *evil laugh*


Toodles and smoochies. xx