May The Chocolate Not Be With You......

Yes, it was time once again for book group at my house. I did not make any treats with real chocolate. Instead I chose confections with autumn colors. Starting at the top left of the picture and going clockwise:

• the orange and white creamsicle fudge,
  
• a bowl of Merckens Marquis chocolate buttons (as a concession to the chocoholics)
  
• a pan with fudgy caramels and a few cut caramels in front of the pan
  
• the red paper plate with pineapple jellies
  
• next is a sample of the green take home treat bag with a piece of each homemade candy
• peanut brittle in the rectangle container (on top of blue lid)
• square glass dish with the few remaining pieces of penouche (which I think was the favorite)
• and finally a bowl of Brach's Autumn Mix of candy corn, Indian corn, and mellowcreme pumpkins.

So I actually showed some restraint in only make five different kinds of candies but I enjoyed making them and I think people enjoyed eating them. Oh, the book we discussed was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. For next month we will be reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Chocolate and caramel and aplets, oh my!

Treats for Book Group

Last night I hosted the book group to which I belong. We discussed my book selection, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, among other things. I digressed early and often during our discussion and we covered everything from the clear play dvd player to candy thermometers and pans to candy making in general. We did touch upon our next book, Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and a couple of us (we were such a small group-only four others were able to come) admitted to having never read the book previously or viewed the movie. Audible gasps greeted the movie admission. Sigh. So I haven’t seen some of the great movies of all time-life is just too short on time sometimes. We enjoyed my overzealous candy-making endeavor of licorice caramels, orange caramels, plain caramels, chocolate caramels, aplets, mint-flavored dark chocolate dipped oreos, and chocolate dipped homemade marshmallows. This is why I probably don’t get to host book group too often-I just get carried away. Although my excuse was that last time I hosted we had sick kids & so my token offering then consisted of nuts and Sweets’ cinnamon bears.