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HOLIDAY IDEAS Lidia
Q: fudge in cookie cutters
Mon Nov 20 14:03:21 2000
I'm making fudge for the first time (!) to give with my Christmas cookies. I thought it would be cute to use cookie cutters to cut out festive shapes.
Then I thought about buying some extra tin cutters and just including them in the gift -- with the fudge left inside the cutter.Will the fudge be a problem for the tin cutters? Rust? Off taste? Or anything else horrid like that?
Dean
Fudge in cutters
Tue Nov 21 07:08:27 2000
We pour fudge in small tin cookie cutters with no problem with tin affecting taste--just be VERY sure you use brand new cutters and absolutley
no rust or corrosion on them and all is fine. After they are set up, place them in a clear bag and tie them off with raffia for decoration and attaching
a small gift card to them. Also, remember fudge will mold rather quickly if sealed up unless you use a small amount of potassium sorbate in your
batch of fudge.These wrapped fudge cutters sell great and require only a very small amount of fudge. Another thing that adds great to these (or any other food
item used as a gift) is to use a program such as Click Book or Fine Print to print out a candy or cookie recipe. Click Book allows you take a
normal sized document & print it as a "doll booklet" or any size--attach the recipe for a batch of cookies onto the raffia ribbon with the fudge
cookie cutter--great seller!
And while it is on my mind, Click Book is great for printing the little booklets such as "The Legend of The Candy Cane" and attaching to your
chocolate dipped candy canes too...Naomi
Re: Q: fudge in cookie cutters
Mon Nov 20 21:01:35 2000
That sounds like a great idea! Sorry, I don;t know about the tin, but if I had questions about it, I would just go with plastic cutters.
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Shan
Question about fudge.....
Wed Dec 6 15:49:13 2000I want to make fudge in tins for the holidays. My question is.... since I don't want to do it all in one day, what can I do to keep the fudge from
molding or getting stale til I can send/give it? I remember reading somewhere that when you wrap fudge in plastic to poke a few holes or it will get
moldy. Is that right? Can I freeze it? My thing is cakes so if this is a dumb candy question, forgive me! :-)
Thanks SO much!Shan
PS I want to just pour it right into the tins to give as gifts, so if it will freeze, that would be perfect for shipping out of state or giving in baskets.
Can you tell what answer I'm hoping for? LOL
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Dean
Re: Question about fudge.....
Thu Dec 7 16:24:44 2000Fudge will actually keep 6-8 weeks, unwrapped in the pan. Sealed up it will keep much longer. Fudge doesn't really "spoil" it just dries out. As for
it molding, fudge will only mold if it is placed in an airtight
environment such as shrink wrapped in a tin AND there is no potassium sorbate in the fudge. Potassium sorbate will prevent it from molding when
sealed up. Make all the fudge you want now, and it will be fine for Christmas--no need to freeze it either as close as it is now to Christmas.
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Dean
Re: Maybe you can tell me.....
Thu Dec 7 18:51:32 2000We don't pour fudge directly into the metal tin, but it is OK to do that. We use a white, round plastic "tin liner" that fits virtually all small round 1 lb
tins. I don't know if Dolores sells these or not--your tin supplier may have them as well. We then just shrink wrap the plastic liner and then place it
in the metal tin as it is a perfect fit.If not using a tin liner, it will be fine to pour your fudge into the tin and then just loosely cover the fudge with Saran wrap. Then just put the lid on
when you ship them and you shouldn't have to worry about mold if you don't have potassium sorbate. Dolores may sell potassium sorbate, I don't
know. It sure is cheap insurance though if you do a whole lot of fudge...but don't worry about it if you don't have it. As close as it is to Christmas
at this point, you should be fine shipping fudge out in a tin. I shipped out 10 lbs of green Jalapeno fudge today (strange sounding, I know, but very
popular!) & I did not use potassium sorbate in this batch of tins, but I used Texas shaped containers which were semi-airtight.
----Teresa
Using "food saver" to freeze candies
Tue Dec 5 04:07:04 2000I have a "food saver" (one of those vacuum food sealers) that works great with lots of foods. I use it to freeze lots of things with no problem. Do
you think this would be a good thing to use to freeze candies? So far I've just wrapped my candies tightly in plastic wrap (following Marida's
method) but I was wondering if my food sealer would also be good.
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Dean
Foodsaver--good & bad
Wed Dec 6 23:25:41 2000
We have a Food Saver Pro by Tilia. Although we have never frozen fudge or candies, if you can safely freeze the food WITHOUT a vacuum,
then it is OK to do so WITH a vacuum seal. A vacuum environment sure can't hurt the candies and will definitely help preserve them frozen longer
as "freezer burn" is virtually impossible in a true vacuum.A word of caution though--the Tilia brand of Food Saver is the closest thing a homeowner can have to a "true" vacuum. The Food Saver pulls a
vacuum in the 85%-90% range, or more specifically, in the 25-26" HG range. This is very strong--so strong that you can crush an empty Coke
can in a Food Saver bag just by vacuuming the air out of the bag. Be sure you protect your candies somehow or they will be crushed & mashed
in a matter of seconds.A few years ago, I built me a non-electric vacuum pump/sealer from PVC pipe. I was going to marinate a brisket in a big, tough Tupperware
bowl--I underestimated the HG forces of a vacuum, and in a matter of seconds, the sturdy plastic bowl imploded under pressure and made a real
big awful mess in the kitchen--marinating sauce went everywhere!Also, while on the subject of vacuum seals, for those of you that maybe make those layered cake, cookie, soup, candy mixes in the fruit jars for
gifts, a vaccum sealer like the Food Saver is great for preserving these gift jar mixes, but also expensive. I think we paid about $350 for ours, but
after we bought the Food Saver, then I discovered the "Pump & Seal" which does the exact same thing as a Food Saver, but costs only about
$16.00 and is non-electric.
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