Things I Love - February

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and we had a special time. We were able to take a little weekend trip to my parents' house. We were able to spend time with them and also able to be part of a birthday celebration for my grandparents on my dad's side. My grandma turns 87 and my grandad turns 91 in February! We love them!

It was also fun to try some new recipes: oreo truffles and pink grapefruit gumdrops. I love candy; I have the most well-developed sweet tooth! Maybe this is also why I'm on a diet. Anyway, I also love baking; so making the candy was a fun way to spread a little Valentine happiness. I have no pictures of the candy, and the evidence has all been hidden away back at my parents' place. The only thing I can leave with is some additional info.

Here is the recipe for the oreo truffles. I doubled the recipe and dipped half in semi-sweet chocolate and the other half in white chocolate. I read a tip online that suggests freezing the shaped oreo candies before dipping to help them keep their shape. That seemed to really work! I never seem to have the melting discs on hand, so I just mixed a tablespoon of shortening with each package of chocolate/white chocolate chips before melting in the microwave. I did have to reheat the mixture about halfway through the dipping time.

The pink grapefruit candy recipe was from the February edition of Victoria magazine. Unfortunately there was a typo regarding the candy tempature, so I had to make a second batch after I realized what was happening! Let's just say the recipe should have read "213 degrees" instead of "113 degrees"! The second batch came out just fine; the flavor of honey with the pink grapefruit juice is a wonderful combination. Did I mention I love candy?