Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook Part 65

finely shredded coconut

Warning: This next step is fairly messy. If you like, wear disposable plastic food-server gloves. You can also lightly grease your hands, or spray them with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray so the chocolate won't stick to your fingers.

Form small b.a.l.l.s of chilled chocolate with your hands and roll them in bowls of the above ingredients. You can mix and match, or give all of your truffles the same coating. Place the truffles in ruffled bonbon papers and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

These are incredibly delicious candies. They're super easy to make, but let's keep that a secret. It can't hurt to let people a.s.sume that you went to a lot of trouble, just for them.

Yield: 4 to 5 dozen, depending on truffle size.

IBBY'S METAPHYSICAL ENGLISH TOFFEE Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

16-ounce box Club Crackers65 (Mine were made by Keebler)

1 cup b.u.t.ter (2 sticks, 8 ounces pound)

1 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)

2 cups milk chocolate chips (12-ounce bag)

2 cups chopped pecans (salted or unsalted, it really doesn't

matter measure AFTER chopping)

Line a 10-inch by 15-inch cookie sheet with foil. If you have a jellyroll pan, that's perfect. If you don't, turn up the edges of the foil to form sides.

Spray the foil with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. (You want to be able to peel it off later, after the candy hardens.) Line the pan completely with crackers, salt side up. Cover the whole bottom. (You can break the crackers in pieces to make them fit if you have to.) Set the cracker-lined jellyroll pan or cookie sheet aside while you cook the toffee mixture.

Hannah's 1st Note: You don't need a candy thermometer to make this candy.

Combine the b.u.t.ter with the brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly. Boil it for exactly five minutes, stirring it constantly. If it sputters too much, you can reduce the heat. If it starts to lose the boil, you can increase the heat. Just don't stop stirring.

Pour the mixture over the crackers as evenly as you can.

Hannah's 2nd Note: I start by pouring the mixture in lines from top to bottom over the length of the pan. Then I turn it and pour more lines over the width of the pan. Once the whole pan is crosshatched with the hot toffee mixture, I pour any that's left where it's needed. If it doesn't cover the crackers completely, don't worry it'll spread out quite a bit in the oven.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake the toffee at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the milk chocolate chips over the top. Give the chips a minute or two to melt and then spread them out as evenly as you can with a heat-resistant spatula, a wooden paddle, or a frosting knife.

Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top of the chocolate and refrigerate the pan.

When the toffee has thoroughly chilled, peel it from the foil and break it into random-sized pieces.

Hannah's 3rd Note: Ibby used her toffee as a reward for high quiz scores. Once you taste it, you'll know why I can still recite at least one stanza from each of the Metaphysical Poets.

THREE-WAY FUDGE.

Hannah's 1st Note: You don't need a candy thermometer to make this fudge. If you've got a microwave, you don't even need a STOVE to make this fudge.

1 cup (6-ounce pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

(I used Ghirardelli)

1 cup (6-ounce pkg.) white chocolate chips

(I used Ghirardelli)

1 cup (6-ounce pkg.) milk chocolate chips

(I used Ghirardelli)

14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

1 and sticks salted b.u.t.ter (6 Tablespoons this fudge

has 3 layers, and that's 2 Tablespoons of b.u.t.ter for

each layer you'll make)

Line an 8-inch square pan with wax paper, OR line it with foil and spray the foil with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

You can make this fudge on the stovetop or in the microwave. Either way will work just fine.

If you choose the stovetop method, use a heavy saucepan and stir constantly while you're melting the chocolate and other ingredients.

For the microwave, I combined my ingredients in a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup and processed them for 70 seconds on HIGH. Remember that chocolate chips maintain their shape even after they're melted, so don't go by appearance. You'll have to stir them to be sure.

Hannah's 2nd Note: A 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk contains approximately one and a third cups. You're going to be dividing the can in thirds, so make each third a bit less than a half-cup and you'll come out all right.

MELT THE FOLLOWING TOGETHER FOR THE 1ST LAYER:.

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

scant half-cup sweetened condensed milk

2 Tablespoons b.u.t.ter

Stir to make sure everything's melted and then, spread the mixture out in the bottom of the 8-inch square pan you've prepared. Smooth it out with a rubber spatula, and let the pan sit on the counter until the fudge is cool and slightly hard to the touch. Then make the 2nd layer.

FOR THE 2ND LAYER, MELT THE FOLLOWING TOGETHER:.

1 cup white chocolate chips

scant half-cup sweetened condensed milk

2 Tablespoons b.u.t.ter

Stir to make sure everything's melted and then spread the 2nd layer on top of the 1st layer, smooth it out with a rubber spatula, and let the pan sit on the counter until the 2nd layer is cool to the touch and slightly hardened. Then make the 3rd layer.

FOR THE 3RD LAYER, MELT THE FOLLOWING TOGETHER:.

1 cup milk chocolate chips