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I belong to a forum on homelessness. Someone said he or she can't bake, but can make fudge. Well, this got me started in my Martha Stewart of the Hood mode, so here goes:
The great thing about fudge is that most ingredients can be free, if you have access to food commodities or a pantry. U.S. commodities gives out sugar, condensed or evaporated milk, frequently some butter, powdered milk, peanut butter and some other things that make good fudge. Valentine's day is coming soon. On the 15th, chocolates will be drastically reduced, if packaged for the holiday. Same happens at Easter, which is our last chocolate holiday of the year until Nov. 1, day after Halloween. And I stuff my freezer after xmas.
Fudge is also a very good and satisfying way to stretch chocolate: it has a similar mouth feel, but is much richer than, chocolate bars. So, for addicts like me, fudge is also a solution for a chocolate jones.
Some plastic wraps come in colors, especially around holidays. I wrap mine by flavor: greens are mint, reds are chocolate, yellows are peanut butter. That way, I don't have to guess.
I take a box of tooth picks. I cut up a few pieces of each flavor and allow potential customers to taste test, running a banter about grandma's house and happy days and all that stuff. I dress in a below-the-knee full skirt, old fashioned, lacy, cotton blouse made of hand embroidered tea towels and ALWAYs wear an apron! I try to look like your grandma.
Peanut brittle is also a VERY easy recipe and the ingredients are SO CHEAP! Don't cheat and use margarine instead of butter; it just doesn't finish the same and it tastes too salty & greasy. You can substitute any nut, or sesame seeds, or even sweetened coconut, OR POPCORN for peanuts, but peanuts are the cheapest nuts. the way you make popcorn brittle is to not stir the popcorn in, but spread your brittle on a well greased pan and sprinkle the corn onto it before it cools. then, break it by tapping an ice pick with a hammer, so as not to damage your pop corn by just hammering!
Lollipops are very similar to peanut brittle. With both, you must have a candy thermometer. Sugar is very particular about its temperature and will not behave as you want if you don't heat it to exactly the right temperatures. Lollipops are pure sugar and corn syrup. Again, you don't need fancy flavorings. Buy some hard candies. Put them in a plastic bag, wrap the bag in a towel and beat the hell out of them with a hammer. When your sugar is to the right temperature, toss the hard candy in. That's how you can cheaply make different flavors of lollipops. Large lollipops sell better. You can use tongue depressors or popcicle sticks, but I sell them very well if I use wooden chopsticks! I also bend the candy into shapes as it cools. Be careful not to burn yourself; lollipop candy is VERY HOT!
Popcorn balls use the same recipe as lollipops or brittle. And you can make them "gourmet" by rolling them in sesame seeds, sweetened coconut or, out here in the southwest, CHILI POWDER and lime salt! They sell faster than I can open the container!
Candy is a great thing to sell. It doesn't weigh much for the prices you can fetch. And the recipes I just gave you can be made over a camp fire. BUT USE A THERMOMETER! Aluminum foil makes great, cheap lollipop and brittle surfaces, but really grease and butter them! or those "disposable" aluminum pans at the dollar store.
if you want a salty treat, here's a great cheat. cheese popcorn. Make your popcorn, stir in melted butter mixed with some salted vegetable oil that you've dyed yellow (movie theaters do this to stretch butter; it's not cheating). Now, those nasty boxes of macaroni and "cheese?" that glow-in-the-dark orange powder? While the popcorn is still moist, shake it up with that cheese powder! Parmesan cheese tastes good in it, too. Again, I'll tell you chili powder. Or sesame seeds. And garlic or onion or Italian spices or powdered salad dressing mixes: you can make many flavors of cheese popcorn and just wad up a few handfuls in plastic wrap & tape the ends shut! PEOPLE LOVE THIS STUFF!
I belong to a forum on homelessness. Someone said he or she can't bake, but can make fudge. Well, this got me started in my Martha Stewart of the Hood mode, so here goes:
The great thing about fudge is that most ingredients can be free, if you have access to food commodities or a pantry. U.S. commodities gives out sugar, condensed or evaporated milk, frequently some butter, powdered milk, peanut butter and some other things that make good fudge. Valentine's day is coming soon. On the 15th, chocolates will be drastically reduced, if packaged for the holiday. Same happens at Easter, which is our last chocolate holiday of the year until Nov. 1, day after Halloween. And I stuff my freezer after xmas.
Fudge is also a very good and satisfying way to stretch chocolate: it has a similar mouth feel, but is much richer than, chocolate bars. So, for addicts like me, fudge is also a solution for a chocolate jones.
Some plastic wraps come in colors, especially around holidays. I wrap mine by flavor: greens are mint, reds are chocolate, yellows are peanut butter. That way, I don't have to guess.
I take a box of tooth picks. I cut up a few pieces of each flavor and allow potential customers to taste test, running a banter about grandma's house and happy days and all that stuff. I dress in a below-the-knee full skirt, old fashioned, lacy, cotton blouse made of hand embroidered tea towels and ALWAYs wear an apron! I try to look like your grandma.
Peanut brittle is also a VERY easy recipe and the ingredients are SO CHEAP! Don't cheat and use margarine instead of butter; it just doesn't finish the same and it tastes too salty & greasy. You can substitute any nut, or sesame seeds, or even sweetened coconut, OR POPCORN for peanuts, but peanuts are the cheapest nuts. the way you make popcorn brittle is to not stir the popcorn in, but spread your brittle on a well greased pan and sprinkle the corn onto it before it cools. then, break it by tapping an ice pick with a hammer, so as not to damage your pop corn by just hammering!
Lollipops are very similar to peanut brittle. With both, you must have a candy thermometer. Sugar is very particular about its temperature and will not behave as you want if you don't heat it to exactly the right temperatures. Lollipops are pure sugar and corn syrup. Again, you don't need fancy flavorings. Buy some hard candies. Put them in a plastic bag, wrap the bag in a towel and beat the hell out of them with a hammer. When your sugar is to the right temperature, toss the hard candy in. That's how you can cheaply make different flavors of lollipops. Large lollipops sell better. You can use tongue depressors or popcicle sticks, but I sell them very well if I use wooden chopsticks! I also bend the candy into shapes as it cools. Be careful not to burn yourself; lollipop candy is VERY HOT!
Popcorn balls use the same recipe as lollipops or brittle. And you can make them "gourmet" by rolling them in sesame seeds, sweetened coconut or, out here in the southwest, CHILI POWDER and lime salt! They sell faster than I can open the container!
Candy is a great thing to sell. It doesn't weigh much for the prices you can fetch. And the recipes I just gave you can be made over a camp fire. BUT USE A THERMOMETER! Aluminum foil makes great, cheap lollipop and brittle surfaces, but really grease and butter them! or those "disposable" aluminum pans at the dollar store.
if you want a salty treat, here's a great cheat. cheese popcorn. Make your popcorn, stir in melted butter mixed with some salted vegetable oil that you've dyed yellow (movie theaters do this to stretch butter; it's not cheating). Now, those nasty boxes of macaroni and "cheese?" that glow-in-the-dark orange powder? While the popcorn is still moist, shake it up with that cheese powder! Parmesan cheese tastes good in it, too. Again, I'll tell you chili powder. Or sesame seeds. And garlic or onion or Italian spices or powdered salad dressing mixes: you can make many flavors of cheese popcorn and just wad up a few handfuls in plastic wrap & tape the ends shut! PEOPLE LOVE THIS STUFF!
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