Yay! Today is Memorial Day!
We are sticking home today to hang out, cross some things off the to do list, and grill. We made steak last night so I think some hot dogs for lunch and chicken for dinner. Autumn even had her own piece of steak (not seasoned, well done) that she sucked on and then dropped for the dog. I swear I try to grab what she is about to do but she is sneaky. And when she isn’t dropping him food she hangs a hand over the edge for him to lick. Those two are going to be trouble as she grows up. It’s going to be too cute! And a bit awful!!
Anyway, we did some crafty stuff for our room yesterday and we’re going to do some stuff for her room today. I have most of the elements together for a gallery wall for her so I am going to put it up while mapping out some place holders for the 2 little canvases I am going to order. I just love to be able to create something new for our house. I only wish we did it more often.
Anyway, May has sped by and it’s now time for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post I was given the blog Sew You Think You Can Cook. Lauren shares recipes on her blog that she makes when she is not busy with quilting scrapbooking, and cross stitch. When she is not cooking and crafting she is an aerospace engineer… hello smarty! Sounds like a cool profession says the person who pulls out a calculator to figure out a tip. ha!
While I was eyeing a few of her savory recipes, like the Vineyard Chicken, her homemade Almond Joy bars jumped out to me. I hadn’t made candy in the awhile and never a candy bar like this. I was up for the little challenge!
I really suggest using a stand mixer to make these Almond Joy’s. The mixture is sticky and would require a bit of muscle so I think it’s best to use the stand mixer so you knew you evenly mixed everything together. If you need a workout then be sure to just a greased bowl and a wooden spoon. Assembling the bars is a breeze. The trickest part is the chocolate part. I never have much luck coating candy evenly, and neither did Lauren, so I decided just to coat the tops. If you are a pro at coating candy then feel free to do that instead, you’ll just need more chocolate.
So a big thanks to Lauren for such a wonderful recipe. As well, a very special thanks on this Memorial Day to her and her husband, who is in the Air Force!!!
Copy Cat Almond Joy’s
Makes 24 candy bars
Ingredients
- 10 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
- 3 Cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 48 whole salted almonds
- 8 ounces of milk chocolate
Process
- Line an 8″ x 8″ baking pan with aluminum foil. Then spray the lined pan with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour the condensed milk and half of the sugar. Using the paddle attachment, beat until combined. Then add the remaining sugar and beat.
- Add in the vanilla extract and salt then beat for another minute until really whipped.
- In one large batch, add in shredded coconut and beat together until the coconut evenly coated with the condensed milk mixture
- Using greased hands, press the coconut mixture into an even layer in the lined baking pan. Score the candy bars by dividing the pan in 3 pieces in one direction. Then rotate the pan and score it into 8 equal pieces in that direction. Place 2 almonds onto each candy bar.
- Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
- While the bars are still in the pan, completely cut through where you had previously scored the candy bars.
- Melt the chocolate and then evenly pour it over the bars. Let cool complete prior to removing the liner from the pan. Gently flip the candy over onto a cutting board. Cut out each candy bar by cutting through the chocolate at each location where you had cut through the candy previously.
Adaped from Sew You Think You Can Cook
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Check out my 2 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!
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