Lump Of Coal Candy Food

LUMP OF COAL CANDY

Steps:

• Line an 8-in. square dish with heavy-duty foil; butter foil with 1 teaspoon butter; set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, milk, salt and remaining butter; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 244° (firm-ball stage)., Remove from the heat; stir in the walnuts, vanilla and food coloring if desired. Pour into prepared pan (do not scrape saucepan). Cool completely before cutting. Lift foil and candy out of pan; remove foil. Cut into 1-in. squares., In a microwave, melt chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip caramels in chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

CHRISTMAS COAL CANDY

Steps:

• Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Mix together the egg white, confectioners' sugar and cocoa in a bowl with a fork until smooth and very thick. (The mixture should hang on the fork in a blob without falling off.) Whisk in the vanilla and vinegar. Whisk in enough food coloring to turn the mixture a deep black color and the brown of the cocoa is no longer visible, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.
• Combine the granulated sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and stir until the mixture looks like wet sand. Using a wet pastry brush, wipe down the sides of the pot where any sugar has clung to the side. Cook over medium heat until the mixture registers 258 to 260 degrees F on a candy thermometer, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in the black mixture, stirring vigorously until smooth. Spread in the prepared pan and let harden and cool completely, about 2 hours.
• Lift the candy out of the pan using the parchment paper overhang as handles. Peel off the parchment and chip into small irregular-sized pieces using a chisel or a sturdy butter knife and rubber mallet.

LUMPS OF COAL TREATS

Steps:

• Line a cookie sheet or serving plate with wax paper -OR-Spray 8" square pan with cooking spray. Set aside. (Use the pan if you want to serve as bars instead of "lumps")
• Crush or process cookies into a fine powder.
• Over medium/low heat, melt butter and marshmallows in a saucepan until smooth.
• Remove from heat and stir in cookie crumbs. Mix well.
• Use a spoon (it's sticky, so a cookie scoop won't work) and drop into piles onto wax paper. Shape into lumps if necessary. -OR-Press into prepared pan and allow to cool.

LUMPS OF COAL

Steps:

• Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat; add marshmallows and stir until melted. Cook and stir mixture for 2 minutes more. Remove saucepan from heat. Stir crushed cookies into marshmallow mixture until well coated.
• Press cookie mixture firmly into the prepared baking dish using a buttered spatula or waxed paper; cool. Cut into 2-inch squares.

CHOCOLATE COAL LUMPS

Steps:

• Line 13x9-inch pan with foil. Spray with cooking spray.
• In 4-quart microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 1 minute or until melted. Add marshmallows; toss to coat. Microwave about 2 minutes, stirring after each minute, until marshmallows are completely melted and mixture is well blended. Add cereal; mix well.
• Spoon cereal mixture into pan. Spray hands with cooking spray, and press mixture firmly in pan. Cover with waxed paper; press second 13x9-inch pan on top to compress bars. Remove pan and paper. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Remove bars from pan; peel off foil. Using sharp knife, cut bars into 8 rows by 6 rows to make 48 squares. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper.
• In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave 12 oz of the chocolate and 1 tablespoon of the shortening uncovered on High 1 minute 30 seconds; stir. Continue microwaving and stirring in 15-second intervals until melted and smooth. Using 2 forks, dip and roll each cereal square in coating. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat twice to use up chocolate, shortening and squares.
• Sprinkle coated squares with black sugar and/or sprinkles. Place in freezer 15 minutes or refrigerator 30 minutes until chocolate is set. Store in airtight container or sealed storage bag.

COAL CANDY

Steps:

• Line an 8-inch square METAL baking pan with foil, extending the edges over the sides of the pan. Lightly grease the foil with butter; set aside.
• Measure sugar, corn syrup and water in large heavy pot.
• Stir over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a boil, being careful not to splash sugar mixture on side of pan.
• Carefully clip candy thermometer to side of pan (do not let bulb touch bottom of pan).
• Cook about 15 minutes, without stirring, until thermometer registers 290.
• Immediately remove from heat.
• Stir in anise extract and food coloring.
• Pour mixture into prepared pan. Cool completely.
• To get big pieces of coal-looking candy, gently drop pan to break the candy.