Monday, September 29, 2014

Make Popular Halloween Candies at Home for Halloween

In the weeks leading up to Halloween, we are inundated with Halloween candy everywhere we turn — the grocery, the pharmacy and on your co-workers desk. This year, instead of snatching a bag of mixed fun-size bars on your way to the cash register, why not try making homemade Halloween candy? Making imitations of your favorite Halloween treats is much easier than you might expect. We have chosen two of our favorites to share with you today!

Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
People have been enjoying Reese’s cups for almost 100 years! Using one of Sweet Treat Supply’s , melt some chocolate, and pour a small layer into the bottom of the mold cups to start making this delicious treat. Next, mix peanut butter with small amounts of butter and confectioner’s sugar. Although we know that a lot of you love natural peanut butter, you’re better off reaching for that jar of Skippy, as the oils in natural peanut butters will separate from the mixture and ruin your delicious center. Place a small spoonful of the peanut butter mixture in the mold, and cover with more melted chocolate. Be sure to keep these in the fridge so that they will maintain their nice snap!
Peanut Butter Cup Molds

Homemade Snickers Bars
This recipe should come with a danger warning, for it may have addicting properties. The How Sweet It Is blog took your favorite Snickers and shared instructions on how to easily make them at home. All you need for a Snickers is a layer of nougat and a layer of caramel sandwiched between two layers of decadent peanut buttery chocolate. Here are specific instructions:
  1. Grease a baking pan.
  2. For the bottom layer of chocolate, melt 1 ¼ cups of milk chocolate chips and ¼ cups of peanut butter in the microwave. Spread over the greased baking sheet and put in the fridge until it is completely hardened.
  3. Next you are going to make the nougat layer. Melt ¼ unsalted butter over medium heat. Stir in 1 cup of granulated sugar and ¼ of evaporated milk until dissolved, and bring to a boil. Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix in 1 ½ cups marshmallow fluff, ¼ cups of peanut butter and 1 tsp of vanilla extract, stirring until smooth. Turn off the heat and drop in 1 ¼ cups of roughly chopped salted peanuts. 
  4. For the caramel layer, combine a 14 oz bag of caramels and ¼ cups of whipping cream in a saucepan over low heat. Slowly stir until smooth, and pour over the nougat and let cool.
  5. Repeat Step 2 for the top layer of chocolate.
  6. Let cool in the fridge for an hour before cutting into small rectangles and serving.
  7. If you want to give them out individually, try wrapping them in some of our Foil Candy Wrappers.
Have you ever tried making your own candy bars at home? Was it hard to resist eating the ingredients before actually cooking them? Or, do you have any other homemade versions of your favorite treats that you would like us to teach you how to make? Let us know in the comments!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Top Candy Molds for Halloween

Trick or treat! Here at Sweet Treat Supply, we love incorporating different holidays into our delicious goodies. What better time to enjoy some festive candy than at Halloween? With our large collection of fun and spooky Halloween candy molds, you are sure to find the perfect shape for your event this year. These are treats that you children, friends, and coworkers will all enjoy.
  • Jack O Lantern Mold: What would Halloween be without a classic Jack O Lantern? If you aren’t so keen on making a pulpy mess with an actual pumpkin, try these fun Jack O Lantern molds. Simply add orange powder color to our white confectionary coating and make those pumpkins pop!
  • Eyeball Chocolate Mold: One of our slightly more spine-tingling molds, these eyeball molds are the perfect way to shock your friends in a fun way. Drop some classic brown chocolate into the mold first and then fill with white chocolate. When dry, add some creepy red lines to achieve the full effect.
  • Bat Sucker Chocolate Mold: If you are looking for slightly larger treats, try out the Bat Chocolate Molds. They are so simple to make with chocolate melts and our 4 1/2” sucker sticks. This is a fun treat to wrap in some orange cellophane, tie with a bit of festive ribbon, and bring to any school or office Halloween party. They are sure to fly from the table.
  • Witch on Broom Sucker Mold: Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! Few images are as iconically tied to Halloween as the witch. There is a reason why every year, it remains one of the most classic fallback costume choices, and Hocus Pocus is played on repeat. Make your own witch lollipops in a color of your choice with this popular mold.
  • 3D Large Skull Front Chocolate Mold: We love our large statement chocolate molds, and this 3D skull is perfect for Halloween. These look great when placed in the middle of a large serving platter with smaller chocolate mold shapes positioned around it.
  • Assorted Halloween with Hat Mold: Can’t choose just one shape for this Halloween? You are in luck! We have multiple candy molds with assorted Halloween shapes, so you can choose exactly the ones that you want for your party. We love this one with witches’ hats, but there are others with haunted houses, skeletons, bats, tombstones and every shape for your Halloween theme.
There are even more fun Halloween-themed molds at in our candy mold section, so check them out in time for the holidays! If you have other ideas for homemade Halloween candy or Halloween party ideas, share them below or on our Facebook page.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Using Cookie Cutters to Make School Lunches More Fun

Now that school is in full gear, it’s time to start thinking of ways to add a little creativity to your children’s school lunches. While the typical sandwich is an easy standby, it can get boring fast, no matter how many fun sandwich fillings you can devise.

One of our favorite ways to jazz up a sandwich is using a cookie cutter to make sandwiches into fun shapes. Cookie cutters let a child customize a sandwich to his or her favorite shape, whether that’s a beloved animal — like a cute duck — or a favorite sport, like football or baseball.

Cookie cutter sandwiches can also be customized to fit with what a student is learning that day. For example, if an older student is learning about U.S. geography, the USA outline cookie cutter fits in perfectly with that day’s curriculum. For younger students still learning their letters, each day’s sandwich could be the letter for the day. What’s more fun than having a sandwich shaped with the letter H? You could even use multiple cookie cutters to tell your child “HI” in sandwich form.

Customizing sandwiches to fit upcoming holidays might be one of our favorite uses of cookie cutters. There’s not much cuter than a sandwich made to look like a heart and arrow for Valentine’s Day, a Shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day or a witch for Halloween.

The best part of this fun school lunch idea is that it can be used for any type of sandwich — from peanut butter and jelly to ham and cheese to more complicated options. Just make your sandwich and use your cookie cutter to make it the perfect shape and you’re good to go!

Of course, don’t forget one of the other guaranteed ways to spice up a school lunch: a delicious, homemade dessert. From homemade candy to stunningly decorated cookies, dessert is an easy way to make your child’s lunch something to look forward to.

How do you make school lunches a little more fun? Let us know in the comments!