Single Mom Chronicles Feb. 13th, 2019

I actually wrote this post two weeks before Valentine’s Day and then got completely sidetracked with a Basil & Sage event that completely consumed my life for days before the holiday.  Then, it took me literally days to recuperate from the multiple challenges I had to overcome for that event and the resulting stress induced trauma.  Don’t worry about me though!  I had a bottle of Elton Chardonnay hiding in the fridge that Betty left me for a rainy day.  Well, it poured and so did the Chardonnay.  Boom!  Anyway, this post is late.  Obviously.  Let’s all drink Chardonnay and collectively get over it.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  As a single mom, I really did not like this as a candy buying holiday.  Having a boy made it worse because inevitably there was some girl (or three….yes, that happened) that he wanted to get “special” candy for.  “Special” was anything that did not come in bulk packs for the classroom.  At least in elementary school.  Either way, I could count on spending at least a twenty dollar bill on candy, which I found annoying.

Less annoying was a little tradition I had with my kid.  He was my date on Valentine’s Day.  We always went to dinner together.  He did all the ordering and the paying (with my card wink, wink).  Sometimes, this meant a fast food cheeseburger joint.  Don’t gasp!  It happens.  In better years, we went to an actual sit down establishment with a food server and everything!  A couple of times we went super fancy at places with actual linens and a wine list.  There’s nothing better than watching a waiter’s face while a four year old orders an entire dinner for two complete with drinks and proper usage of please and thank you.  While we waited for dinner, we would comb through all the Valentines he got at school.

Aaahh….the good old days.  Today is completely different.  I’m married.  The kid wants nothing to do with me on Valentine’s Day.  But he still expects a candy gift from me.  Jerkface.  I always made the candy I gave to my kid for this holiday, rather than buying it.  It just tasted better.  And I got to keep the leftovers.  Making candy is not hard once you learn a few tricks….start with good chocolate, keep the steps simple, and don’t fret about not having professional equipment.

While I love Hershey’s for some things, I don’t use it to make candy.  I also don’t use candy melts.  Or anything from Nestle.  I use Guittard chips or Ghirardelli chips.  I like the base chocolate flavors of those brands for candy making.  I especially love the price.  For about six bucks, I can get two bags of chocolate chips.  That’s enough for a batch of truffles.  You can use all dark, or all milk, or all semisweet…or even white!  I like to blend the dark and the milk myself.

When perusing candy recipes, always double and triple check candy thermometer temperatures.  I find that there are a ton of incorrect temperatures given.  This can create very expensive snafus when you have to toss all that work in the trash.  Stick to recipes that keep the candy making simple and don’t require a million obscure ingredients that you’ll never use again and drive your grocery bill up.

You don’t need silicone molds, or a double boiler, or dipping tines, or whatever else you can think of to make candy.  There is a myriad of accoutrement one can buy to make candy.  But if you’re a single parent, these items are not essential purchases.  All you need is a saucepot, a glass bowl, and two dinner forks.  That’s it.  Ok, and some wax paper.  You don’t even need a candy thermometer for making chocolate truffles.

A truffle requires two things…the ganache and the dipping chocolate.  That’s it.  For the ganache, all you need is chocolate, butter, and the flavor.  What flavor?!  For flavorings, you can use powdered spices or liquid extracts.  Or booze!  You can even add chopped nuts and chopped dried fruit.  Go crazy!  Or be a purist!  These are your truffles!