The few golden brown leaves remaining on the trees make me think of caramel and my high school chemistry class.

The first experiment we did in the lab was to transform granulated sugar into golden caramel. It was an irreversible, chemical reaction that used heat to remove water from sugar. The sugar melted and the longer it was heated, the greater the quantity of water that was driven off and the more brown the liquid became. When all of the water was gone, we were left with a lump of pure, black carbon. When sugar has been changed from white crystals to a transparent, golden solid there’s no going back but there are many delicious ways to go forward.

I amazed my sister who was still in elementary school with my mastery of this chemical reaction when I created a sweet treat of peanuts suspended in sweet amber. Here’s how I did it: … read more

On Monday I made chocolate covered almonds.

They are simple to make and look as if they came from an upscale chocolatier. I tuck away a few small gift bags of them, decorated with a ribbon and a gift tag as last minute gifts for unexpected visitors. Here’s how I made them: … read more

Today marks the end of chocolate week in my holiday kitchen. Homemade chocolate treats are a gift of my time and since they are delicious and extraordinarily consumable they don’t occupy valuable space in anyone’s home for very long.

Last Saturday, I created chocolate turtles consisting of five pecans (the head and four legs), held together with a disc of creamy caramel (the body), and topped with dark chocolate (the shell). Creating chocolate turtles is a three-step process: building each turtle body, making caramel and adding the shell.

Here’s how I made them:
… read more