Cups O' Deliciousness :) And Totally Random Life Convergences :)

I thought I would let you guys see a little of what I was up to yesterday :) A very sweet friend and neighbor of mine has some raspberry canes growing in her backyard - and since they are pretty hard to find in the stores anywhere, I asked her if I might be able to buy some from her.  She came up with the awesome idea of bartering for candy :) Hey... I can do that!!! :)

Funny story how she came to be a fan of my chocolate... and one of those "wow- small world!" moments :) A friend and coworker of my husband's, when he worked at the Cottontree Inn in Bountiful a while back, called me up out of the blue 2 Christmases ago.  He remembered the candy that I brought into work for my husband and the crew 2 Christmases before THAT (4 Christmases ago... if you lost me ;)) and wanted to know if he could order some for his friends and coworkers.  Wow... is what went through my mind ... We hadn't talked or anything for over a year so I was a bit surprised to say the least- and so totally flattered!! I made him 4 tins of candy and he even drove from Provo to come and pick them up! (Provo is over an hour south of us here in Layton).

Move ahead a few months, when a newlywed couple moves in 2 houses down from us.  We meet them at church, and they are 2 of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. He was recruited immediately to Scouts- teaching my youngest son, and she was called to Young Womens teaching my oldest daughter :) So already we had interactions with them- then one spring day when I was out sweeping my driveway, who should come walking up the street but hubby's old coworker :) who happens to be Mr. Newlywed's best friend from High School... and they were one of the recipients of my candy at Christmas! Once she found that out, she has been a loyal customer ever since! And the last little wow moment was we found out that their anniversary just so happens to be my birthday ;)) I mean come on... was there an alignment of stars there or what???

So yesterday was the first day it was below 80 degrees- and we do not have air conditioning... so the warm days, as you can imagine, aren't very conducive to candy making ;) But since I knew a storm (and a cool one at that) was coming in, I figured it would be a great time to make some goodies and get those raspberry bushes ready for this summer! I make a bunch of different varieties of candy with raspberries and strawberries during the summer- like these I made last year :) (for before mentioned cutie pie neighbors for their anniversary... on my birthday ;))

Romance on a platter... n'est-ce pas? (Isn't it? in french... sorry) And see those cute little berries at the bottom?  Bride and Groom Berries- and the Bride berry had sparkling sugar on it for some extra bling (since you can't see it here :)) I thought they were pretty cute! And the strawberries in the middle is how I dip my berries... first in white, then dip in dark, then drizzle with white... it's a totally mind blowing experience... seriously!

... and now that I will be growing them myself :) it's not only cheaper, but fresher- and you know fresh always taste better!!!

Now I made a variety of caramel, coconut, and nut combinations, fruity "s'more" combinations, and some fudge cups.  I am not quite sure why I didn't realize til I was done that I hadn't done any of my usuals... peanut butter cups (of which many of my customers will tell you are better than Reeses Peanut Butter Cups...) or pretzels... but if today stays as cool and breezy I may just do those later :)
Here's a sampling of what we did yesterday :)

4 Different Fudge Cups... Fudge... dipped in chocolate :) Could you get any better than that??? ;) (am I channeling Chandler from Friends here?... maybe... wow... I feel old right now...)

(and yes, I made this on a collage website :) actually a few websites... but it was fun :))(One link takes you to photovisi.com where I did the collage, and the other takes you to picmonkey.com where I did the editing... feel free to check them out :))

6 Different Smore Cups- (well 4 kinds, just 2 different chocolates :)) What are S'More cups you ask??? Well... they are homemade marshmallows in a variety of flavors (all made with real fruit pieces and juice :)), with a yummy Graham Cracker/Nilla Wafer/ Cookie base, and either hand-dipped in chocolate (white or my combination of dark and milk... dalk? mirk? don't think so...) or put in a cute little cup of said chocolate - like you see here :)

The banana and raspberry cups are available in both dark and white chocolate.

We also did all kinds of combinations of nuts, caramel and coconut...
And here is an example of the caramel recipe here...  made with the homemade sweetened condensed milk recipe here ... just look at that caramel stretch... it's beautiful isn't it?? Almost brings a tear to my eye ;)

Here are a few pictures-  toasted coconut... nuts... caramel... coconut marshmallow- in every combination possible- with almonds, peanuts, cashews and macadamia nuts... and even a little peanut butter marshmallow for good measure... this is just a sampling... we made about 10 lbs worth :)

 see? My smiley obsession has passed on to my pictures... I really do need help don't I???

So... if you feel the need to contact me and place an order? Don't fight the urge ;) Just click on the little link there, or there's a link at the top of the blog :) I would if it were me!

And to all of you a very happy weekend! Sweet Dreamz!
Renee