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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tasty Treats!! Candy Box Tutorial

Here's a fun way to decorate your holiday baking for gift giving. I made these fun candies (recipe will be included at the bottom of this post) and I made a cute little box for them. This makes them look even more special!!!

Since all of these candies are basically the same size I was able to make just one pattern and use it for all the pieces I needed.

I took a piece of card stock cut 3-1/8" x 3-3/8" and scored all edges at 7/8". On the long side I snipped the vertical scores up to the horizontal score. I turned the card stock around and did the same on the other long side. Now fold all score lines.

To assemble the box bottom I just folded in all the sides. I made sure the long side piece was folded up last. It hides where the two smaller pieces fold in and give the box a smooth clean look.

For the cover I used a piece of scrap acetate. I had been cutting acetate for other projects and had some pieces left over. I cut it the same size as the box bottom. But for the top you will need to cut away the 4 square corners the scoring created. I then tapered each edge of the scored lines. Keeping it as is didn't fit well in the box. But taking each flap and trimming at an angle allowed it to fold better into the box.

Decorate the box as you desire and it's ready for that special person! I kept mine simple since I have a lot of these boxes to make. A thin ribbon tied at the top would help in keeping the acetate top in place!!! Or just a touch of double sided tape on the acetate will work for that too!! That is what my plans are for the lids!!!

Now for the candy!!! These are fun and easy to make. First you take the square "window pane" pretzels and set them on waxed or parchment paper. I like parchment paper because it doesn't leave any residue behind on the candies. Then you take a unwrapped Rolo and set it on top of the pretzel. I add about 1/8" teaspoon of ground pecans (or you can use walnuts) and then set another pretzel on top. Place it in the oven at 250 degrees F. for 4 minutes. After they came out of the oven I pressed down on each one so they weren't so tall and they filled in the edges more too. When they cooled I dipped them in melted milk chocolate chips and set them aside to cool. It took more time for these things to go through their two cooling cycles than it did making them, including removing the wrappers from the Rolos!!! But they are SO worth it. And to make them look like fancy chocolates about every 5th one you dip stop and take a clean fork and touch the top of the candy. Pull the fork straight up and then to the right. This will bring the chocolate up and over and it will set in a nice ripple. It gives it such a finished look! And here's a candy dipping tip for you. I melted my chips in the microwave and I used a plastic fork as my candy fork. I didn't have a candy fork so I just removed the center prongs of a plastic fork. And best thing about that, I didn't have to wash the fork when I was done!!! LOL Talk about lazy, huh??? LOL

Thanks SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

4 comments:

Michelle said...

That's awesome! I love little cheater tips! I'm so going to try this recipe and the box since I have SO many people to give little gifts too this year! TFS!

Vicky said...

Love love love this little box Wanda!!! TFS!!!
Vicky

Amber said...

That is so cute!!! I think that might be easy enough for me to try!! TFS!

krystalpurple said...

This little box is way cute! I'm not sure if I got the taking off the Rolo wrapper thing or not. It sounds like it would get all meleted up in the chocolate and would be really hard to get off.
Thanks! Kristi