By ELLEN FOLKMAN
St. Petersburg Times Kate Mitchell of Tampa, Fla., was "looking for some candy recipes that do not require a candy thermometer."
Marjorie Dahl offered two recipes for Mitchell to try.
The first, Chocolate Pecan Cups, can be made up quickly, but be sure to refrigerate the cups until serving. My batch quickly got messy.
You could certainly make these treats with milk-chocolate chips or a different kind of nut. The one special item you will need is paper nut cups, which are available at stores that sell cake and candy supplies.
The nut cups are waxed on the inside, making removal easy; I don't recommend mini-muffin cups. These treats would be great for gifts or on a dessert tray.
Dahl's second recipe is for Georgia's Candy Cookies. Dahl, of St. Petersburg, Fla., says they can be candy or cookies; whatever you call them, they are sweet.
Her recipe called for chocolate chips; I used semisweet. Substituting milk chocolate would be fine; you would need 1 cup.
I used creamy peanut butter for a smoother texture. I also used purchased graham-cracker crumbs rather than making the required amount from graham crackers, a big time saver.
This was another easy candy recipe to make, but spreading the melted chocolate to the edges was challenging.
When cutting the candy, and I say "candy" because they taste like peanut-butter cups, some of the chocolate lifted up. I just gently patted it back down.
CHOCOLATE PECAN CUPS1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut-butter chips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Directions:
Combine chocolate chips, peanut-butter chips and oil in top of double boiler over hot, not boiling, water.
Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in chopped pecans.
Cool slightly; drop by teaspoonfuls into paper nut cups. Chill until firm. Store in covered container in refrigerator.
Makes about 24 candies.
-- Marjorie Dahl of St. Petersburg, Fla.
