Chocolate Covered Orange Fondants

We were back in Nebraska this past weekend to see family. I spent Saturday shopping with my mother-in-law and that included a trip to Ben Franklin. This is a general store where you can buy candy by the piece – I mean like each piece is 10 cents. You grab an old plastic bowl and venture down the narrow isle to fill up with goodness. Jacob used to walk to Ben Franklin as a kid and buy 100 tootsie rolls for $1.00…and they are the same price 20 years later. I love that these stores are still open and going strong.

Ben Franklin is the hot spot for Wedding Mint making supplies. They have a ton of mint molds and sell the Ben Franklin recipe for 10 cents. They also carry a great deal of decorating supplies – pastry bags, cupcake liners, sprinkles, frosting kits, and much much more. While I picked out cupcake liners I really didn’t need (but they were cute, so what the heck) I noticed a wide selection of extracts and flavor oils. The orange oil popped out at me and I immediately thought of this recipe from Wilde in the Kitchen’s blog. I knew that would be perfect for her recipe! I bought a couple other flavor oils, but those are for another baking day.

When I saw this recipe a few months ago, I thought about Brach’s candy. I can’t remember what they were called but they were fruit flavored creams covered in chocolate. Orange was one of my favorites and I would only pick those out when buying Pick-A-Mix. I was soooo hopping this recipe would recreate that childhood fav and it did!!

You should try it with your favorite flavoring and tell me what you think! The recipe doesn’t make a huge batch which is good because they are a decedent candy. They also didn’t take very long to make; I was thinking candy making, hard, but Wilde in the Kitchen gives WONDERFUL step by steps and I’ve added pictures to help you out.

Here we go….

Chocolate-Covered Fondants

From Wilde in the Kitchen

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup + 2 tbsp water
2 tbsp corn syrup
½ tsp Orange Extract
12 ounces milk chocolate

1. Butter a 9x9-inch pan and set aside

2. In a medium pot, stir together sugar, water and corn syrup. Heat to medium and stir with a whisk until sugar is dissolved.

3. Clip on candy thermometer and heat, without stirring, to 240 F (soft ball)

4. Pour hot sugar syrup into the prepared 9x9-inch pan and let sit on the counter until it is lukewarm.

5. Add orange extract and stir with a big spoon. Try to incorporate as much extract as possible; you may need to fold the sugar over itself.

6. Transfer sugar blob to a zip-top plastic bag and let it sit for a minute. Press down on the blob with the heel of your hand, pressing into the countertop. You may need to squish it all to the center of the bag a few times.

7. After about ten minutes the sugar will turn opaque and become stiff, like cookie dough. First the sugar will probably break apart and look all grainy. Continue kneading for another minute until the sugar comes together and is creamy.

8. Either roll the sugar into 1-inch balls or press into small candy molds. Place candies in the freezer for ten minutes to harden.

9. Melt half of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Remove chocolate from the heat and add remaining chocolate. You are looking for a temperature around 89 F. If it gets too cool simply place the bowl back over the simmering water.

10. Dip fondants in the chocolate (I used candy tools to minimize finger smudges) and set on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Place chocolate-coated candies in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

My mouth is watering!!  Thanks for stopping by!  :)