I have tried a lot of different recipes in my life, but this by far was the hardest thing I have ever tried. It all has to do with the face that the recipe I had was very vague and just gave the bare-backbone about what to do. I am going to give a lot more detail and I hope this will be easier for everyone else out there to do, then it was for me. I am going to post about everything I did, even the trial and error things. The way we learn in cooking, or at least the way I learn, is through trial and error. I had a lot of wiggle room on this recipe and a few times when I tried one idea, it did not work. The best I can tell everyone out there, is to try what I've done and if something easier pops into your head give it a try...
Ingredients:
Chocolate Clay
20 oz white candy coating, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup light corn syrup
Basket
10 oz white candy coating, coarsely chopped
13 pretzel sticks (3 inches)
Round plastic cover (about 4 1/2 inches in diameter)
Thin wire headband or 1 piece 1/8-inch-thick wire (about 15 inches long) - optional
Thin ribbon, optional
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 20 oz candy coating (I used melting chocolate pieces from Hobby Lobby). Heat on defrost in 30 sec intervals until chocolate is melted. Stir until melted. Be sure to watch not to overcook the chocolate. Take your time on this step.
Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the corn syrup, just until blended.
Then spread the mixture onto a cook sheet that is lined with wax paper until it is about 3/8-in thick (about a 16-in x 8-in rectangle). I used a spatula to spread the mixture. It will be sticking so do this as quickly as possible.
Once the mixture is spread out, let it set at room temperature, uncovered for 2 hours. After 2 hours, wrap the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature over night. I let mine sit for 2 days because I ended up being very busy this weekend.
When you are ready to build the rest of the Easter basket, melt 10 oz candy coating - again do this on defrost for 30 sec at a time. Watch carefully so the chocolate doesn't overcook. While the candy is melting, taken 7 full pretzel rods and cut them into 3-in pieces.
Once the chocolate is melted, place the pretzel rods in the melted chocolate one at a time. Using a fork, push the rod around in the melted chocolate until it is fully coated. Pick each piece up with the fork and allow it to drip off some of the excess chocolate. Then place on a cookie sheet that has a cooling rack set on it. The cooling rack will help the chocolate drip off the pretzel rods, but not effect the end result.
Place the cookie sheet in the fridge for 10 min. Be very careful when taking the pretzel rods off the cooling rack, they may have set into the wire. My boyfriend got them off for me, since he was helping out with this and he used very little pressure. Some of the chocolate may come off, but don't worry about it the chocolate ropes will cover it later. Save the remaining melted chocolate for later.
Now here is where I started having some issues. You need to get 1 1/2 qt bowl and line it with two damp paper towels. Then place a plastic cover, the recipes wording not mine, on top of the paper towel. As I said early, a lot was left to imagination in this recipe from here on out. I used what I had on hand and had some difficulties - basically I used plastic lids. First, I used a lid that was deep and while the chocolate set nicely, it wouldn't come out of the lid. So I broke the chocolate off and re-melted it. Then I tried a shallow lid and it worked a little better but the chocolate still wouldn't release from the lid. Finally, I used the same shallow lid, but lined it with wax paper that I taped down.
Now, I have skipped some steps above, so let me back track. Place the plastic lid on the paper towels to hold it in place. Then take and place the pretzel rods around the outer edge of the lid, resting the other end against the side of the bowl to form the supports for the basket sides.
Take the chocolate you set aside and pour it into the bowl with the lid and pretzel rods. The recipe calls for 1/8-in deep, I just put enough in to cover the bottoms of the pretzels. Use your best judgement. Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 30 min, I had mine in overnight, which worked better. Once set, the bowl should pop off the lid and wax paper, no problems :) Please learn from my mistakes.
It is time to work with the sheet of chocolate clay that has been sitting out on the cookie sheet. Make a 1-in ball of clay and knead until pliable, but not sticky. I measured mine out with a ruler and then cut them with a pizza cutter. Roll each ball into a 1/4-in rope and start weaving the pieces through the pretzel rods. The important thing to note here are two things - if the chocolate ropes become sticky, roll back up into a ball and place in the fridge for a couple minutes. Secondly, it doesn't matter how the ropes go on, just make sure they are seamless from one to the other. Continue to weave until you reach the top of the pretzels.
Once you've reached the top, roll 3 balls, about 3-in big and place on a plate, put in the freezer for 2 minutes. The recipe doesn't tell you to do this and after the ropes got sticky, my boyfriend suggested putting it in the freezer to set back up and it worked wonderfully! You need to make each ball into a 20-in rope. Take a cookie sheet and line it with wax paper - roll each ball out into a rope on the cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet back in the freezer for 2 minutes. Then very quickly braid the ropes together.
You should have had some remaining melted chocolate, place a dab on top of each pretzel rod and place the braid over top.
The final step was to create a handle, I skipped this step since I didn't have any wire to hold it.
Now you should have one white chocolate Easter basket to fill with fake grass and lots of candy. As I stated before, this was a trial and error process for me and I made lots of mistakes. I hope I provided enough clarification so that if you try this recipe, you will have an easier time.
It sure has been a busy weekend and I am very grateful to my boyfriend Ben for all his help in my many cooking endeavors! I couldn't have done it without him! I hope you all have a terrific weekend! Here's to a brand new week!
