Silicone Candy Bar Molds

 I had such a great time making these custom made chocolate candy bars! 

What fun and they came out so great!

I did learn a few things however when doing these that I thought I would share.

First was the kind of melting chocolate to use. Wilton is usually the go-to however they were not that great for dipping or making the chocolate bars. I found that the Melt 'Ems were much better. The only Wilton brand that was good was the large bag of milk chocolate that was also good for the fountains. The white chocolate Wilton brand came out way too thick in my chocolate pot.

I definitely recommend Wilton's chocolate pots however with the silicone pot that fits into the warmer itself. You can also get a pot that is divided and that one is great when you are just wanting to melt a little bit of different colors. I loved these pots because you can put them on high to melt quick and then turn it down to low so that it will just keep it warm.

 The silicone pots clean up great! A great tip is to let the melted chocolate harden and then when you collapse the pot, the chocolate will break apart and easier to throw away instead of rinsing it all down the drain that could clog up your pipes. That would be bad!

 

Also, when using edible luster dust, don't brush the dust onto the silicone mold itself. It will adhere to the chocolate but it also gets stuck in the crevices of the mold and it is hard to get it out. 

 I found all of these items on Amazon of course and you can get the Wilton items on their site too as well as in some Joann's and Michael's stores. The candy and cookies were found in the grocery stores or Walmart. Some of the sprinkles were specially ordered from one of my favorite sprinkle shop online.

https://www.wilton.com/

 

https://sprinklepop.shop/ 

 

 

This was great fun however as I made them for each person according to their favorites. Definitely a blast to try to locate and find all the different types of candy and baking chips that match up. 

Marshmallows & Sore Throats

After returning from my weekend retreat, the very day after, I began to get a scratchy throat to where it hurt to swallow. It quickly moved up into my sinuses to where my face felt flushed as if it was radiating heat and I felt heavy and thick as if my entire head filled up with fluid! The nose started to run and I felt horrible! Next day, it began to settle into my lungs and I knew I had to get myself to a doctor.
I had picked up some Mucinex, Halls (honey lemon) and began to take my Allegra. I had hot tea (Green Tea with Lemon --Bigelow) and some good ol chicken noodle soup (Campbells Homestyle Healthy Request). I was missing my gingerale however. But I could not take all the yuck that was going on and so hurried off to the doctor yesterday. I immediately let him know that the z-pac stuff was not going to work. I had the same thing as I had in May and it didn't even touch this and yes I needed the....and before I could finish, he knew, I needed the steroid shot in the behind and then antibiotics and heavy duty meds to kick this in the butt. I know he saw I had fluid in my ear as it seems everytime I do go to the doc, sure enough, there is liquid there.

I felt like doo-doo yesterday when I got back and took all the meds I needed to. I laid down for a bit and my daughter told me I should eat some marshmallows. She told me that she heard that marshmallows help sore throats. I was like what? I hadn't heard that before. I am not one to just eat big marshmallows but as I know we had some in the house for S'mores, I said sure ok, bring me some of those and some gingerale. Normally I prefer Canada Dry Gingerale but this time, we picked up Seagrams.

WOW! Those two things felt so nice on my sore throat! I was amazed! I had some more marshmallows, these are the big ones that you use for toasting on a stick over a fire. I get all brands, do not really prefer any which one but I do normally buy the Kraft Jet-Puffed ones (which is what I have now).  I had a few more later on in the evening. I thought maybe it was just the softness of it caressing the back of my throat that made it nice. But I decided to look into it this morning on Google.

I read that it is actually correct and it is the gelatin within the marshmallows that does indeed help sore throats. The same found in Jell-O and no wonder the hospitals do bring it to you too. Although do they know this fact? I don't know.

It sure did feel nice for me tho'!  So next time you need a lil gentle tenderness for your sore throat, eat a few big marshmallows!

By the by, I am starting to feel better and can focus and concentrate more today!