Catch a Leprechaun with Sweet St. Patrick’s Day Treats

Try your luck this St. Patrick’s Day with treats so tempting, you might just lure a leprechaun into your candy shop…along with new and returning customers too!

Photo credit: Reids

Blarney Bark

What leprechaun could resist a bite of “Blarney Bark” from RCI member, Reid Candy & Nut Shop, of Cambridge, Ontario. These festive treats are made with green compound coating and bits of rainbow stripe candy, colorful candies and clover sprinkles.

  

Photo credit (left to right): Dolle’s Candyland, Burke Candy and Ingredient

Irish Potato Candy

A popular St. Patrick’s Day treat, Irish potato candy was neither invented in Ireland nor does it typically contain potatoes. RCI member, Dolle’s Candyland of Ocean City, Maryland makes their Irish potatoes extra decadent by coating coconut cream in rich, dark chocolate before rolling them in a blend of cocoa and cinnamon. Milwaukee-based RCI member, Burke Candy & Ingredients combines shoestring potato sticks with their coconut dough before rolling their version of Irish potatoes in cinnamon and sugar.

Photo credit: Candiquik.com

Pot of Gold Truffles

Transform your existing truffle or meltaway recipe into pots of gold fit for teams of leprechauns. Create the flat top of the “pot” by flattening or trimming one side of the round center before coating it in chocolate. Once set, pipe chocolate onto the flat top of the pot and use it to adhere rainbow candy and gold sprinkles.

Photo credit: OHMY! Creative

Leprechaun Cookies

These leprechaun cookies are so clever, they’re likely to leap right off your shelves and into customers’ shopping baskets. With a little green and orange confectioners coating, some candy eyeballs and a pinch of finesse with the piping bag you’ll have yourself an army of jolly good leprechauns.

Photo credit: Delish.com

Chocolate-Covered Pickles

If you dip it, they will come. This salty and sweet combination is just bizarre enough it is sure to catch the attention of the more adventurous consumers looking to try something new. Malley’s Chocolates of Cleveland has had success (and garnered plenty of media attention) over the years coating dill pickles in chocolate exclusively for St. Patrick’s Day.

Anyone who receives treats like these is sure to count themselves lucky this St. Patrick’s Day! Share your favorite St. Patrick’s Day treat in the comments below.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

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Boost Your Immunity with Chocolate & Other Foods

Not that anyone needs scientific facts to justify eating chocolate, now is as good a time as ever to remind consumers of the nutritional benefits of chocolate. RCI member and registered dietician, Patricia Godfrey, of Painted Turtle Chocolatier, shares a list of immune-boosting foods—including chocolate—plus, how to highlight your own nutrient-rich products and educate your community on sweet ways to fight off illness.

Did you know adding certain foods to your diet may strengthen your immune system? A healthy immune system can protect you from germs, viruses and illnesses like COVID-19. There’s no better time, than now, to make some lifestyle and diet changes to keep your immune system healthy.

The following immune-boosting foods are rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and zinc:

Although not all of these foods pair well with chocolate, many of them do. Take this opportunity to highlight immune-boosting treats that you may already carry or consider incorporating new power combinations to your product line and highlight them on social media, e-commerce sites and in-store (if you are able).

Painted Turtle Chocolatier has signs in their retail store to signify chocolates that are high in antioxidants, such as chocolate-covered blueberries, cranberries and cherries, chocolate-dipped ginger, chocolate-dipped apricots, chocolate almonds, almond clusters, dark chocolate bars and chocolate chai tea.

Encourage consumers to consider adding nutritious, immune-boosting foods to their grocery list, in addition to ordering antioxidant-rich chocolates from your business to fuel their immune systems.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.

Considerations for Making Vegan Confections

With veganism growing in popularity, you might be considering how to appeal to this consumer group. In a past issue of RCI’s Kettle Talk magazine, Randy Hofberger, with R&D Candy Consultants shared the following considerations for making vegan confections.

It's important to first understand and identify the challenges that may come along with adapting your recipes to meet vegan requirements and expectations. According to vegan.org, in order for a product to be approved for vegan certification:

“It must not contain meat, fish, fowl, animal by-products, eggs or egg products, milk or milk products, honey or honey bee products, insects or products from insects such as silk or dyes, or sugar filtered with bone char." 

In addition to the guidelines mentioned above, the perception of what makes a product vegan must also be considered.  While a refined sugar that is decolorized without bone char can be used, unrefined sugar or coconut sugar (even better) are preferred. Likewise, brown rice syrup is also preferred over corn syrup. As a general rule, the use of organic and non-GMO/bioengineered ingredients are also preferred.

After evaluating your ingredients and identifying necessary substitutions, the next step is to acquire assurances from suppliers that the ingredients you plan to use are considered vegan.

Next, understand the challenges alternative ingredients may present and how to avoid them, if possible. Although alternative sugars, like coconut sugar, can replace refined sugar/sucrose, they do present their own challenges. For example, coconut sugar has a darker color (making it difficult to get a white cream center), stronger flavor, is less sweet and more hygroscopic. Replacing corn syrup with another syrup might be less of a challenge as long as it has the same dextrose equivalent (DE) and is clarified.  Unclarified syrups, such as brown rice, however, may give "off" cereal flavors to your candy. 

When replacing the cream in a formulation, the first step is to look at the composition of the dairy cream—typically 36–40% fat and 55% moisture. Coconut cream has about 20% fat and 70% moisture. While you won't be able to do an exact component replacement, balancing the moisture content is probably most important. When looking to replace butter fat, consider using palm oil or natural 76º coconut oil to get the same texture and similar flavor.

When the milk protein has a function (such as stand-up quality and browning for caramels), you may be able to get desired texture using a gum. If the cooking process does not give enough caramelized color and flavor, adding a small amount of molasses may do the trick. You can also use another vegetable protein to replace the milk protein, but these often-present flavor and texture issues. Finally, if you are making aerated confections, a gum, such as agar, or a specialized soy protein are good replacements for egg albumen or gelatin.

As with any new formulation, you can expect plenty of trial and error before your vegan confections are perfected. However, your time may be rewarded with an increased customer base.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Build Your Own Chocolate Charcuterie Boards for Valentine's Day

Trays of cured meats, cheeses and other savory snackables, collectively known as charcuterie boards, have experienced a significant rise in popularity over the past few years. It’s only natural that those of us with more of a sweet tooth longed for a different kind of spread.

Photo credit: Vande Walle's Candies

RCI member, Vande Walle’s Candies of Appleton, Wisconsin has experienced success with their chocolate charcuterie boards (check out their Packers-themed football board above) and we think you could too for Valentine’s Day and a number of other holidays throughout the year, such as Easter, Mother’s Day and more!

Keep reading for a little inspiration and tips to create your own chocolate charcuterie boards for Valentine's Day, using products you already have in your store.

Photo credit (clockwise, starting from top left): Rebecca White/Dallas News, A Pumpkin & A Princess, Domestikated Life, Lemon Tree Dwelling

Tips to Build Your Own Chocolate Charcuterie Board

Begin with the Board

Vande Walle’s Candies shared that they start by purchasing a variety of wood planks and cutting boards (made of both wood and glass) of different sizes and arrange their products on the boards. Each one of the Vande Walle’s chocuterie boards is unique and sold at a different price point.

The type of board or tray will play a big role in the price of your chocolate charcuterie board, so if you are wanting to keep your price point low check out your local dollar store for inexpensive glass or bamboo cutting boards. Nice wooden cutting boards are going to bring your price up, but the recipient of the board will likely incorporate it into their kitchen and use it over and over. Before arranging anything on your board, consider adding a label or sticker with your company info or logo on the bottom of the board to direct the recipient back to your business.

Pile on the Chocolate

When choosing which products to feature, don’t overlook the fact that charcuterie boards are meant to be shared either as a gift or at a gathering. We recommend putting your best foot forward by making sure to include a few of your signature items, so the recipient of your beautiful chocolate charcuterie board will want to come by for more. Take time to carefully arrange them on the board and leave space to add pops of color between the brown chocolate items.

Aside from your signature items, other ideas might include chocolate-covered sandwich cookies, graham crackers and pretzels with festive sprinkles, chocolate-covered popcorn, nuts or dried fruit. If possible, try to include a variety of shapes and sizes.

Add Pops of Color

Create interest by adding pops of color throughout the board with gummy candy, jelly beans, foil-wrapped chocolate hearts and lips, colorful non-pareils, conversation hearts, licorice, hard candies, panned cranberries and cherries, macarons, marshmallows and more. The sky is truly the limit.

It’s a Wrap

Once your board is complete, shrink wrap it to keep it all neatly in place. You might top it with a bow or a fun label as the finishing touch.

Even if you opt not to create chocolate charcuterie boards for this Valentine’s Day, this concept can be applied to any holiday—we dare you not to start daydreaming of an Easter board right now!

Although the charcuterie board has been around since the 15^th century, it has exploded with popularity on social media thanks to its visual appeal. With that said, don’t forget to share photos of your chocolate charcuterie boards on social media.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Not a member? Click here to learn how RCI can help you build your sweet business.