Christmas Packages '09 - Part 2.

The rest of our Christmas packages were mostly completed in a single night. We did get the vanilla extract going about four weeks before the intended ship date, since it needs plenty of time and shaking to do it's thing. The big night was spent pouring extract into little 2 oz bottles, making peppermint bark, and wrapping up the gift sets. We had several helpers who should be mentioned. Casey and Ben were our candy cane crushers, Tim helped us temper the chocolate, and Nick helped us taste the chocolate.

The first task of the night was pouring the extract into the bottles. While I poured, Ang removed the vanilla beans and cut them into pieces that we could stick down into the little bottles to give it a more homemade feel and to allow the bean to continue strengthening the vanilla flavor. After sealing up the bottles, we cut out pieces of pretty paper with handwritten "Vanilla Extract" labels to glue onto the bottles. The vanilla beans were the most expensive part of this project - we used the Madagascar variety. With the rest of the extract (bottles and vodka) adding very reasonable cost, the total extract cost came to less than three and a half dollars per 2 oz bottle - much lower cost and higher quality than the stuff you can get in the store!

Tim's job was definitely the most challenging - he, Ang, and I worked together to heat, stir, monitor temps, stir, cool in ice bath, monitor temps, and more stirring - Tim doing most of the stirring. We all read about tempering chocolate from several sources before showtime, so we knew if we didn't get the temps just right that the whole process should be started over. We tempered the chocolate in two batches onto three cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. The dark chocolate layer was first, then a white chocolate layer, then the crushed candy canes. We repeated the tempering process for the second batch, since we weren't positive we hit all the temps right. The heating and cooling happens quickly and it takes some anticipation to prevent over-heating or cooling.

The finished product was gorgeous! Now I'm remembering (with the help of the photos) that we actually let it cool and set for a day. I came over the next day to help break up the peppermint bark and package it up before we arranged and wrapped the completed gift sets.

I would never pass up a chance to read books with Nick, and it's definitely become a holiday tradition to curl up in a chair by the Christmas tree to read books at bedtime. Can't beat that sweet end to a fun-filled evening!