Here at Party Time, we love the coming and going of the seasons. As summer approaches, we are getting geared up to help you have fun all through the heat. One of our most popular products during the summer time is the our cooler bag. Great for the mom on the go – and stylish, [...]
Read more →Our store is geared up to help you with all your Graduation party needs. Not sure where to start? This blog will walk you through where to look. 1. First choose a pattern for your party. We have thirteen different graduation patterns in all, including patterns for the colors green, orange, purple, red, blue and [...]
Read more →Everything you need to celebrate the big commencement is ready for you at Party Time. Check out this new display we have set up in the store: In addition to party favors and accessories, we help you throw the perfect bash for your grad by stocking a huge selection of tableware colors. You’ll be able [...]
Read more →We’re going to make a couple more candies for you. We have the cute balloon and party hat. I’m going to make the orange hat and the yellow balloon. We’ll start off with the red for the bottom fringe for the party hat as well as for the little top.
I take my melted chocolate to start. When you’re working with your chocolate, when it starts to harden as it cools, just pop it in the microwave for 10 – 15 seconds and it will be nice and creamy for you again.
I’m just painting the mold. I have the bottom fringe done. Now we’ll do the little ball on top in red as well.
So we have our cute, cute little party hat. We’ll fill in the back of that with orange. I’m taking the spoon and working that orange chocolate up into the ball up to the top of the hat. Give it a tap to take out the air bubbles.
If the chocolate spills out, smooth it with a knife.
Before I put the sucker stick in, I’ll show you how to do the balloon. The balloon has circles on it that you can make any color you want. It’s indented so it shows you exactly where to go. I’ll fill the main color of my balloon yellow, so I’ll do any other color than yellow for my accents.
So you can see – I have the circles painted, and then on the back, it’s pretty much flat. I’m going to fill this with yellow chocolate. I just need to get the stem of the balloon. This is where the paint brush comes in handy for those small spots. You can take the paint brush and get into those small areas.
Now that we have the candies done, we want to make these suckers, so grab your sucker sticks. This candy mold is different because it doesn’t have a complete place for the sucker stick. Make sure the stick is far enough in the chocolate so you don’t worry about them coming off. Give the stick a twirl to get it covered in chocolate and secure.
Now that our chocolate candy melts have been in the freezer for 7 minutes, we’re ready to take them out. I’ll give you a word of caution: sometimes when you’re ready to take them out, be ready because they’ll be ready to come out and if they hit the hard counter they’ll break. You may want to put a dish towel down.
Now if you have any rough edges, just use the heat from your hands to smooth out any imperfections.
I’m going to show you how to put a filling in your candies.
I have a homemade peanut butter cup mixture. You can go on our site to get the recipe.
We’re going to put chocolate in the mold and then add our filling. Instead of having to pinch off each filling ball, just roll it into a log and then cut it into the right size. That way it will go a lot quicker.
Then roll them out. Test one: yes, that will fit better. You may think that doesn’t look like a lot of filling, but you have to have chocolate all around it as well. I like to put a little chocolate in the bottom of each mold.
Then you can take your paint brush and work the chocolate around the mold. Here again you want to look for any weak places in your chocolate. If you feel like you need just a little more chocolate, that’s an easy fix – dip more on your paint brush.
Basically we make the shell, then add the peanut butter mixture, and then top it with chocolate.
Like I said, remember to hold it up to the light. If you see any weak places, you can fix those before you put your filling in.
Take your filling pieces and drop them right on top of the chocolate. You don’t want to press the filling because you don’t want to see the filling from the bottom. I have my pieces of filling here. You have your chocolate shell with your filling. Then come on top of each piece with your chocolate.
Just give it a tap to take out the air bubbles so you have a nice smooth piece of candy. Then we put it in the freezer for 7 minutes.
We’ve taken our chocolate peanut butter cups out of the freezer. They’re nice and shiny. They’re really not frozen; they’re just quick-chilled.
If you want to put these in a box of chocolate, we have these great peanut butter cup wrappers that fit the candy perfectly. I hope you enjoy making these candies! Thank you.
Today I’m going to talk about molding chocolate candy in Party Time’s different candy molds.
I’ve just picked a few molds out today, and I have some already made here into the chocolate pieces. We have solid chocolate. You can see here I’ve painted the candy molds, which are really easy and cute as candy pieces. I’m going to show you how to make these today.
You’ll see here I have my different candy chocolate melted. It’s really easy to do. Start off with a quality chocolate. I have milk chocolate here, and then I have the different colors. All the colors taste like white chocolate, but they’re colored so you can make the cute pieces.
Some of the molds come with ideas, which make it a little easier. You don’t have to worry about being an artist when you’re painting the molds because they are indented, which gives you a guide.
Let’s start with making a basic chocolate piece of candy.
This is a candy mold. You don’t need to prep it in any way except make sure it’s good and dry.
I like to use teaspoons because they’re long and small and great when you’re making candy. On a mold like this, it really doesn’t take too much chocolate. You just put your chocolate on here.
The thing about it is you want to tap the mold when you’re finished filling. When you tap the mold on the counter, it smooths the back and releases air bubbles, which makes your candy smooth on the front as well.
Check to make sure you don’t need to add any more chocolate.
If the chocolate comes out of the mold, you can smooth it with your finger or scrape it with the back side of a knife.
Now we’re ready to go in the freezer. The candy takes about five minutes in the freezer. You’ll notice that it’s nice and shiny here because it’s sticking to the mold. Once you put it in the freezer, it will release from the mold and appear a little dull. That way you’ll know it’s ready to come out.
While that’s freezing we’ll go ahead and make one of our cute candy ice cream cones.
We start with our candy mold here. We paint using these paint brushes that don’t lose their bristles and are food safe. Those work great. Paint the mold. Now you don’t have to worry about making the pink solid through the back. Look at our finished sucker – pink on the front, chocolate on the back.
Once you think you have it painted enough, hold it up to the light. Any light showing through is a weak place – add more chocolate in those areas.
Now we want to take our milk chocolate and just put it directly on top of your pink chocolate. Take your spoon here and kind of move it around just a little bit more. Then you want to give it a tap.
Now to make a sucker, we have our sucker sticks here, and on this candy mold there is a place for the sucker stick. Give it a nice twirl so that the stick is encased in chocolate. Now you have it nice and smooth on the front with no lumps or little air bubbles. Here again we need to put it in the freezer for about five minutes so it will release from the mold.
Our first candy that we molded is ready to come out of the mold. The way you can tell you can turn it over, and if you tap it and it doesn’t come out, it’s not ready yet. It still needs to freeze for another five minutes. If you force it, it won’t come out right. So just put it back in the freezer a few more minutes.
Now the candy molds will come out easily. You can see how nice and pretty and shiny the candy pieces are. We also look out our ice cream cone.
Notice there are no air bubbles. Remember: tapping the mold will release the air bubbles.
We have all the supplies you need for candy making, including candy making chocolates, candy molds, candy wrappers, and more. If you’re interested in hands-on instruction, one of our candy-making classes would be a good fit for you.
We and the bunnies wish you a very wonderful Easter season! We want your Easter time to be enjoyable and stress-free. So come on over to Party Time and stock up on everything you need in one trip: baking & candy supplies and chocolates, Easter decorations, even themed tableware if you’re hosting a get-together. And [...]
Read more →Check out our new summer bags and clutches on display in-store: As the weather gets hot, it helps to have the hottest accessories to keep up. We’re also featuring hats and a full line of Luau party gear. If it’s summer fun, it must be Party Time! Whether you need gear for the beach or [...]
Read more →We’re excited about our newest inventory of LSU Tiger gear. Ever seen an LSU Birdhouse before? If not, check out the photo below. We also are astocking a wide array of bags, keychains, and even a stylish ice bucket! Show your LSU pride during the LSU basketball and baseball seasons with this unique line of [...]
Read more →We are proud to feature an amazing new line of serving dishes and utensils. You’ll see why when you look at the pictures below! These are high-quality brushed aluminum dishes and displays that have already proved irresistible to caterers, and are sure to be a hit for your entertaining needs as well. You will not [...]
Read more →Watch this video to learn how to make these delicious tuxedo strawberries:
To take our dipping strawberries to another level, we’re going to make Tuxedo Strawberries!
First take your berry and dip it in white chocolate. This gives you the tuxedo shirt.
You’ve got to hold on to the stem and just dip it down in the bowl. You don’t have to dip the whole strawberry – just the face of it. Then place it on parchment or wax paper and let it cool. Once it’s cool you dip it into dark chocolate.
After that, dip it in the dark chocolate. We recommend that you use a measuring cup with a handle to hold your dark chocolate. That way it’s easy to tip it and dip it!
Make the dark chocolate come at an angle so that it covers most of the strawberry but leaves a white V for your tuxedo. Now you have a berry ready to decorate.
To finish the decoration, put chocolate in a disposable plastic cake decorating bag. Fold it down so that it’s ready. You don’t need much chocolate here, because it takes some dots.
Fold the bag up and then work the chocolate down into the point of the bag. Then take scissors and cut a small hole at the tip of the bag. You want it the size of a pencil point because you’re making little buttons and a tie on the strawberry.
To make the tuxedo, make three little dots and the triangle on each side for a little bowtie.
To make the wedding stress strawberries, have your white chocolate in the bag. Dip the berry in white chocolate completely, then thread the icing over the strawberry to make the dress design.
Once you have the dress part of it made, put five little beads around the neck for a pearl necklace.
If you put a little bead in the middle and two on each side, you don’t have to worry about centering it up. It will center itself up.
It gives it all a lacy effect when it’s through with.
Let’s say you have a berry you just want to thread. All you have to do is go at an angle and come back and forth across the berry. See what a beautiful finished product it makes?
Watch our previous video on dipping strawberries for tips on how to prep the strawberries and for links to all the baking supplies you need.
Today we’re going to dip these luscious strawberries in dark chocolate.
I’ve melted this dark chocolate in the microwave.
To get your chocolate ready to dip your strawberries, you need to thin the chocolate and make it creamier.
When you bite into the berry, you don’t want the chocolate to flake off. So we add paramount crystals. You can get this at Party Time. Just put a couple pinches in here. The warm chocolate will melt the crystals and make for a softer chocolate.
Whether you’re dipping strawberries, cookies, or whatever, when you want a thin coating and you want it creamier, just add the paramount crystals to your chocolate.
Now, to dip the berries, we’ve already washed and dried them. Just hold them by the stem and dip the whole berry. Shake off the excess chocolate. You don’t want this to puddle and have a foot on it.
This is a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and we’ll just lay them down on there. Now we can come back and decorate them and make them fancier once we get them all dipped.
You’ll see how quickly this goes when you can hold your chocolate container at an angle and just place them on the parchment.
Be sure to shake off the excess chocolate so you don’t end up with a puddle at the bottom!