Bonbon Day

Yesterday Natalie and I went to my Aunt Iris's house for our annual Bonbon Day.  We have been kicking off the holidays with a candy making day for the past several years.  Neither one of us remembers how many exactly, but I think it started before Natalie was born, so at least seven years.  

Bonbon Day got started when I asked Iris to show me how to make her coconut bonbons.  They are my favorite most yummy thing on earth.  Really, how can you go wrong with sugared coconut balls dipped in chocolate? 

Each year we make a slightly different assortment of candies, but the main attraction is always bonbons.  This year we did homemade marshmallows, two flavors of divinity, chocolate fudge with white chips and walnuts, and of course bonbons.  It was a busy day to say the least.

Naturally, I didn't check the batteries in my camera before we left and they were dead when I decided to snap a few shots.  This was a bummer for me because I wanted to get a few snaps of  Iris teaching Natalie how to dip bonbons.  

Natalie has been coming with since she was old enough to reach the counter (with the help of a stool).  This year was something else entirely.  She is so much help.  She just dug right in and mixed up the bonbons all by herself.  All I did for her was put the ingredients in the big bowl and she worked it all together with her hands until it was ready, then she rolled it into dozens of little balls.  When the bonbons were all done and dipped, she helped me with the marshmallows.  It is truly amazing to me the difference that extra pair of little hands made.

Divinity was something new for me to see this year.  I remember that Iris always made it at Christmas when I was little, but have never actually seen it done.  It is not nearly as complicated as I thought, but I think I'll watch for another year or two before I try it on my own.

Bonbons (top left), mint divinity, chocolate fudge,
raspberry divinity and marshmallows

Since I didn't have a working camera with me yesterday, I had to settle for a picture of a sample plate of our creations.   Next year I will get some pictures of the actual candy making process.