Meet our Marzipan - part seven

 Editor's Note: Introducing Meet Me Mondays - Candy Version!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop.  I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, another one of my goals has been to help introduce each of our delicious candies to our wonderful customers, while also providing a tool for the general public to be able to identify our candy.  I hope you enjoy this series which will highlight all the Anderson's Candy that you love!   

Seventh in our series is Marzipan.

An old fashioned European treat done Anderson’s style. Marzipan is also known as an almond paste and in its simplest form is just that.  We intensify the flavor of ours and give it a smoother texture by adding pure almond extract and some of our handmade fondant. Then we dip it into our signature milk or dark chocolate. The result is something so delicious that your eyes will close and your head will bob like you just heard a great "jam" on the radio! Eating our Marzipan is truly total delight! 

Some say this traditional center is an acquired taste, for me I have come to love it because of how smooth, sweet and delicious Anderson’s version is.

When you get this flavor in bar form, you will notice that it is rolled into two round patties, connected in the middle, just as the rest of the cream center bars.

 When you pull this bar out of it’s crinkly wax bag you will see it’s unique mark on top - a sort of "x" or some see it as an "awareness ribbon."

When you look closely you will see that the main part of the mark is a triangle and that triangle has two of it’s sides extended past the main part of the triangle.  

Look at your next bar and enjoy the unique mark on top before you take a bite! Like mentioned in our previous posts, each candy bar may look slightly different depending on who dipped it! Each of our Dipping Room staff has her own "handwriting" in the chocolate!  

Marzipan is unique amongst our cream center candies as the bar and the piece DO have the same mark on top! (Finally! hehe)

When looking for Marzipan in a box of Anderson's Candies, you will look again for a small round piece, and look for that triangle shape with extended arms.  Though sometimes the pieces are a little harder to decipher as the extended sides on the triangle tend to get a little “loopy” at the start and end of the mark. (It is a lot to fit on a little piece!)

Fun Facts: Marzipan is one our most requested special packs! That means customers call us and order a whole half pound or one pound box of JUST Marzipan centers - opposed to enjoying it as one of many flavors in an assorted box. 

Many people associate Marzipan as a Christmas flavor, so if you've never had it before, consider it with the holidays coming up!

Marzipan is also GLUTEN FREE!

https://linktr.ee/andersonscandyshop

Meet our Vanilla Cream - part six

Editor's Note: Introducing Meet Me Mondays - Candy Version!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop.  I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, another one of my goals has been to help introduce each of our delicious candies to our wonderful customers, while also providing a tool for the general public to be able to identify our candy.  I hope you enjoy this series which will highlight all the Anderson's Candy that you love!   

Sixth in our series is Vanilla Cream.

Our Vanilla Creams are rich, sweet and have a distinct real vanilla flavor.  That's because we flavor them with pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla and hand-spaded each batch.

These are simply the smoothest and best vanilla creams you will find.  

Made like its companions in our cream center line, Vanilla Creams start out as "blank" creams in small batches. They are cooked in our copper kettles and spaded out on our big marble slabs.

  So what is the difference between our Buttercream, the Vanilla Creams? 
We use whole cream in our Buttercream which add a buttery, thick, tone behind the vanilla. Our Vanilla creams light up your pallet in the way sugar or cake frosting does.  When paired with the cocoa butter in our signature milk or dark chocolate, WOWWIE! It will leave you yearning for more. 

Vanilla Cream does not have a larger candy bar counterpart. But you can find it in our boxes of Anderson's Candy such as our Creams Assortment, Deluxe Assorted or Everything But Nuts boxes.

At Eastertime we do make one exception for this however when we create our Vanilla Cream eggs! 

When looking for a Vanilla Cream in a box of Anderson's Candy you will look for a small round piece (remember, all cream centers are either round or oblong), and on top of this piece you will find a very swirly - quite fancy "V", for "Vanilla".  

Fun Facts: Because all of our candy is handmade you can enjoy the distinct handwriting of each Dipper as you look for this piece. Just like when writing a letter using pen and paper, each person's letters look unique. Vanilla Creams is one the pieces where this is most apparent. 

In the photo below you can see two different Dipping Room employee's handwriting. Each has made her own "V."

Vanilla Creams are also GLUTEN FREE!  

https://linktr.ee/andersonscandyshop

Meet our Maplenut Cream - part five

 Editor's Note: Introducing Meet Me Mondays - Candy Version!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop.  I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, another one of my goals has been to help introduce each of our delicious candies to our wonderful customers, while also providing a tool for the general public to be able to identify our candy.  I hope you enjoy this series which will highlight all the Anderson's Candy that you love!   

Fifth in our series is Maplenut Cream.

A rich maple-flavored cream center made with real maple extract is in the center of this piece!  We also add bits of chopped English Walnuts for a one-of-a-kind-flavor.  Rich and savory, the maple and walnut flavors soar hand in hand.  

The Maplenut Creams at our shop start out as a "blank" cream center. We use a very high grade beaten egg white to ensure a fluffy, creamy consistency every time. We also hand spade all of our cream centers until they are smooth, and then add the natural oils or flavors.

Maplenut Cream centers are brown on the inside to match that maple flavor however the maple oil we use is not potent for coloring. So to achieve our signature "look" when you bite open a Maplenut Cream, we use a burnt sugar solution to create just the right brown color!

When third generation candy maker Leif Anderson was teaching his daughters to flavor this cream center, he would be sure to coach them in how to get the flavor and the color just right. 

Fourth generation candy maker Katie Anderson-Tedder remembers he would say.

"Customers eat with all five senses." and "You eat first with your eyes."

The look, mouth feel, scent and flavor all have to be just right. (The sound element comes in when the customer says, "Mmmmmm!")

While some of our cream center candies you can enjoy in a candy bar format AND as an individual piece, this flavor cream is only made in individual piece form (most of the time!). You can order it packed up in a 1 pound or 1/2 pound box or enjoy it as one of the assorted flavors in our boxed chocolates. 

However, there is one special time of year when Maplenut goes BIG so to speak. During Easter season we make Maplenut Cream Eggs!  Our fruit flavor cream Cherrynut will also get a chance to go big during Easter.

But back to the main star of this week, Maplenut Cream. 

Once inside a box of Anderson's Candy, while searching for the Maplenut Cream, you will look for an oblong piece.  Atop the Maplenut Cream there is a mark that looks like a cursive "M."

Do you see it?  All of our candy has an individual mark unique to its center and this one is phonetic. The fancy "M" stands for Maplenut.

Fun Facts: This center is number 2 behind only Buttercream as the most requested Special Pack cream center. That means customers request boxes of just Maplenut to fill their box. Opposed to ordering our Creams assortment.
This cream is also GLUTEN FREE!

https://linktr.ee/andersonscandyshop

Meet our Peppermint Cream - part four

 Editor's Note: Introducing Meet Me Mondays - Candy Version!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop.  I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, another one of my goals has been to help introduce each of our delicious candies to our wonderful customers, while also providing a tool for the general public to be able to identify our candy.  I hope you enjoy this series which will highlight all the Anderson's Candy that you love!  Fourth in our series is Peppermint Cream.

When third-generation owner Leif Anderson used to flavor this cream center, he would sample as he went, adding triple distilled peppermint oil a few drops at a time when he felt the flavor was close.

"When you take a bite of this cream, it should open up your nasal passages," he would say. He wanted enough peppermint oil so that you would fully experience the powerful peppermint flavor and so that it would stand out even through a thick coat of Anderson's rich chocolate.

 
Cooks at Anderson's will never forget being taught how to properly flavor this center by Leif. 

The Peppermint Creams at our shop start out as a "blank" cream center - never gummy or waxy, we use whole cream in our recipe. We also hand spade all of our cream centers until they are smooth, and then add the nature oils or flavors.

If you are a York Peppermint Patty fan, once you've had our Peppermint Cream Bar you will never go back. 

Unlike the other cream center candy bars which at different times throughout the history of the shop have been presented as one oblong bar verses two patties - our Peppermint Cream bars have always been rolled in to two patties and dipped in two halves. This is due to the cream center's potency.

Looking at the candy bar from the top down, you will notice it wears the "rough dip", and wears it well. ;)  

Hopefully you aren't still looking for this candy bar's smaller counterpart to be strutting out of a box of Anderson's Candy wearing the SAME mark as the bar. No way. Like the other cream centers, the Peppermint Cream when made into an individual piece has a different mark on top.

 In your box of cream centers you would search for a small round piece (all cream center pieces are either round or oblong), with a line straight across the top.

 But be careful, if you find a piece that you think is Peppermint Cream, but isn't quite round, or seems flat on the top, that's because you've likely found a Walnut instead.

 Identifying the candies  by their mark takes practice, but once you figure it out, it's a piece of cake. 

Fun Facts: Peppermint Cream is most popular in Dark Chocolate. 

We have a family who lives locally (Hi Katzenbergs!) that orders several pounds of JUST Peppermint Creams for major holidays and birthdays because it is their family's favorite. We are so thrilled to be part of their traditions!

Peppermint Cream is also GLUTEN FREE! 

https://linktr.ee/andersonscandyshop

Meet our Pudding Cream - part three

 

Editor's Note: Introducing Meet Me Mondays - Candy Version!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop.  I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, another one of my goals has been to help introduce each of our delicious candies to our wonderful customers, while also providing a tool for the general public to be able to identify our candy.  I hope you enjoy this series which will highlight all the Anderson's Candy that you love!   

Third in our series is Pudding.

Pudding cream is a cream center we refer to as the “dark side” of Buttercream.  

Our Pudding creams start out as a perfectly respectable vanilla buttercream batch, but then we add a blend of our signature chocolate and a secret ingredient, and the result is a sinfully smooth and chocolaty cream with bittersweet undertones.  

So rich, this cream is almost considered a truffle. 

When in candy bar form, the Pudding comes rolled and dipped in to two patties -

it’s almost too rich to finish in one sitting, though you see I did say “almost.” 

You can identify the Pudding candy bar by the beautiful "bows" on top of each piece.  If you are looking for an individual Pudding piece, you could look for a bow again, but it will not be Pudding inside. Like it’s cousin creams we have already featured, this piece has a different mark when in piece form.

To find the individual Pudding piece in your next box of chocolates, look for an oblong shape with a letter “P” on top, which stands for… you guessed it, Pudding.  

Fun and delicious fact: When third-generation owner Leif Anderson was in grade school, he would sneak this candy bar as an after-school treat. When Leif would check in at the shop on his way home, he would back up to the box that held the Pudding bars and sneak one into his pocket. Any employees that saw him smiled and knowingly "looked the other way."

Extra fun and delicious fact: Pudding is GLUTEN FREE! 

https://linktr.ee/andersonscandyshop