You know me when I make candy, I like to make a lot. I doubled the recipe, but I only dipped half of it.
If you are going to go to the trouble of making candy why not make enough to have for later when you need a quick dessert for company coming by or treats to take for your children school parties.
Homemade Almond Joy
Ingredients
14 oz - sweetened condensed milk
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 14 oz bag sweetened flaked coconut
1-2 24 oz pkg. chocolate almond bark or dark chocolate chips
1-1 1/2 cups whole almonds
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, spread raw almonds onto a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, on medium speed, blend the sweetened condensed milk, butter and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing until smooth.
On low speed add the coconut a little at a time and mix until thoroughly combined with the powdered sugar mixture. The mixture will be thick.
Place mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the coconut mixture from the refrigerator.
With clean hands shape one tablespoon of coconut into a little log about 2 inches long and 3/4-inch thick.
Press the coconut mixture together very well so they don’t crack when dipped.
Place the log on the lined baking sheet and continue until all of the coconuts the mixture is gone.
Rinse hands occasionally if they get too sticky. Press an almond on top of each coconut log. It might not completely stick. That’s ok.
Place the baking sheet in the freezer to chill while you melt the chocolate.
In a medium, a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave 2-4 minutes at 30 SECOND intervals until chocolate is melted.
Remove the coconut candies from the freezer. Place one coconut almond log on a fork (I use my meat fork to my silverware).
Use a spoon to scoop a bit of chocolate over the almond. This will help the almond stick to the candy and not fall off during dipping.
Lower fork into chocolate and spoon chocolate over candy to coat. Lift fork and gently shake to release some of the chocolate.
Scrape the bottom of the fork along the side of the bowl and place on the lined baking sheet.
You might need a toothpick to help get the candy off the fork. Repeat until all candy is coated in chocolate. If chocolate gets thick, just return to the microwave and heat for another 30 seconds.
Let dipped candy harden for 45 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
If you need to layer the candy in a container, use waxed paper to separate the layers.
Cook's Note
If you do not want to dip all the candy at one time, you can put the sheet pan of the coconut logs in the freezer. When they are frozen, gather them up and put them in a Ziplock freezer bag to be dipped at a later time.