Almond joys

Here is another one of my Christmas treats I made to take to my neighbor. They were super yummy, but they took some time.

These are all the ingredients you need

NOTE: It's smart to look at the amount a ingredients the recipe calls for. Whoops!

First I started out mixing the powdered sugar, butter, and sweetened condensed milk together. SLOWLY add in the powdered sugar....if you do it to fast...POOF! You will be covered in a cloud of  white that will leave everything sticky
 ( just take me word for it ;)

After the powdered sugar is mixed in, start adding in the coconut.  I had to  grab a bigger bowl. For all of you  who have a mixer ( LUCKY) this will be much easier then using a hand mixer.

Next stick the coconut mixture in the fridge to chill.

 Now on to toasting your almonds.

Toast your almonds just enough to not look like this! This happens very fast, as soon as you can smell them take them out of the oven!!!!

I used a Tablespoon to  to measure out  some of the coconut mixture before rolling into a ball.  

Next add your toasted almond ( remember...not the burnt ones) . Stick these in the freezer while you melt the chocolate. 

Melt your chocolate......but not to the point of looking like this!

It should look like this :)

Leave the coconut balls in the freezer till they are firm enough they wont fall apart when dipped in the chocolate. I found using a fork and a tooth pick worked the best for dipping and sliding onto the wax paper.

Ta-Dah!!!! Don't they look scrumptious!

MY ALTERATIONS/NOTES
Remember when I said to look at the amount of ingredients the recipe calls for....well I didn't do that. I got all the stuff and when I started to make it I realized the amount this recipe was going to make. Needless to say it was about 3x more then what I was planning to make. I also would make the almond joys about half of a tablespoon, they were super yummy but I like a little more almond with my coconut, so making the coconut ball a little smaller would solve that problem :)  When I make this in the future I will be cutting the recipe in half. At a tablespoon per ball it made about 75 almond joys.
(I know some of you are wondering; but no I am not a food photographer, could have fooled you huh...okay okay...I will work on it.)

Oh and the pictures of what "not" to do...I did those on purpose. ;)

Homemade Almond Joy

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 cup whole almonds

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 coconut 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 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 get 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.