Brandt's Candies: Family & Chocolate Collide

Hints on Cooking Light Chocolate Desserts

2010-06-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

You don't have to sacrifice flavor when eating low-calorie, even with chocolate! Cocoa adds a deep flavor and is low in fat, sodium, and cholesterol

*Look for recipes specifying skim or low-fat. Don't substitute unless the recipe specifies it.

* Try whipping chilled evaporated skim milk as a garnish!

Baking with Cocoa

2010-06-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Cocoa keeps very well if it is stored at room temperature in its original container. It retains its freshness and quality almost indefinitely without refrigeration.

How you substitute cocoa into your favorite recipes:

For baking chocolate. use 3 level tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to equal one square of unsweetened chocolate.

For pre-melted chocolate, use 3 level tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to equal 1 ounce pre-melted unsweetened chocolate.

Mass-Producing Milk Chocolate Products

2010-05-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

To make any chocolate products, chocolate liquor and cocoa butter are combined with other ingredients (like sugar and milk) to create various tastes and textures. Cocoa butter melts at 89-93 F, which is why it melts in your mouth. To continue, pasteurized milk is mixed with sugar sugar until it is thick like taffy. Chocolate liquor is then mixed and dried into a powder known as "chocolate crumb".

Cocoa butter is added to the crumb, then is ground by steel rollers.

The mixture gradually gets smoother until it becomes a thick liquid called "chocolate paste".

Within 1 to 3 days in vats called "conches", granite rollers work to get the right texture through a process called "conching". Below is an old-time diagram of a conching machine.

The last step is tempering, which is a melting and cooling process that stabilizes the crystals in the cocoa butter. This gives chocolate both a shine and a nice snap.

From Cacao Beans to Cocoa Powder

2010-05-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Cacao beans come from the cacao trees in tropical jungles. The trees have very large pods with 20 to 50 seeds in each (cocoa/cacao beans). It takes roughly 400 beans to make a pound of chocolate.

When the seeds/beans are first harvested, they are soft. So they are laid out to dry, in a process called fermentation. The color darkens and the flavor develops.

At the factory, beans are sorted by country of origin due to their distinctive tastes and are later combined to create a signature mix (in the case of Hershey).

The factory process then begins. First is a spin in the revolving roaster, which develops the flavor of the beans. Beneath this photo is a photo of the old-time roaster.

The roasted beans are then shattered to separate the shell from the nib, which is the part with all the flavor.

The nibs are then milled and ground until they release chocolate liquor (which contains no actual alcohol).

Under pressure, roughly 1/2 the vegetable fat (cocoa butter) can be extracted from the liquor.

This leaves the solids, which are pressed into a cake. This can later be smashed to make cocoa powder!

The Biography of Milton Hershey

2010-05-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

Milton Hershey was born in Derry Township in 1857 to his parents, Henry and Fannie. Milton dropped out of school after the 4th grade and at age 14, went to work. He worked at a job he HATED at a newspaper, then got a job with a candy maker.

After 4 years, he started his own taffy shop in Philly and it stayed open for 6 years. He then went to Denver and learned how to melt caramels.

After 10 years and a lot of failure, Hershey returned to Pennsylvania in 1886 (age 29) and borrowed money from his mom's family to open Lancaster Caramel Company (shown below). By 1894, his "Crystal A" caramels had made him a rich and respected man.

In 1893, Hershey became enamored with chocolate while at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. There he bought some machinery to help him make chocolates.

The recipe he used back then is most like the Hershey's Special Dark bar we know and love today.

At first, chocolate was just used to cover caramel but it quickly came to the forefront as a star player. The earliest products were lots of chocolate treats in a variety of shapes and designs, everything from cigars to "Princess wafers". However, Hershey was still unable to perfect milk chocolate.

In 1900, after lots of determination and experimentation, the inexpensive (a nickel!), the Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar debuted and was insanely popular!

Hershey did a lot of his experimenting on the farm where he was born (now known as "the Homestead"). He had sold it in the 1860s to pay off debt, but bought it back in 1897!

Hershey then sold his Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million so he could focus on manufacturing milk chocolate. The "Great American Chocolate Bar" was born.

At this point, Hershey needed to expand to meet demand, including a bigger factory, more equipment, more employees, and more milk!

After exploring around, Hershey moved his whole set-up in 1905 right back to Derry Township

Why Hershey?

2010-05-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sure, as I'm typing out these long posts about Hershey, people would wonder why exactly someone who runs a candy store with home-made hand-dipped candy would want to pay homage to a mass-produced assembly-line multi-million dollar chocolate business.

Honestly, I believe that if there is any company and any leader to look up to, it would be Hershey and the honorable Milton Hershey. He started from very humble beginnings and, doing what he loved, he built up a massive business.

Not only that but once Milton had his success, he used his money for charity, schools, hospitals, etc. Anything he could do to pay it forward!

Other Hershey Innovations

2010-05-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Milton Hershey created a school for children in need!

There is also a world-class teaching hospital & medical center

Here is the famous Hershey Lodge

And the Hershey Campground!

Hershey also has a 23-acre public garden!

And don't forget their very own hometown American Hockey League team

Hershey, Pennsylvania

2010-05-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

When you think of chocolate, of course your mind is going to often think of Hershey, one of the best known names in chocolate. Hershey has the largest chocolate manufacturing plant in the country. (There are actually 3 factories, including the main plant). When you are walking the streets of Hershey, you can actually SMELL the chocolate in the air!

Every minute, they produce more than 1,500 chocolate bars. Every single day, more than 80 million kisses are made.

The streets of Hershey even have names like Cocoa and Chocolate Avenues. Other streets are named after tropical locations where the cacao beans grow (such as Trinidad and Ceylon).

The streetlights are capped with giant Hershey kisses lamps (both wrapped and unwrapped kisses, as you see above!)

And check out the bushes, they spell "Hershey Cocoa"!

The Hotel Hershey is an amazingly luxurious hotel that looks over the countryside. You receive chocolate bars when you check in and they leave Hershey kisses when they turn down your sheets!

One of the best parts about the Hershey Hotel is the spa.

Cacao beans are a main ingredient for tons of treatments there, from a cocoa bath to a fondue wrap!

One of the other great parts of Hershey is Hersheypark!

The biggest symbol of Hersheypark is the ferris wheel!

You can even take a ride 250 feet in the air on the Kissing Tower where you look out through Hershey Kiss-shaped windows!

This Summer (And the Blog)

2010-05-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

As many of you may already know, we don't do any cooking in the candy store over the summer. Due to the higher temperatures and the fact that our kitchen doesn't have air-conditioning (only our showcase room and dipping room are air conditioned), we can't make our candy. Candy making is a very exact science and the heat and humidity cause candies to not be able to set properly.

Therefore, this summer I am going to focus on doing blog posts that revolve around lots of different chocolate and candy-making topics.

The next few weeks will revolve around topics from The Hershey Pennsylvania Cookbook: Fun Treats and Trivia from the Chocolate Capital of the World by Marilyn Odesser-Torpey (Copyright 2007: Morris Book Publishing). Lots of interesting information about the chocolate capital of the world, recipes, tips, etc. :)

The Different Types of Chocolate

2010-05-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular and well-known types of chocolate is milk chocolate. For chocolate to be considered milk chocolate, it has to contain at least 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% milk or cream. These are then blended with cocoa butter & sugar

Unsweetened/baking chocolate is simply chocolate liquor molded into blocks, nothing else!

There is also sweet chocolate, which is not pictured here, which is a blend of cocoa butter, sugar and at least 15% chocolate liquor.

Pictured above is semisweet/bittersweet chocolate. (Which is a very common type of chocolate in chocolate chips). This is at least 35% chocolate liquor mixed with cocoa butter & sugar.

White chocolate actually contains no cocoa solids or chocolate liquor. To be considered white chocolate, it is required to contain at least 20% cocoa butter and 14% milk ingredients.

Dippers Starting Their Day

2010-05-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Starting off the beginning of the day with some dipped nuts!

Here is the chocolate bin for one of our dipper girls in the dipping room. The dipping room itself is quite cool to keep the candies from melting, although the chocolate itself is kept heated!

Prepping the Candy

2010-05-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

In the morning after the candy is cooked and poured, it is ready to move on to the next step!

Here is essentially a mesh "cage" that sifts all the corn starch off the tray of candy and leaves just the candies behind, leaving the cornstarch to be used for the next batch.

Here, Sally is brushing off the additional cornstarch from the candies.

The candies are separated because some will be dipped in milk chocolate, some in dark chocolate. Sandy dips milk chocolate and Judy dips dark. Milk chocolate is typically a bigger seller so a larger portion of the candies are designated for milk!

Delightful Day Visits Brandt's

2010-04-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

This last week, the Delightful Day preschool class from St. Bede's Church in Mentor came to pay us a visit (the classes visited Wednesday and Thursday). This includes our very own Layla Stanek, great-grandaughter of the current owners of Brandt's (Dr. & Mrs. James Phillips)!

Here, Tom (one of our cooks) gives the kids a little lesson about our marble countertops. They are always nice and cool and help to cool the candy consistently after it is poured.

The kids are taking a look at the cool alligator and guitar molds!

I can't resist continuously posting pictures of the melted chocolate. I just think it looks so delicious.

Here, Tom is showing the kids how we use our molds to make impressions in the cornstarch, where we then pour the candy.

Here, Margaret shows off the gigantic marshmallow mixing bowl. The bowl is almost as tall as these 4 year olds!

Everyone excitedly waits in line to dip their very own animal crackers in melted milk chocolate.

PS-I ate about 4 of them. ;)

Brandt's Candies Specialties

2010-04-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

When you stop in, don't forget to pick up a yummy chocolate guitar or chocolate baseball set to celebrate your Cleveland pride!

If you are looking for a unique way to thank your employees or clients during the holidays, look no further than our Brandt's chocolate thank-you bars. We can even create bars using your very own company logo!

In addition to our large assortment of gift boxes, we also have edible gift baskets filled with delicious chocolates. So yes, you can actually EAT the basket!

Brandt's also has dozens of holiday-specific items as well. Here are just a few of them: Chocolate Christmas trees, chocolate crosses and chocolate Easter bunnies.

The Story of Brandt's Candies Inc

2010-04-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

George and Agnes Brandt founded Brandt's Open Kitchen Candy in 1948 in Willoughby, Ohio, a small thriving community east of Cleveland.

The years have gone by, but the location has remained the same!

Customers were able to watch the candy being made in the open kitchen behind the showroom. Brandt's was known throughout the community for the high-quality chocolate produced at the site.

Brandt's Candies Inc. is still doing business the same way today as a family-owned, family-run store. We are proud to carry on the Brandt's tradition at the same location, in order to provide you with the same timeless treats you remember from your childhood.

Our candy is hand-made, following the original recipes and using only the finest ingredients. This gives our candies the fresh and delicious taste that makes our candies so unique.

We hand-dip our delicious creams, jellies, caramels, and marshmallow in fine chocolate. We also hand-dip coconut, dried fruit, and of course our mouth-watering cherry cordials.

Our candy is then displayed in the original showcases, ready for you to take home and enjoy.

Easter Prep

2010-03-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

Here is just a small behind-the-scenes glance into our ongoing Easter prep. As you can imagine, Easter is one of our most unbelievably busy times of year. We make a very large amount of molded items (solid chocolate) for Easter, from crosses to bunnies, from small to large. The lovely Barb painstakingly has labeled every single box so we know exactly "who is who" when it comes to each little chocolate animal too. :)

Above, you see our sitting rabbit with clover. Our "dippers", Sandy and Judy, hand pour the chocolate into each metal mold and then apply the extras (such as the flower above) by hand, using chocolate as the "glue" to hold it all together.

As you see here, each item is also hand-wrapped and hand-decorated too. Here, Sandy is curling the ribbon to wrap around the bunny!

Maple Walnut Cream Eggs

2010-03-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

These are the same as our maple cream eggs, but with a little extra surprise inside! Above, we see the eggs after they have cooled overnight in the cornstarch mold.

Here are several trays of our delicious eggs, ready to go to the dipping room and be enrobed in delicious chocolate!

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

2010-02-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

Twice a year (for Sweetest Day and Valentine's Day) we sell our hand-made, hand-dipped chocolate covered strawberries.

We purchase our strawberries directly from Heinen's, where they are literally hand-picked for us so that we get only the best, juiciest, sweetest berries of the bunch.

After we go through and hand-inspect each berry, our "dippers" hand-dip each strawberry in chocolate (milk or dark) and then do a chocolate drizzle over the top in the other type of chocolate. Every day we sell these, we make them fresh right before we open the store and then throughout the day.

Unfortunately, chocolate-covered strawberries have a short shelf life, they are really at their best in the first day, maybe two. This is due to the amount of liquid in the strawberry and the tendency of it to get a bit mushy with time. However, that shouldn't matter to anyone, because who will have any left after a day anyways? :)

Marshmallow Cream Eggs

2010-02-12T04:44:00.000-08:00

This basically takes over where the last marshmallow recipe left off. Here, the marshmallow cream is over a flame to keep the mixture smooth and pour-able while the eggs are being shaped.

The process is exactly the same as pouring the cream eggs, we are just dealing with a very different type of mix. The marshmallow cream is much more difficult to pour. Here, Tom is putting the finishing touches on a row of eggs.

Here is a close-up view of the finished product. Creamy, smooth marshmallow cream eggs! Once the mixture cools and firms up a bit, they will get their chocolate coating.

Maple Cream Eggs

2010-02-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

Here is the beginning of the creamy nougat base for maple cream eggs. The fun thing about these eggs is watching them go from looking so plain to looking so yummy in a very short period of time!

Here you see one of the best ingredients around: brown sugar. The brown sugar helps to both give the candy great flavor but to also help give it the nice brown color!

As you can see, the sugar mixture bubbling away in the kettle is certainly not too pretty. But I promise you it smells wonderful!

Here, Tom is preparing the corn starch trays that will hold the candy in its proper shape while it cools.

These are the molds that we use to make the impressions in the corn starch. As you can see, there are different sizes/shapes for different products. The eggs are egg-shaped (obviously) and larger while the cream molds are smaller and more spherical.

Here, Tom has gone through and made all the indentations for the eggs. The corn starch acts as a cooling agent for the candy and the candy will stay here until it is time for them to be dipped.

Here is the sugar mixture, continuing to bubble! As we always say here, temperature is SO important, so the thermometer is fairly constantly in the liquid to make sure we are very exact!

Our candy base mix is starting to look good, nice and gooey and creamy!

You can't forget maple flavoring! Here it is added before the final mixing! The two mixtures are combined together and it's time to pour!

To properly pour the candy without overfilling/spilling, a small funnel-like apparatus is used with a wooden stick-like object. Tom raises and lowers the stick in order to modify how much liquid is let out.

And here is what they look like! Don't they look delicious??

Caramel!

2010-01-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

What you see here is the delicious beginnings of caramel. Here is simply a combination of sugar, water, & corn syrup. As we have talked about before, candies tend to all contain multiple variations of sugar. Not that anyone is complaining of course. :) A little bit of salt is added and the mixture bubbles in the copper kettle until everything is properly melted and smooth.

Above are soy flakes, which are very similar in appearance to butter.

We know everything is better with butter! As you can see, caramel is no exception!

Here, Mary is whisking in the sticks of butter. As they begin to melt, they actually "foam" up, very neat!

Here is a video of the process of evaporated milk pouring through a sieve into the kettle. This is a slow, constant process. The evaporated milk is a lot like cream and acts the same way in this recipe.

Here, the metal rods have been precisely set out in order to hold the caramel once it's poured. This will ensure the caramel doesn't spill out and that the caramel pieces are the proper size and thickness.

Additionally, peanut oil is spread out on the marble tabletop so that the candy doesn't stick to the counter.

This video shows the caramel about midway through. The continuous mixing will continue until the mixture reaches the "magic temperature". Of course I can't tell you what that temperature is!

As you can see, the mixture drastically reduces and thickens as the process continues and the temperature climbs.

Here is the almost-final product, once it has reached the proper temperature. The heat will be turned off, but the mixing will continue until the temperature goes back down to another precise temperature.

The final ingredient, vanilla, is added. And it smells AMAZING!

Here, Barb and Mary pour out the caramel. The copper kettle and caramel together are quite heavy (and very hot) so 2 people are needed to complete the process.

Here, the caramel is being smoothed out to ensure consistency. The marble countertops were purchased specially due to marble's ability to maintain its cool temperature.

Here is the final caramel, in its resting place until the next morning. At that point, it will be cut and this specific batch will be used to make our mock turtles! Yum!

Cherry Cordial Tumbler Video

2009-11-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here is a video that shows the loud process of tumbling the cherry cordials!

Cherry Cordials!

2009-11-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

Cherry cordials are one of the candies that are pretty neat to see being made. And of course are very delicious to eat. You bite through the chocolate shell and you get to the sweet juicy inside. Yum!

As you see above, the cherry cordials start out as plump, bright maraschino cherries.

The very first step in creating the center of a cherry cordial is to take the maraschino cherries for a tumble in a mixture of sugar and flavorings!

As the cherries tumble, Tom uses a "flavor gun" to spray into the tumbler as it goes. This creates great layers of flavor and sweetness inside the cordial.

When you make the cordials, many come out looking great and perfectly shaped. However, some come out either malformed or too tiny. Which introduces a perk of owning a candy shop, eating the mistakes!! Because it would be a crime to throw them out!

Here is the delicious milk chocolate that will soon be covering some of the cordials (the rest will be dark chocolate). Here, one of our "dippers" (Sandy and Judy are exclusively in charge of all of the chocolate work, they have many years of experience. It is definitely an art!).

The first step here is giving the cordial some chocolate "feet". Since the cordials are spherical, they will roll around unless they are given a flat base to set them down.

And here is the awesomely delicious and gorgeous finished product!

Coffee Truffles

2009-11-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

After talking about the fairly complicated process of making marshmallow, let's talk about something a little bit different: Coffee Truffles. Above, you can see that the beginning of coffee truffles isn't unlike the start of baking: melted butter!

Next comes ooey, gooey, chewy nougat cream. Nougat is the type of candy that is the inside of a lot of familiar candy bars (3 Musketeers, Milky Way, etc.)

Time to measure out the coffee cognac flavoring. As we have mentioned before, you want to be very precise with your measurements so you don't end up with an overpowering (or underwhelming) flavor.

A good old-fashioned mixing with a fork in a mixing b0wl is all that is needed to get the flavorings and the butter combined.

Barb creates a weekly plan of what will be made based on the current supply and the customer demand.

Here Margaret is getting some melted chocolate from the tanks to add to the truffle mix. The truffles are one of our few candies that have the chocolate both mixed into the inside and also on the outside.

We aren't kidding when we say hand-made! Here Mary is wrist-deep in truffle!

Here she is working the "dough" on the marble slab.

Here is the finished product of what will be the insides of the coffee truffles. Now they are just waiting overnight to receive their chocolate exterior!

Six of our finished products!

Marshmallow (Part 2)

2009-11-02T10:26:00.001-08:00

The hot and super-steamy ingredients have all been poured into the mixer, hence all this steam you see! Now it is time to add the final ingredients.

Here is our last dose of flavor: some vanilla and yet another sugar substance! :)

Of course whenever you cook, you also must clean up. We use a mixture of citric acid and water to get our pots nice and sparkly clean!

Here Tom is setting up a resting place for the marshmallow. Metal borders are set up to contain the marshmallow once it is poured. Here is where it will rest and set until the next morning when it is cut!

Looks great! Time to pour!

The candy and the bowl together are quite heavy, so this is a team effort!

Once it is poured, the marshmallow is spread out evenly over the table.

In a later blog post, we will delve further into the prepping/dipping processes, but here is the delicious final product from our lovely day of marshmallow. Yum!

Marshmallow Boiling!

2009-11-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

I thought the pictures don't do the process justice, so I added this video!

Time to Make Some Marshmallow! (Part 1)

2009-10-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

What you see above is the number one most important step in starting any candy recipe! No matter how familiar you are with a recipe, you need to read and re-read each time because the measurements/temperatures/etc. need to be painstakingly exact or things will not turned out as planned! Here we see Tom getting ready to start!

Here is the first step, measuring out the gelatin! Did you know that all gelatin is actually derived from animal bones?? Crazy, right? The variety we use is bovine (from cows) and is certified kosher (Although certainly not vegan!)

Next comes the sugar and corn syrup! Which are both technically just 2 forms of sugar. You will find that, in candy making, you end up using multiple forms of sugar in your recipes. Each serves its own unique purpose in the recipes, whether it be to add to the taste or to modify the texture!
As you can see above, corn syrup is very different in texture than your typical granulated sugar!

While Margaret was measuring out the ingredients, Tom has been hard at work whisking up the gelatin and water.

Here we see Tom adding sugar #3!!

As old-fashioned and tried-and-true as you can get, the old time copper pot is used for cooking our candies!

The mixing is done using another great old-fashioned item, the wooden spoon!

As we mentioned before, it is SO important that you follow exact measurements while making candy. The thermometer directly in the liquid allows us to get an immediate check to ensure things are right where they should be!

Things are now really getting underway. Check out all that foamy goodness!

Why Have a Blog for a Candy Store??

2009-10-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

After 61 years, it could be asked why Brandt's Candies needs a blog. Obviously things are running smoothly and our customers keep coming back. Those customers are the reason WHY we wanted to do this.

We wanted to start this blog as a way of being able to include our customers in a deeper way. We see you in front of the showcase, but there is so much more than just pieces of chocolate on a tray. Through this blog, you will be able to directly interact with us and be able to see not only how candies are made, but also some of the ins and outs of how our company runs!

We tell everyone that we see about how our candies are home-made and hand-dipped, but do you know what that really means and what that entails? This way, you can join us on a journey of learning how simple, fresh ingredients become delicious candy!

If there is something you would like to see on here, please tell us! If there is something you don't like, tell us! This is YOUR blog and we want the content to be customer-driven.

The blog will be updated 1-2 times per week, you can always count on a fresh post each weekend. Keep coming back and I promise to provide you with interesting, delicious content!

Welcome to Brandt's Candies!

2009-10-21T13:28:00.001-07:00

Brandt's Candies has been a long-standing cornerstone of Willoughby' Ohio since 1948. Although ownership has changed throughout the years since the days of the original Brandt family, all the best parts have stayed the same.

Our family took over and re-opened Brandt's in September 2005. To this day, we use the same recipes and make the same candies with the same quality that have people have come to expect over the years! We feel that we have a good thing going and we hope to only expand upon it and grow with the needs (yes, chocolate is a need!) and wants of our customers!