Almond Gedillas for Purim and Valentine's Day

Let's take a vacation from my vacation, and indulge in a week's worth of candy suggestions for Purim and/or Valentine's day.

Purim is the Jewish holiday celebrating yet another victory against the forces of evil.  To outsiders, the celebration traditions for this holiday kinda-sorta resembles Halloween with costumes and parties.  But one difference is that when we head out, basket in hand, to our neighbors' door, we hand them the basket of treats.  Mishloach manot (Purim baskets) don't really have to be baskets, but the container must contain at least two different food items: store-bought, home-made or home-grown. 

A more traditional treat for your mishloach manot is hamantaschen, a three-corner filled cookie.   Since we've been there-done that, I will instead share a few traditional Valentine and non-traditional Purim candy recipes.   Start drooling.

Actual gift tray.

Today's recipe is for Almond Gedillas (geh-DILL-ahs), so named for theHubby's grandmother.   Gedilla was her nickname, given to her when she happily exclaimed "Gantze gedilla!" (Yiddish for such a big joy or deal ... yeah, loses a lot in translation) when theHubby was born.  You probably already figured out that today's candy is a copycat of the classic Almond Joy.

In a previous post I showed how to make Mounds-type wannabees, but didn't include photos of the Gedillas.  Today I rectify that mistake.

So cute you could plotz.

I didn't bother double-dipping to enrobe the almonds this time, because after pressing in the almond, they looked just gosh-darn so cute I left them as is.

Almond Gedillas
Adapted from chow.com
Makes around 40

1 bag (14 ozs.)  shredded sweetened coconut
8-9 Tbl. light corn syrup
whole salted almonds
1 bag (14 ozs.) melting chocolate (dark or milk) 

Line a baking sheet with wax paper or a silpat; set aside.  See this post for step-by-step photos of the following messy parts.

Combine coconut and 8 tablespoons of corn syrup in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. Pulse until mixture holds shape when squeezed into a ball, about 30 or so pulses.  Add another tablespoon of corn syrup if mixture is too dry to hold its shape.

With wet hands, scoop up about a 2 teaspoon-size portion of the coconut mixture.  Roll and squeeze the portion between your hands until it is compact and smooth, then shape into a 1 inch by 3/4 inch bar.  It may seem a little small, but keep in mind that after dipping in chocolate the finished bar will be larger.  Set coconut bars on prepared baking sheet and place in the freezer until firm, at least 10 minutes.

 Meanwhile, melt chocolate in the microwave according to package directions.

You can use a fork for the next step, but it's much easier to control if you make a dipping fork:  take a cheap plastic fork and bend the middle tines back and forth until they break off.  Remove coconut bars from freezer.

Using your newly created dipping fork, individually dip bars into melted chocolate.  Tap the fork several times on the edge of the bowl to allow any excess chocolate to drip off, then return bar to baking sheet.  Immediately press an almond into the top of the bar.  If desired, after the chocolate sets, re-dip just the side of the bar with the almond.  Return baking sheet to fridge to set up bars completely.

Store in a tightly sealed container up to three weeks in the refrigerator or up to two months in the freezer. Let bars come to room temperature, still in the container (to prevent condensation on the bars), before serving.