Total Time: 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes
An old fashioned homemade candy – this Shaggy Dog Candy Recipe is perfect for the Christmas plate! Chocolate and marshmallows are rolled in coconut in this decadent treat.
Originally posted December 14, 2007 – I have wanted to remake this candy recipe forever, and what better time than the Christmas season? These Shaggy Dogs are a little bit messy to make, but they really are super easy. If you are wanting to try your hand at making some candy this year but you are a little intimidated, these candies are a good start. Just be ready to get your hands a little bit messy! These would make another great addition to any holiday plate!
I had every intention to post this yesterday, but things got too busy. Oh well…
I can’t believe this is my first post of the month for my Cookbook of the Month – Candymaking. December is such a busy month. I see all of the wonderful cookies and holiday treats on everyone’s blogs, and I feel like I am so far behind!! So instead of one recipe from my cookbook, I’ll tell you about 3!!
I’m a bit intimidated by candymaking. So I started with what I thought would be 3 foolproof recipes. We’ll start with the fudgels. Fudgels – according to Ruth Kendrick and Pauline Atkinson, are a mix between fudge and truffles. I decided to try the brown sugar fudgels, since the heading says that they are a family favorite. A combination of vanilla-flavored compound coating, brown sugar, evaporated milk, butter, marshmallows and vanilla make up these confections. I was really excited to try these because I love fudge and I love truffles, but unfortunately, these were my least favorite of the 3 recipes I tried. I’m not sure if it was the brand of compound coating I bought, but these were extremely sweet. One small square was more than enough. I think the thing that disappointed me most about them was that they were not smooth and creamy. They were a bit dry. If you could get past the sweetness and texture, the taste was actually quite nice. And as far as candy goes, they were very easy to put together – no thermometer or long cooking times required. I may play around with this one a bit – try out some different compound coatings and such to see if I can get a less sweet, smoother candy.
Next up were the caramels. The caramels would have been my favorite, but user error put them second best to me. These are called 30-minute caramels – they are a short cut caramel. Caramels are my favorite homemade candy, and there are several versions in this book that I’d like to try, but I made these all on a week night, and time was a bit short. The caramels used brown sugar, which deepens the color and taste faster, so you don’t have to cook them as long. You are supposed to cook these until they are 240F, but I think that my thermometer must be wrong. I cooked these for about 40 minutes (when they are only supposed to take 30 minutes) and I was still 4 or 5 degrees below where I was supposed to be. I gave up and poured them into my dish. In the morning, when I went to cut them, they were quite hard and very difficult to cut. Now I’m thinking I should have stopped them even further below where I did. I really should get a new thermometer, I guess!! These taste just as good as any long cooking caramel. You had to soften these a bit before you could chew through them, but that didn’t stop us from eating far too many!! I just ended up cutting them into bite sized pieces, and although a bit hard, they are delicious!!
Last, but certainly not least, are a candy recipe called Shaggy Dogs. I actually made this Shaggy Dog candy recipe by mistake. I saw a picture in the book, and there were 3 candies featured. I thought one of them looked really good, and not really paying attention, I read the caption and guessed that they were the Shaggy Dogs. Well, when I got home with my ingredients, I realized that the ones I actually wanted to make were a different one in the picture!! Well, my mistake was worth it because these were my favorite of the bunch. They were the hardest to work with, but they were eaten up the quickest! You make a chocolate mixture and then add in marshmallows. After letting the mixture cool, you are supposed to make it into logs that are coated in coconut, chilled, and then cut into pieces. Maybe I didn’t let the mixture cool long enough (I am impatient, after all) and forming the logs was a bit messy. It worked out though. I took a plate of the candy to work, and the Shaggy Dogs were the first off the plate. I’ll definitely remember this Shaggy Dog candy recipe!!
Looking for more candy recipes?
Creamy Cranberry Pistachio Fudge
Blonde Rocky Road
Homemade Caramel Recipe
Cherry Nut Chocolates
Butter Pecan Fudge from Spicy Southern Kitchen
Caramel Nougat Pecan Rolls from the Food Charlatan
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Shaggy Dogs
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Author: Deborah Harroun
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes
Total Time: 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes
Servings: 48 pieces
Course: Dessert
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An old fashioned homemade candy - this Shaggy Dog Candy Recipe is perfect for the Christmas plate! Chocolate and marshmallows are rolled in coconut in this decadent treat.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 10 oz. miniature marshmallows
- 2 cups sweetened coconut
Instructions
Combine the butter and chocolate chips in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chocolate and butter are both melted and the mixture is smooth.
Turn off the heat and then very slowly, whisking continuously, pour in the eggs. Continue to whisk until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until completely incorporated until smooth. Stir in the marshmallows. Refrigerate the mixture until it starts to set up.
Lay down a piece of parchment paper or wax paper. Sprinkle 1/3 of the coconut over the top. Divide the chocolate/marshmallow mixture into 3 equal portion. Place one portion of the mixture on the coconut and form it into a log, about 1 1/2” thick and 8 inches long. (I found that it is easiest to do with greased hands.) Roll the log over the coconut, pressing the coconut into the sides to adhere. Transfer the coconut covered log to a piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Repeat with the remaining 2 portions.
Refrigerate the candy until set up, at least a couple hours, up to 3 weeks. When ready to serve, unwrap the log and cut it into 1/2-inch slices.
Recipe Notes:
adapted from Candymaking
Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 2pieces, Calories: 172kcal (9%), Carbohydrates: 22g (7%), Protein: 1g (2%), Fat: 9g (14%), Saturated Fat: 6g (38%), Cholesterol: 26mg (9%), Sodium: 56mg (2%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 19g (21%)
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