Many people use candy melts, a.k.a. candy coating, to make their confections.

While they’re easy to use and come in many colors, frankly, candy melts don’t taste anywhere near as good as real chocolate.
 
WHAT ARE CANDY MELTS?

Candy melts are made to emulate white chocolate, which is then tinted. But they replace the more expensive cocoa butter, that is a key component of chocolate’s flavor, with vegetable oil.

The ingredients of candy melts are sugar, milk solids (powdered milk), vegetable oils, flavorings and colors. Chocolate candy melts add cocoa powder, but still use vegetable oil.

Candy melts are also referred to as confectionery coating or summer coating. They’re the reason that so many people dislike white chocolate.

Because what they have eaten is not real white chocolate with cocoa butter, but imitation chocolate made with vegetable oil.
 
Take The Test

Want to try the difference for yourself? Buy a bar of real white chocolate and a package of white candy melts, and do a taste test.

 
Why Use Candy Melts?

Here are some reasons why people buy candy melts instead of real white chocolate—which is easy to color when melted:

 
But we do! So pick up a white chocolate bar or two (we like Lindt (photo #2) and Green & Black’s), melt, and stir in drops of green food color instead. You can also stir in a bit of mint extract.
 
 
RECIPE: ST. PATRICK’S OREOS (photo #1)

Ingredients

 
Preparation

[1] We haven’t seen green filling in a while, but your cookies will be just as festive with standard Oreos (photo courtesy Totally The Bomb).

[2] For great flavor, use real white chocolate (photo courtesy Lindt Chocolate).

[3] Not an Oreo fan? How about these Irish Cream Swirl Brownies? Here’s the recipe from McCormick.

2. ADD the melted butter to the chocolate and stir well to incorporate. The butter helps to thin out the chocolate so it coats more evenly. Stir in the mint extract.

4. DIP each Oreo halfway into the chocolate and lay it on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Shake the sprinkles or chips onto the warm chocolate.

5. HARDEN in place for 20 minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.

An Egg Cream with a shot of Bailey’s (photo by Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

For St. Patrick’s Day, many celebrants seek to “drink green,” in the form of green-colored cocktails or green-colored beer.

Most green beer: Meh.

Appletinis and drinks made green with Midori melon liqueur: not exactly Irish.

We have another suggestion:

Add an Irish liquors, such as Irish cream liqueur or Irish whiskey, to your drink of choice.

The whiskey can be added to almost any beverage:

 
Cream liqueur like Bailey’s works with anything milk-related:

 
The traditional Irish toast is Sláinte, pronounced SLON-chuh, the Gaelic word for health.

And now, you have a nice selection with which to toast!

Before there were macarons, the popular French meringue cookie sandwiches, there were macaroons.

The chewy, gluten-free* coconut cookies are a delight year-round, but especially appreciated by Passover observers.

Made of shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and egg whites—without the flour or leavening that are verboten during this holiday—they happily replace other baked sweets.

Dan Cohen of Danny’s Macaroons, author of The Macaroon Bible, is one of the country’s—and probably the world’s—most creative macaroon makers. Beyond his grandmother’s plain and chocolate dipped, he’s brought macaroons into the new age of flavor.

His cookies are certified kosher (by United Kosher Supervision), but are not specifically kosher for Passover. Still, those who observe the spirit of the law if not the letter of it, will enjoy every bite.

Bonus: Danny Macaroons are not jumbo like some, but a more elegant size: fewer calories!
 
 
DANNY MACAROON FLAVORS

Choices include with or without caramel, chocolate or nuts. Some flavors vary seasonally. The current choices include:

[1] Danny’s chocolate-dipped macaroons (photo from The Macaroon Bible, © Harcourt Houghton Mifflin).

[2] Use a tiered plate to show off the macaroons (photo courtesy QVC).

[3] Get the book and bake your own! Photo courtesy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The first macaroons were almond meringue cookies similar to today’s Amaretti di Saronno, with a crisp crust and a soft interior. They were made from egg whites and almond paste.

Macaroons traveled to France in 1533 with the pastry chefs of Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henri II. Two Benedictine nuns, Sister Marguerite and Sister Marie-Elisabeth, seeking asylum in the town of Nancy during the French Revolution (1789-1799), paid for their housing by baking and selling the macaroon cookies, and thus became known as the “Macaroon Sisters” (the French word is macaron, pronounced mah-kah-RONE).

Italian Jews adopted the cookie because it has no flour or leavening, an agent that raises and lightens a baked good, such as baking powder and baking soda (instead, macaroons are leavened by egg whites).

The recipe was introduced to other European Jews and became popular for Passover as well as a year-round sweet. Over time, coconut was added to the ground almonds in Jewish macaroons, and, in certain recipes, completely replaced them.

Coconut macaroons are more prevalent in the U.S. and the U.K.—and they’re a lot easier to make and transport than the fragile almond meringues that became the norm in France.

Here’s more macaroon history.

________________

*The traditional recipe is made from sweetened shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, egg whites, vanilla extract and salt. Different ingredients may be added to create specialty flavors. Not all of these are gluten free.
  

[2] Uncooked broccolini (photo courtesy Bodecology).

[3] For presentation, set the protein atop the cooked broccolini. Here, roast branzino with caper vinaigrette from Chef David Burke.

Not into green beer and green bagels?

A healthy green food for a St. Patrick’s Day meal is this Sautéed Lemon-Garlic Broccolini from eMeals, a recipe subscription service with 25 different meal plans for every diet (there’s a 14-day free trial).

Set a piece of your favorite protein on top or to the side: a fish fillet, sliced steak or chicken, shrimp, or another favorite.
 
 
RECIPE: LEMON-GARLIC BROCCOLINI

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the broccolini, garlic, and red pepper flakes; sauté for 4 minutes.

2. ADD the broth. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook 6 minutes or until tender.

3. STIR in the lemon rind, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the chile and serve.
 
 
BROCCOLINI VS BROCCOLI VS BROCCOLI RABE:
THE DIFFERENCE

Broccolini is not a young growth of broccoli, although it looks like small broccoli florets atop long, slender stems.

Rather, broccolini is a hybrid of broccoli and gai-lan (kai-lan), a Chinese chard, both cultivar groups of Brassica oleracea, the powerful cruciferous vegetable family.

Broccolini is not a young form of either broccoli or broccoli rabe: it is a hybrid.

It can be eaten cooked or raw, and is sweeter than broccoli florets.

Though much more expensive than broccoli, there is little waste. The stems don’t even need to be trimmed.
 
The History Of Broccolini

In the late 1980s, breeders at Japan’s Sakata Seed company crossed broccoli and gai-lan and named the new vegetable asparation. Sakata partnered with a Mexican grower, and then with Mann Packing in California, to grow asparation. Mann gave it a more consumer-friendly name: broccolini.

Broccoli rabe, with which broccolini is often confused, has a profusion of leaves at the top.

Here’s how to end the confusion between…

Broccolini, Broccoli & Broccoli Rabe

 
 
HOW TO SERVE BROCCOLINI

Like broccoli and broccoli rabe, broccolini is low in calories: about 35 calories for six stems. It is a good source of calcium, folate, iron, potassium and vitamins A and C (100% DV).

Treat broccolini as you would broccoli, broccoli raab or asparagus:

 
If you want a sauce, Asian sauces like soy-ginger-sesame or ponzu, work well, as does a light mustard sauce or vinaigrette.

For a garnish, your favorites work nicely: crumbled bacon, pine nuts, seasoned breadcrumbs, etc.
 
 

Who says only the Easter Bunny brings colored eggs?

The St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun (i.e., you) can also bring them.

We loved these designs from Terra’s Kitchen, a healthy meal delivery service.

You can make them for the family, or get everyone involved in designing.

Here’s how to make fancy colored eggs.

Make green hard-boiled eggs for St. Patrick’s Day (photo courtesy Terra Kitchen) | Facebook.