Need a quick last minute gift for someone? Then take an hour or so and whip up some homemade things that are eerily similar in taste, texture and appearance to Tootsie RollsTM. But which, for legal reasons, are not actually Tootsie RollsTM.
Homemade Not-Tootsie Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp softened butter
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup dry milk powder
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
Mix it together until it’s as combined as it’s going to get. Don’t worry if you still see milk powder specks here and there.
Spray non-stick spray in a bowl and place the wad of chocolatey goodness therein. Cut rectangles of wax paper about 3 x 4 inches (this is for bite-size portions, btw).
Now non-stick spray your hands and grab about a large marble size wad of the dough. Roll it in your hands to form a little log shape…and notice how the heat of your hands makes it nice and shiny, and takes care of those pesky milk flecks. Place the log in the middle of one of the long edges and roll it up, then twist the ends to close. Repeat until done.
This recipe made about 60 individual candies, but my kids were helping, so no two were the same size, and I’m virtually certain I didn’t get some of the pieces back for wrapping. They will not get as hard as the actual, trademarked brand of the candy they so closely resemble, but in my view that’s a feature, not a bug.
Toss them all in a pretty tin (available from Wally World, et al., for less than $2 bucks), and walla, a fantastic gift for less than $10 bucks.
