We wrapped two pans of caramels and toffee in individual slips of paper over the last two days. At first this felt like sheer torture, the effects of over-ambitious bad ideas, and we swore to never do it again. But now, looking at two buckets of old-fashioned wrapped candies, and with many having gone out to friends already, it doesn't seem so bad! Click for details...
This kind of candy wrapping is extremely economical. We used waxed paper for one caramel variety, and parchment paper for the toffees. Both of these are readily available in your grocery store baking aisle for a couple dollars a box. We'll follow up next week with more cookie and candy gift packaging ideas!
If you wrap candies prepare to get your fingers greasy and a little sticky. Ideally you will round up people to help or turn on a good movie; wrapping a whole pan, cut into 1-inch pieces, takes at least an hour or two.
Also, cut up the paper before you start wrapping. You want to start with a whole stack in front of you. It also helps if your candy is evenly sized and cut.
Wrap a little piece of paper around candy, then twist the ends shut - that's it. No special artsy talents needed, which is good because I have decided that I am a cook and definitely not a crafter.
More sources for candy wrappers...
- Pre-Cut Waxed Twist Papers from Kitchen Krafts. These would have made things much easier, but they are more expensive. $9.95 for 200.
- Confectioner's Foil and Wax Paper from The Bakers' Kitchen. Prices vary.
- Also try butcher's paper - brown and waxed.
What do you do with your wrapped Christmas candy? Any time or labor-saving tips?
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For truffles, I use those mini-muffin cup things. But for candies other than truffles, I like using wax paper...reminds me of my childhood, unwrapping salted taffy. I do like you recommend - pop in a favorite movie and leisurely wrap the candy, trying to be very good and not eat every third one. :)
Those pre-cut wax paper sheets are well worth the money. I made enough caramels for 5 separate gifts and I'm so thankful I didn't have to cut any paper to wrap them up in. Took a few seconds for each piece and they looked very nice in the end.
For cookies, in Wal-mart I found gift boxes especially for cookies. Six boxes for a few dollars and sure enough, they were both handy and attractive. Really made the cookie gifts look their best.
i make chocolate and vanilla caramels every year and wrap them in white and brown parchment paper. i usually cut the parchment with a paper cutter, and it goes pretty quickly. the last couple of years, i've made the caramels right before thanksgiving so that all my guests pitch in and wrap while we wait for turkey. it goes much faster with helpers!!
I cater baked goods and what I have found to be the most economical is food wrappers... the pieces of paper you use to pull a donut out of a glass case. Cut in half or even in thirds depending on your candy size, they are a perfect fit! It is minimal cutting and you can buy them in bulk for sinfully cheap prices and bulk big box stores!
sarahrae - that's brilliant. Pulling that to the top of the page tomorrow...
i second sarahrae - i bought some food-safe tissue paper from michael's last year and used that on my caramels. they were martha stewart, and had 4 patterns to each package. i did have to cut the pieces which was kind of annoying but in the end i had a beautiful array of patterns.
i also love the martha stewart cookie packaging, too.
Another good tip for wrapping these is to twist each end closed in the same direction. That way, the recipient can simply pull both ends to spin it open!
I use waxed paper to wrap my sea salt caramels, but to make it pretty, I cut up pieces of tissue paper the same size as the waxed paper and layer them, w.p. on the inside and decorative tissue on the outside. My tissue paper or iridescent foil comes from the dollar store, and that's also a great place to get other items to package the candies. I just found silver and gold Chinese takeaway boxes, and usually at Christmas they have lots of boxes and tins for packaging gifts.