This time of year, though festive and mostly good-natured, can be pretty stressful, especially if you’ve been chosen to bring the big dessert to the family or office Christmas party.
Maybe you just started a new job at some fancy law firm or medical practice and you’re really trying to make a good impression on your peers. Or maybe you’re a stay-at-home dad who just wants to make something extra special for his daughter.
In any event, if you’re planning on doing anything legit on the holiday baking front, chances are that you don’t have everything you need. In some cases, like if you’re just making basic blueberry muffins, you can get whatever you need at the grocery store – or maybe even the convenience store.
But if you’re looking for, say, 8 pounds of chocolate in red, brown and purple; bottles of artificial flavoring for candies; lollipop sticks; all shapes of cake pans; a smorgasbord of sprinkles and everything in between, you need to go to Chandler’s Cake and Candy Supplies on Perley Street (it’s kind of hidden, but it’s there in that big red building –tons of free parking!).
Chandler’s specializes in all of those baking and candy making needs you can’t get at “regular” stores. The shop also offers all kinds of classes on how to make various sweets, such as gingerbread houses.
Since it’s already mid-December, all of Chandler’s classes are full for the season – you have to sign up pretty early if you want to get in on the gingerbread house action (Tim was lucky enough to get a private lesson a couple of years ago, but he must have used some of his Insider power to pull that off).
But that doesn’t mean you can’t still make something really cool, using supplies from Chandler’s.
Owner Sue Chandler had a couple of easy and fun ideas. For example, you can take some pressed-sugar toppers in Christmas shapes (pictured top right) and add those to cupcakes, brownies and even chocolates like peanut butter cups to suddenly make them Christmas treats. You can also get some chocolate (the kind meant to be melted down for candy) in a variety of colors, some holiday candy molds and some pop sticks and voila, you have Christmas chocolate pops.
So remember, if you want to wow the crowd with your sweet dish, stop at Chandler’s to make sure you have what you need.
