Fondant and/or Chocolate Mice and

These were another treat of my Nan, for each of her grandchildren either white or milk chocolate mice (meeces) or indeed white and pink fondant sugar mice (meeces).  We used to love these as children and indeed I still do.  I think that they are a shout back to past days.  Days when you used to get little chocolate tool kits, bits and bobs, even the meeces in our Christmas stockings.  My grandparents were land rich but cash poor.  However they used to manage a little treat now and again and this was one of them.  They did their best but the love that they gave their family was perhaps the jewel in the crown and the greatest gift that they gave their family.

My trip back to the past this morning started with me needing my mum.  Just felt vulnerable and even slept with one of her throws over me last night and I had located her headscarf an old battered thing that she used to wear when I was but a tiddly and before my brother was born.  Even though it is about three years on since she passed there is still the faint linger of her perfume on that scarf which gave great comfort.  What has a headscarf and a blanket got to do with meeces?

Well after a good nights sleep and feeling better in myself I was looking around for a topic for this page when my eyes fell on her Good Housekeeping Cookbook and I started flicking through the pages.  Originally I had had the idea that maybe I would pop up a recipe for Coconut Ice another sweetie that we made a lot of when I was at home my mum and I.  But then I remembered the Fondant mice (meeces) and started to see if there was a recipe for them.    What is referred to as Fondant Icing is in fact the roll out icing that many people use for decorating their Christmas cakes - the one that you buy off the shelf in slabs often called roll out icing, but its correct name is Fondant icing which I think at the Co-Op is £1.65 a block at the moment.  I am assuming that this would work with the addition of some cream 

Fondant icing is what is used to create those expensive sweeties with the addition of some cream, colouring and flavouring like violet, strawberry, lemon, lime etc. which are then pressed into fancy sweet moulds and which cost an absolute arm and a leg in the stores. But potentially you could make oh so much more for your money by doing it yourself.

I must  however stipulate that the recipe below is a cheats version.  Proper fondant is easily made at home however you do have to pay extra care and attention to it as it can go wrong.  I will write up a separate post about this so if you want to have a go at that you can.  This to my mind will also iron out a few potential wrinkles.

It was only when I got out my moulds (yes I had some in the stash which were made by Lakeland many years ago) and there is a recipe on the back which I will relay below.  But in case you want to have a go yourself you can buy moulds online this one was on Amazon Fondant Mice Moulds.

Priced at £1.90 for six meeces.  My existing mould is for 6 meeces.

Anyway here are the instructions that were on the back of the Lakeland mould:

"Make white and pink candy mice like you used to buy from the corner shop.

We have brought them back to life and now you can make your own at home with fondant, chocolate, ice cream, mousse or even cream cheese.

Confectioners make sugar mice from boiled fondant which is then poured into metal moulds and left until hard rather like making fudge.  However we have been experimenting and have found out that you can get satisfactory results from using fondant icing.  Unlike shop bought they do not set as brittle and as hard but have a lovely creamy texture and keep their shape.  At a push you could use bought ready to roll fondant icing but this does not set as hard.

Ingredients for making 16 meeces:

1 teaspoon of liquid glucose

1 to 2 drops vanilla extract

Half a size 3 Egg white

8oz of icing sugar sifted

Pink Food paste (not liquid) colouring

Red or black liquorice bootlaces or thin butchers string

Silver dragee balls, red glace cherries and angelica to decorate.

Method:

1. Put the liquid glucose, vanilla and egg white into a large bowl.  Gradually stir in the icing sugar, mixing well until a thick paste forms that is too stiff to stir.  Dust hands with icing sugar and knead in the remainder to form a smooth thick dough like paste.
2. Divide mixture in half and colour one half pink.  Wrap well in cling film and reserve.  Divide white fondant into 8 x 1/2 oz portions.  Wash moulds thoroughly, dry and dust inside with a little icing sugar.  Carefully press in the fondant and smooth top.  To stop distortion suspend in card providing (this is basically a square cut out of the mould with the mices cut out.  The mould sits in the card and it holds it firm).  Leave until just set.
3. Carefully squeeze the moulds to release the mice. Cut lengths of liquorice bootlace or string and fix for tails.  Fix silver balls for eyes, angelica strips for whiskers and a tiny piece of glace cherry for the nose.  Repeat with the pink fondant to make the pink mice.

If using chocolate though you will need to temper and work the chocolate before filling the moulds to give it a nice shiny finish.  Basically tempering is emptying the hot chocolate onto a marble slab and then working it backwards and forwards to give it extra shine before using.  There is a link here to explain how to do this:

Be back shortly.

Pattypan

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