Coconut Easter Eggs

A fun way to get the kids into the kitchen is to pursuade them to help you out making Easter candy...seriously, who can say no to that??  Homemade candy always has such great flavor & its fun for the kids to see they can make what they see in the store without all the preservatives & with the chocolate they like best!  Even better, these do not have to be shapped like eggs, so make them into squares, balls, whatever floats your boat & works for your family.

8oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
2lbs 10x sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c coconut

Mix all ingredients together
shape into eggs (or whatever you have decided to do)
place eggs on cookie sheet lined with wax paper & place in refrigerator to chill
once eggs are cold, coat them with melted chocolate of your choice (you can use traditional chocolate chips, the microwave kind of chocolate in the baking aisle for dipping, dark chocolate, white, or get colored for the season or the party colors if they are for a bridal or baby shower)
return to the fridge to set the chocolate & enjoy

Walnut Toffee

This recipe also came from my gma.  She made this every Christmas (along with at least a dozen other fun treats stored in tins in the garage for easy snitching!)...but shhhhhh...we don't want to tell her that is how the tins emptied so fast!!

1 c butter                                         3 Tbs water
1 c sugar                                          1 1/2 c chopped walnuts (or pecans if you like them better)
1 Tbs cornsyrup                               1 (6oz) pgk chocolate chips (melted)

Butter a 9" square pan. 
Melt butter in 2 qt saucepan.  Stir in sugar gradually.
Add syrup & water; cook over med heat, stirring occassionally to 290 degrees on a candy thermometer
Add 1 c nuts, cook 3 minutes more, stirring constantly.
Pour into prepared pan.
When cool & hardened, pour 1/2 melted chocolate on top, toss in the fridge to harden, then flip out of pan, coating the opposite side with the remaining chocolate, sprinkling the remaining nuts on the wet chocolate.
Cool till all is hardened, then ENJOY!!