Earlier this week, when Carole posted about making candy, it reminded me of all the homemade candy recipes my family has. These are traditionally made during the holiday season and most of them are inherently gluten-free, although definitely not lactose-free!
Enjoy… and be brave and observant. Those old family recipes are often cryptic and filled with assumptions and odd ingredients. (Chocolate bark?!) My favorites are the peanut butter cups, bon bons, and can’t fail fudge.
Toffee
1 c chopped nuts
1/2 c butter
3/4 c brown sugar
6 oz chocolate chips
Butter 8″ square pan. Spread nuts on bottom. Mix butter and brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil seven minutes on low heat. (You can boil the butter and brown sugar in a microwave instead. However, the recipe directions are a bit cryptic: #7 setting. 4:44. Stir. 3:33.)
Pour over nuts. Place chocolate chips on top and cover the pan for a few minutes to soften the chips. Spread chips with a knife. When the toffee is cool, break into pieces. (Check out Bridget’s toffee recipe, which has action shots!)
Nut Caramels
2 c sugar
2 c sweet cream
1 1/2 c dark corn syrup
1/4 lb butter (1/2 c)
3/4 – 1 1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 tsp vanilla
Butter 13×9 pan. Combine sugar, cream, syrup, and butter in heavy saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring every two minutes. Boil to soft ball stage or 242F. (The boiling business takes a long time.) Add nuts and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.
For chocolate caramels, add 2 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate with the nuts and vanilla.
Microwave (no risk of scorching, but again with the cryptic)
Use a covered glass bowl that’s more than twice the volume of the ingredients (2 1/2 quarts works well). Times are approximate. Stir slowly and carefully since mixture bubbles up, almost flaring. Still easier than on top of stove.
First – High: 7:77, 5:00 (stir after each listed time)
Then on #7: 8:88, 8:88, 8:88, 8:88, 8:88 – may need more 8:88 or 5:55. Use candy thermometer the last four times.
Peanut Butter Cups
1 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c butter or margarine
2 scant c powdered sugar
2-3 pkg chocolate bark (you can use semisweet chocolate chips instead, but I’m mystified about the amount you’d need)
Mix together peanut butter, butter or margarine, and powdered sugar. Form into small, slightly flattened balls. Melt chocolate, place some in small paper cup (small cupcake papers), add peanut butter ball, press a little, and cover with more choc. These can be frozen.
Chocolate Cream Drops (Bon Bons)
Melt 1/2 cup butter. Add 2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, 7 oz finely shredded coconut, and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.
Chill until firm, then roll into small balls and chill again.
For the coating, melt 6 oz choc chips, 1/2 block paraffin wax, and 1 sq Baker’s chocolate in double boiler. Dip bon bons in chocolate and set on waxed paper. These can be frozen.
Can’t Fail Fudge
3 c semisweet or double chocolate chocolate chips (1.5Â 12-oz bags)
1 14-oz can fat-free Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
Melt chips in microwave. (I do 2 1/2 minutes, stir, then 2 1/2 more minutes.) Stir chips – they should be smooth (i.e., no unmelted chips!). Add vanilla and sweetened condensed milk. Stir until well mixed. Using a rubber spatula, transfer to either individual containers, or to a greased 8″ pan with waxed paper on the bottom (if you want to dump out the fudge and cut it). Pat it smooth with rubber spatula.
Divinity Fudge
2 c sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c water
2 egg whites
1 c chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla
Boil sugar, syrup, and water until mixture turns brittle when dropped into cold water. Pour slowly over stiffly beaten egg whites. Add nuts and vanilla. Beat until mixture is creamy. Pour in buttered pan.
Maple Cream Fudge
4 c brown sugar
2 tbsp gf flour blend
2 tsp baking powder
1 c unsweetened (evaporated) milk
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Blend dry ingredients together in a saucepan, stir well, and add milk and butter. (Chris: No idea what temperature you should use for this!) Stir constantly as mixture will scorch easily. Cook until soft ball forms in cold water. Add vanilla. Let stand about 5 minutes or until partly cooled. Beat until thick, then spread in buttered pan. (Chris: I’m guessing a 13×9 pan. Guessing!)
“I want candy. Tuna candy. Why didn’t you share that recipe, Mom?” -Mayhem
Thanks for your generosity, but I think I’ll wait for pictures or the “you tube” version 😉
Again with the demands, Mayhem. You should be nicer to your mother.
Yummmmmm!
Tuna candy?
Excuse me, I need to find a bathroom now…
Dear Chris,
You rock.
Love,
Brigitte
Oh, wow. Divinity fudge!
Earworm for the day: Bow Wow Wow’s version of “I Want Candy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNHcaIJETZo
Oooh peanut butter cups!!!
May, how ’bout we get candy and you get tuna?
Chris, any recommendations on gluten-free flours to use in shortbread?
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour Blend is excellent! Highly recommended. If you can pick up some xanthan gum, that helps with cohesion, too – I’d use about 1/2 tsp per cup of flour.
My MIL, bless her heart, used to make that fudge recipe with the chocolate chips. The recipe insisted, and she did too, that it had to be made with Publix brand choc chips (Publix is a supermarket chain in Florida). I made it using Hershey’s or Nestles, don’t remember, and it really wasn’t the same. Weird.
I have a recipe for Buckeyes (chocolate covered peanut butter balls) that calls for a little paraffin mixed into the chocolate. It really does make the chocolate set up and I don’t think you can taste it, but I gave up that recipe a few years ago!
mmmm tuna candy….doh. Maybe not.
Hey, maybe your Divinity Fudge receipe is the magic one for me! I’ll be trying it! My gramma used to make the kind you poured into a pan…but I can never get it to turn out. Also the no fail fudge with the Eagle condensed? Be trying THAT one too! Yay for candy!
Yay for joining the gym this weekend….
Tuna candy reminds me of when my mother’s companion ordered a milkshake at a local place. He asked what flavors they had, and they said “anything” (which is practically true). So he said “OK, Tuna”. The look on the guy’s face was pretty funny. He didn’t actually get a tuna shake, fortunately.
Okay, tuna candy? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit – but hey May! To each his own.
OK that just drove me over the edge. I’d been trying to find an excuse not to come to work for only 2.5 hours tomorrow. And trying out all your recipes is just the excuse I need!! And May, I love fresh tuna (not tinned)so I don’t think tuna candy would be that bad.
I don’t particularly like tuna, so I don’t imagine I’d be interested in that particular recipe. The others however just may find themselves in my kitchen.
I anybody needs parafin, I have a whole bunch of Gulf Wax stacked in the pantry. (Used to be used with canning jars, I vaguely remember.)
thanks for the neat recipes. Do the cats eat candy?
Delicious! Toffee… Fudge… Peanut Butter cups… *sigh* heavenly.
peanut butter cups go here
*points at belly*
Chris- You can’t make some fish-shaped treats?
I’m a marzipan person myself.
I can feel my blood sugar going out the roof just looking at those recipes. Now, off to see what I need to get at the grocery store tomorrow 🙂
“what are you thinking about?” “Candy!” — Ray Romano
Family recipes are great to have. I have my Grandmother’s old candy cookbook; it actually has wooden covers–odd but durable.
May! Such a bossy cat-girl lately! This might not be the best strategy for making Santa’s “nice” list.
Tuna toffee? Furball fudge? Salmon Snickerdoodles? What will those cats come up with next…
I’ll definitely be trying some of these.
Oops, I meant to add, “Thanks for sharing.”
Tuna candy, yuck. I’ll have to try out those peanut butter cups, I’ll just guess on the semi sweet choc amt.
Thanks for sharing the recipes!
Thanks for the recipes! I don’t think anyone in my family has ever made candy. I might have to get brave one of these days and try some of these.
Poor May. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make tuna candy.
Thanks for sharing your recipes!
My Mom makes that toffee–but it fails sometimes. She tests it by dropping strands in cold water.
off to raid the cupboards and see what I have on hand – I’ve been housebound for three days now due to our nasty snow storms (8 inches on the ground here right now – and more due on sunday)
thanks for the great sounding recipes.
and Mayhem… tuna candy sounds disgusting.
I think May gives a truly great idea, the worst candy recipe ever. Such as tuna candy. My dad once when Iw as very little won a contest for the worst shake recipe, it had something to do with beer, bumblegum ice cream and pickles.
I notice the “Maple Cream” fudge doesn’t have either cream or maple in it, not even artificial maple.
Looks yummy!
We’ve never made candy, except for fudge, and that goes in it’s own category (to me).