Christmas Candy

Oh Christmas cookies and candy! Why do cookies taste better at this time of year than any other? Why do I feel compelled to make 12 or 13 kinds of Christmas treats? Actually, I’ve cut way back from when we had children at home… Anyway, I love Christmas cookies and candy. I love the mess in my kitchen, really. I love cranking up the Christmas music. I love the smells. I love the pretty plates I can take to my friends and neighbors. I love chocolate (you’ll notice that most of these have some form of chocolate involved).  I love sitting by the fire on Christmas Eve with a plate of cookies and a glass of eggnog.

Let's start with candy. I only make two kinds - I gave up trying to make fudge a long time ago. In fact, I don’t make a lot of candy, at Christmas or any other time. But I do make these two.

Usually, I end up making two batches of the butter toffee. Some tips about making toffee: do butter the sides of the saucepan. You are changing the chemical structure of the sugar as you cook it and you don’t want sugar sticking to the sides of your pan. Do use butter. Do use a heavy pan so your sugar doesn’t burn. Do use a candy thermometer.

When you put the thermometer in, place the bulb halfway between the top of the sugar solution and the bottom of the pan. That way, you’ll get an accurate reading. When you cook the sugar to 290°, it will go very s-l-o-w-l-y until the very last instant, then shoot up to 290°. With toffee, it’s a dance between too sticky toffee which did not get cooked enough, or burned sugar. The nice, buttery crunchy toffee is right in-between those two temperatures. Do have your baking sheet ready before starting to cook the sugar. Do not scrape the bottom of the pan when you pour out the candy. You can scrape the sides, but not the bottom. Do eat some as soon as it cools.

BUTTER TOFFEE

1 c. butter        

1 c. sugar      

3 tbs. water

1 tbs. light corn syrup

1 c. chopped *toasted almonds

¾ c. semi sweet chocolate chips

Butter a large cookie sheet. Butter the sides of a heavy saucepan.

Melt butter. Add sugar, water and syrup.

Cook over medium heat to 290˚, stirring occasionally. Use a clean spoon every time you stir so you aren’t introducing uncooked sugar crystals.

You can see the sugar and butter getting darker at every stage:

Remove from heat at 290°. Stir in ½ c. nuts. Quickly pour on a buttered baking sheet.

Do not spread it; just let it spread as it was poured. If you spread it, the pieces will be too thin. Let cool 3 minutes. Sprinkle on chocolate chips.

When they are melted and shiny, spread.

Sprinkle on rest of nuts. Cool. Break into pieces. About 1 ½ lbs.

*Note: to toast almonds. Chop them first, then spread them on a baking sheet. Toast at 375° or 400° for 10 or 15 minutes until golden brown. Stir every 5 minutes. Watch them carefully at the end because they turn brown quickly.

This next candy was Walt’s mother’s recipe, but it’s a very common one. They are absolutely some of the best caramels ever.

Tips for caramels: I like making them in the bigger 10”x10” pan because we get more pieces and they aren’t so thick. Some of these tips are the same as for toffee – use butter, use a heavy pan, use clean spoons, use a thermometer. Caramels are tricky too – if you go below 230°, you have some lovely caramel sauce. If you go over 235°, you have Sugar Daddies – way too chewy. You want it to be at the perfect soft-ball stage. It took me a few tries, and I still think my youngest daughter does better than I do at catching it at the right moment.

Also, you can’t cut the caramels when they are cool, and leave them touching each other. They love each other and will melt back together. And it’s rather tedious to wrap each caramel, so we’ve found that Press ‘n Seal works best. Lay out a big sheet of the Press ‘n Seal and put the caramels on it a few inches apart. Lay another sheet, slightly bigger than the bottom one, on top. Press down between all the rows and cut out the rows and columns. Then just wrap the plastic around the individual caramel. It’s a lot faster.

They will keep a long time this way and you can freeze them. If they last that long. They truly are wonderful. This year’s batch was perfect.
CARAMELS  
1 c. butter
Dash salt
2 1/4 c. packed brown sugar

1 c. light corn syrup

1 can condensed milk

1 tsp. vanilla           
                                                                                

Butter a 9" X 9" pan or a 10x10”. Butter the sides of a heavy saucepan. Melt the butter,

add sugar and salt.

Stir in corn syrup. Let this get hot, then gradually add milk; stir constantly. Cook over medium heat,

stirring occasionally, to 230˚. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

Quickly, pour into buttered pan. Don't scrape the bottom of the pan.

When cool, cut into squares

and wrap each square in plastic wrap or press ‘n seal. About 2 ½ lbs.

It would be prettier to wrap them in plastic wrap, but this is easier.

Enjoy! Next: bar cookies