Pralines from a New Orleans Cookbook

  Hubby and I recently enjoyed a long-awaited trip to New Orleans.  We went with a group of friends and had a wonderful time!  It wasn't a long trip, but we fit a lot of sightseeing and eating into our limited stay in,"The Big Easy"!

  We sampled a couple of their best restaurants and brought home pralines from Aunt Sally's.

  While we were out shopping, the husbands spent the afternoon at the WWII Museum.  We followed our shopping with lunch at Red Fish Grill;  I recommend their BBQ Shrimp Po Boy!

  When I got home from the trip, I passed out the pralines that I bought (for gifts) at Aunt Sally's.  (They are very delicate and only last for about 2 weeks before they turn to sugar.) I think our sons ate them quickly and so they were still fresh!  But, after the pralines were gone...I really missed New Orleans.  I got out the cookbook that I brought home and decided to give praline-making a try.

  My pralines weren't as pretty as Aunt Sally's, but they had that wonderful taste of butter, brown sugar, vanilla and pecans, so we were very happy.  Not bad for a first try.  

Here's the recipe I used for Pralines.  I made part of the batch without pecans...just for hubby.

Here are some photos of the process, in case you've never made pralines before. Good luck!

You need a heavy pan that's deep.

Dissolve that sugar and have your candy thermometer close by.

Have your butter, measured pecans and vanilla ready and set aside.

Butter a surface or spread out waxed paper.

It's important to keep scraping any crystals from the sides of the pan and keep an eye on your temperature.

Here's the part with pecans.  Stir it until creamy.

And, here's the separate non-pecan part

Drop them off the end of a large spoon.

So good!

Halloween "Chicken Feed" for the Candy Dish!

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I would show you a candy mix that I've made since our sons were little.  Every fall I make some of this for our candy dish and it magically disappears!

This mix is like popcorn...if a dish of it is sitting around, it's hard to pass up!  It's that mixture of salty and sweet that's hard to resist!  We call this item,"Chicken Feed"!

1.  Assemble your ingredients:  a bag of Brach's candy corn, a bag of M&M's (we like the candy corn-flavors for this), a can of salted peanuts or salted mixed nuts and containers or candy dishes.

2.  In a large bowl or other container big enough to mix the batch, dump your bag of candy corn.  Next, layer the nuts and then, the M&Ms.

3.  Mix gently, but thoroughly!  Put in candy dishes, treat bags...or just sit there and munch on it straight from the bowl!  Delicious!

Peppermint Crunch

This candy is one of our favorites and it's the easiest Christmas candy you will ever make!  

You'll need:  a box of crisp rice cereal, white chocolate candy melts or vanilla almond bark, and some peppermint candy canes that have been coarsely crushed.

Melt the chocolate in a microwaveable bowl until smooth.  Stir in cups of cereal until coated with the chocolate (you add enough cereal to have it all coated, but not too soaked in chocolate-like Rice Krispie  Treats consistency). Finally, stir in the crushed peppermint.  Spread out on a long piece of waxed paper.  When it sets up, break into pieces.  Store in tins.

Makes great holiday hostess gifts!  Enjoy!

Mammam's Peanut Brittle

I

I enjoyed a local craft fair yesterday with a group of friends.  The weather was just perfect and we had a great time.  Along with the craft booths was the usual array of food vendors with items that smell heavenly, but that you should eat only once-in-a-while!  There were fried potato strings, Indian Tacos, funnel cakes  and fudge!  

  Seeing and smelling all of the fair-type foods made our conversation turn to cooking.  We each had favorite recipes that our moms and grandmas made in the fall or for holidays.  Amongst the goodies mentioned were peanut brittle, fudge, fried pies, popcorn balls...and one I'd never heard of...Popcorn cake (for Christmas)!

  So, I thought I would share my Mammam's recipe for peanut brittle today because it's delicious and I have fond fall memories of it.

Mammam's Peanut Brittle

2 C sugar

1 C white Karol Syrup

1/2 C water

1/2 stick of butter

2 C raw peanuts

1 scant tsp. baking soda

Stir all ingredients together in a heavy pot.  Boil until candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees.  Take off the heat and stir in the baking soda.  Turn out fast onto cookie sheets with edges (fills 1 large and 1 small). Enjoy!

The Holiday Candy Book from 1952

  I've got a great candy-making book to share with you!  Before the days and weekends start getting really busy with holiday activities, let's look through our cookbooks for those candy recipes that we want to make.

  This book from my collection was written in 1952 by Virginia Pasley.  It's full of recipes for brittles, fudge, spiced nuts, taffy...all the goodies that make holidays yummy!

  The inside cover is definitely a throwback to the fifties with pastel-colored candies as a decorative touch.  I think you would find this book useful if you like homemade sweets.  It was published by Little, Brown and Company of Boston.

  (Note the illustration of the old candy thermometer matches the one in my kitchen drawer!)

  

Cereal Candy

I love the summer months, even though the heat can sometimes get to me.  When it's in the 90's outside,   I'm not as inclined to bake like I do in the fall and winter, but  we still enjoy something sweet once in a while.  The trick here is finding a cookie recipe that doesn't require turning the oven on!  In a Walmart Family Cookbook from 2001, I found a great recipe for a cookie-like candy made with Chex cereal that you can fix on top of the stove.  With all of the new flavors available in Chex cereals, you could really change this recipe up! (I'm thinking chocolate Chex!)   Enjoy.

Cereal Candy
submitted by Sharon Sager, Seymour, IA

1 C sugar
1 C Karo Light Corn Syrup
1 1/2 C peanut butter
2 TBSP. McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract
9 C toasted corn cereal squares

Line cookie sheet with waxed paper;  set aside.  In large dutch oven combine sugar and corn syrup.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Remove from heat;  add peanut butter and vanilla.  Stir in cereal.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet.  Makes 3 dozen

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Imparting  Grace

Old Smoothie Candy Bar Recipe

If you're of a "certain age" you might remember buying Smoothie candy bars at the candy store, They were shaped like a Reeses Cup but had a different flavor. The candy cup had kind of a light butterscotch taste with a crunchy texture. When I had allowance money or "pop bottle return cash" (oh, you are in my age bracket!!) my brother, Greg, and I would go down the street to Berthie Doak's Grocery and buy candy: Smoothie bars; little wax pop bottles with juice inside; Pumpkin Seeds with the Indian Chief on the box or Boston Baked Beans. If you didn't have enough for these larger items, there was a bunch of penny and nickel candy in that glass case that was just as good: jawbreakers, tootsie rolls, gum and Charm pops....oh, and my favorite, blue wax lips!! Anyway, the maker of the Smoothie cups put little cardboard coupons with points inside and if you saved up so many points, you got "free" candy. I was seven or eight and not an "A student" in math, so this seemed like a good deal, at the time! :0)
Here's a recipe that is just like the flavor of those Smoothie candies. You'd better make a batch for Christmas, because I don't think you can buy them anymore.....if so, I'm sure they're not ten cents!

****Congratulations to Darcie Brady who won our cookbook drawing****

Smoothie Candy

1 lb. white chocolate. broken up
1 lb. butterscotch chips
1 C crunchy peanut butter

Microwave and stir ingredients so they're completely blended. Pour into small foil candy cups on baking sheet. Let cool on counter for 2 hours. Take some next door and impress the neighbors!!

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Butterfinger Candy Bar Cake

Last night, as I was cleaning up the dishes after dinner, I got a bad whiff of some nasty smell. I soon realized that I had a bad potato in a bag of them. It's amazing how one bad potato or apple can have such a strong odor. I tossed the spoiled potato and stored the others away (to have with a turkey later in the week). As I was searching through my recipes for new ways to use my excess of potatoes, I found this delicious-sounding cake recipe. I thought someone who reads my blog might like Butterfinger candy bars as much as we do. Here you go:


Butterfinger Candy Bar Cake
(Marsha Loiacona)

1 boxed angel food cake mix (or store-bought, bakery cake!)
1 large container Cool Whip
2 Butterfinger candy bars

Prepare angel food cake mix according to package directions. Crush the 2 candy bars and mix into the Cool Whip. (Candy bars crush better when chilled.) When cake is completely cooled, frost with the Cool Whip mixture. Enjoy.

Book I am reading: The Shack by William P. Young

I'll be at these swaps today:
-LifeasMom
-Prairiestory
-MizHelenscountrycottage

Pioneer Fruit Candy

Trying to eat healthier? This might be an alternative if you like candy. It's an old recipe that fits today's trend toward whole foods and packing nutrition into small portable bites. It calls for milk chocolate, but you could use dark chocolate, instead (for the antioxidants). Just in time for Valentine's Day candy-making!

Pioneer Fruit Candy

1 lb. raisins
1/2 lb. figs
1/2 lb. dates
1 C stoned prunes
Juice and whole rind of 1 orange (the rind has antioxidants)
1 C walnuts, broken

Grind together fruit, orange rind and nuts. Shape into balls or into flat bars. Candy should be allowed to stand for 24 hours in order to ripen before eating. Dipping these fruit candies in melted milk chocolate makes them exceptionally tasty.

Linda Vee Anderson, Wilburton, OK

I will be at these swaps today:
-LifeasMom
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"Smoothie" Candy Bar-Very Quick!

These taste like the old Smoothie candy bars that I used to love as a kid. They had little cards in the bottom that you saved up to redeem for free candy. Do you remember them?

My Holiday Scrapbook:

Smoothies

1 lb. white chocolate
1 lb. butterscotch chips
1 C peanut butter

Pour melted candy into small foil cups on cookie sheet (or use a mini muffin pan!) Cool on counter for 2 hours.

I will be at these swaps today:
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