Christmas Candy
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bocephus my Mom also made all kind of other confections including Caramels. I used to get a zip lock bag before leaving for deer hunting with Dad every year. In fact, I had a big smile and for some reason watery eyes when PapaSop talked about getting those cookies from his Mom before hunting this year.
I try making caramels, but need more practice. It seems I’m either making Werther’s hard candy or a thick caramel syrup. It’s amazing how delicate candy making processes are.
At first I was hesitant about posting this. I know how hard the holidays can be for some people, but my intent was to see how many of us share similar traditions and to hopefully remember some of those we have lost with happy memories this season. The best part of getting together yesterday was when my oldest son was getting ready to leave. He is a full time Firefighter/Paramedic, he thanked me for getting everyone together and said “it was great having everyone together today, thanks for doing it. Grandma would have loved it”. That alone made the day for me. I hope and pray if nothing else, I have instilled the importance of family and friends to my kids. I grew up without a lot a of money or possessions, but man was I blessed with great family. We are far from perfect, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.GWG8541 that was perfectly stated. Thank you for the post and may God bless you and your family
. Thanks again I needed that today. -
GWG8541 We are sorry to hear that you lost both your Mom & Dad last year. That is too much too soon. That will sit with you forever, especially this time of year, but I know they are smiling down upon you. Things will never be the same. You deserve a triple thumbs up though! I used to have much more time & of course energy, & I cannot figure out the loss of either or maybe it is the combination of it all that creates what it is. I used to make a lot of them every year from divinity to brittle to pralines. I don’t make much of any now, but look at me, I am fatter than a Show Dog, so apparently I have had my fair share.
calldoctoday my waistline is definitely feeling it this year.
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GWG8541 what a great post. I love when people carry on a tradition and keep it alive by passing it down. This post made me smile. My Grandma was a baker and she made a lot of candy too. My aunt actually sat down with my Grandma and asked her to write out some of her most cherished recipes. She did everything from memory and feel. My aunt took these recipes and made a cook book too. My brother’s wife went to my Grandma’s a few times to learn how to make her buns. They were the most perfect bun you could find. She has mastered it almost as well as Grandma’s. It warms my heart when families care enough to make sure a good tradition gets passed down. Man, I miss my all my Grandparents.
ND Mike that is awesome, especially your family keeping those traditions alive.
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My wife made candy the first year we moved into our house to meet all the neighbors. It was the last year she made candy, it is for sure a labor of love. We just don’t have the time to commit to making it.
HerbcoFood it is time consuming. It helped to make it a little family get together. I have no clue how my Mom and Dad did as much as they did.
“You never really die until you end up on the wall at a Cracker Barrel”
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HerbcoFood it is time consuming. It helped to make it a little family get together. I have no clue how my Mom and Dad did as much as they did.
GWG8541 said in Christmas Candy:
HerbcoFood it is time consuming. It helped to make it a little family get together. I have no clue how my Mom and Dad did as much as they did.
I’ve often wondered how my folks and grand folks did it as well. Surely a tougher breed of people. Just glad they did. Traditions… Luv it!
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GWG8541 I can’t tell you how much this post meant to me. For years I’ve made Christmas candy with my Mom. Caramels, toffee, Cherry mash, peanut brittle, and many kinds of fudge. She always told me you could only make the toffee in one pan that she used. I lost Mom on November 30th. This will be a hard Christmas but for my kids and grandkids sake, we will have Christmas candy and toast the woman who taught me that it’s all right for men to cook.
wdaly I’m sorry to hear about your Mom. It sounds like she was a lot like my Mom. Its going to be a tough Christmas for you, but I can promise you this much. She will be there with all of you and I’m positive she would want you to be happy when thinking about her. I would be lying if I said its easy, but think of all the great times with her, and I’ll keep you in prayer as you get through this year.
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My dad made divinity every Christmas. Half of it he put in black walnuts which no one else could stand. That way he always had more than enough for himself!
marzig20 Black Walnuts are great & really taste better than English to me. How about Black Walnut Ice Cream? One property we had was the host of several Black Walnut trees. I would use some of that for smoking too, but you have to be careful & keep it light as it can be too astringent if you are not careful.
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GWG8541 I can’t tell you how much this post meant to me. For years I’ve made Christmas candy with my Mom. Caramels, toffee, Cherry mash, peanut brittle, and many kinds of fudge. She always told me you could only make the toffee in one pan that she used. I lost Mom on November 30th. This will be a hard Christmas but for my kids and grandkids sake, we will have Christmas candy and toast the woman who taught me that it’s all right for men to cook.
wdaly We are very sorry to hear of your Mom’s passing this year. Hang in there & know that she is behind you all the way, just touching at that spoon a bit.
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GWG8541 My brother does jalapeno brittle, I can’t take the heat like he does. He does lots of weird stuff. I know my mom would probably look at him and ask him what he thought he was doing to her brittle.
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One of the holiday traditions my parents started many years ago, was making Peanut Brittle for giving to family and friends. Over the years they perfected their recipe, which was passed on to them from a friend. Each year their giving became more generous and one year they made over 100 bags of Peanut Brittle during the Christmas season, which was over 40 pounds of raw spanish peanuts. Friends they had gifted it to, began asking to buy it to give as gifts. My folks were not in it to make money or run a candy business, so they just told people to pay for the ingredients and they made it for them. Of course Mom and Dad always under estimated the actual cost of the ingredients, and gave away much more than they were paid to make. As they got older, keeping up with that type of volume became a little much for them. I began taking my kids over and helping out. I lost my Mom and Dad both in 2020. Dad was 91 and Mom was 87. A few months after Mom passed, my Dad asked me “do you suppose we could make some Peanut Brittle this year?” I told him sure and meant it whole heartedly. My dad passed away before Christmas. I kept my promise to him. I got together with my wife and sons to make sure we carried on the tradition and Dad’s wishes that year. Everyone in our family had the “recipe”, but you all know the process and “how to” is as important as the ingredients in any recipe. Candy making can be even more unforgiving than meat processing. I was blessed to have spend many days in my parents kitchen making this sugary Peanut delight. Buy the way, this brittle is not hard or sticky if made right. One of my nieces and a nephew asked if I would show them how to make the brittle last year. They helped me and my family carry out Dads wishes to make it last year. This year they asked me at Thanksgiving when we were making it this year. Well today was that day, or should I say the first day. I had my brother and his family together with mine learning and carrying on what Mom and Dad had made into a Christmas tradition. A few years ago my Mom put together a cook book for all of her kids and grandkids with a photo of them making Peanut Brittle one of the many years. It’s the best cookbook I own and the first picture I’m attaching is of them on the cover doing what they loved doing.
Making brittle today to send out of state to family.
The pot is an old pressure cooker my Mom used to make brittle and other candies. The spoon was hers also.
So if you have a certain candy you make or other great cooking tradition you have during this holiday season, post it proudly. Merry Christmas! -
GWG8541 great story! I miss my grandma. We used to make things together. She is the one who I made my deer bologna with when I was growing up. We also made hard tack at Christmas time
Randie N Grandmas are awesome. I like a good hard tack.
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My dad made divinity every Christmas. Half of it he put in black walnuts which no one else could stand. That way he always had more than enough for himself!
marzig20 smart man, but I would have destroyed the Divinity with or without the Back Walnuts.
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johnsbrewhouse
A local guy makes spicy brittle. Really the brittle is out of this world amazing! I need to find a good recipe to try it out this year. Last year it was pretty expensive for a little batch.maria johnsbrewhouse I’ll give the spicy batch a try when I get a good idea how much to add to my recipe. I am going to make another batch with bourbon soon. The last one was a little to subtle for my taste.
“You never really die until you end up on the wall at a Cracker Barrel”
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maria johnsbrewhouse I’ll give the spicy batch a try when I get a good idea how much to add to my recipe. I am going to make another batch with bourbon soon. The last one was a little to subtle for my taste.
GWG8541 I tried to find mom’s brittle recipe this morning and seems I put it somewhere, probably in one of her cookbooks. I know my brother has it, but when I get his jalapeno brittle recipe, I’ll share it here.
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Before my dad passed away, my folks would make homemade chocolate covered cherries for Christmas. After eating them, store bought ones aren’t very good
kyle that was another favorite that my mom made. I have tried them solo yet. As a kid, that was probably my favorite candy Mom made at Christmas.
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I am sorry to hear about your parents, though I love how you are keeping the tradition going. I have been making “Hickory Farms-ish” baskets for friends and family for the past several years that include summer sausage, kielbasa, smoked cheese, smoked almonds (3 flavors), homemade mustard, fudge, and a random candy (whatever I feel like making - last year it was a cayenne caramel on a bacon-pretzel crust). After reading some of these posts, maybe I should limit my scope a little. lol I too, but them in a cookbook for the kids so maybe they will pick this up too (or some of the easier recipes). Nothing brings joy more than homemade goodies! Thank you for such a great post.
rjsenk definitely write it down, and be detailed for them. If I wouldn’t have helped my parents several years making the peanut brittle, I probably wouldn’t make it. There are to many little techniques and intricacies that affect the outcome. I had Moms basic recipe, but there was so much not put to paper because she had done it so much. Videos are a great way to document for them as well.
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I have been documenting everything I do any more when making new things (mustards, pickles, pickled Brussels Sprouts, etc…) so I can eventually end up with a reproducible product that everyone can enjoy time and time again. I probably ruined 20 lbs of almonds before I ended up with a recipe that I loved and could reproduce without fail.
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GWG8541 My brother does jalapeno brittle, I can’t take the heat like he does. He does lots of weird stuff. I know my mom would probably look at him and ask him what he thought he was doing to her brittle.
johnsbrewhouse That sounds really interesting. I understand, I can’t take it like I used to either, but we still eat a lot of peppers because we do like the spice & the flavor. That could be real interesting mixed with the sweet, so long as it is not overdone. I would like to learn more about it.
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