Peanut Brittle

In a heavy saucepan, combine:
2 c sugar
1 c white corn syrup
¼ c water

Cook until it forms a thread when spoon is lifted out (hard crack stage). [My mom uses a wooden spoon.]

Then add:
2 c raw Spanish peanuts
2 T. butter or margarine

Stir constantly until it becomes light brown and the nuts smell done.

Remove from heat and add:
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Stir briskly only until combined. Pour out on buttered cookie sheet (large), being careful not to break bubbles. When cool and hard, crack into small pieces with knife handle.

No Fail Marshmallow Fudge

4 c sugar
1 cube butter or margarine
¼ tsp. salt
l large can [12 oz] evaporated milk

Stir until dissolved, cook 5 minutes. (8 minutes at high altitude.) Add l lb miniature marshmallows and stir well, then add 1 (12-ounce) package of chocolate chips. Stir until dissolved, add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 cup chopped nuts. Pour into buttered dish. [My mom uses a 13”x 9” pan.]

English Toffee

1 lb. butter (don't substitute margarine)
2 c sugar
1/2 c white corn syrup
1/2 c water
1/4-1/3 c slivered almonds

Combine in heavy pan. Boil and cook until almonds turn light brown, the mixture leaves the side of the pan in a ball in the middle, and the pan begins to smoke. Stir constantly. Pour onto well-buttered marble slab or cookie sheet. While hot, break up 1 large Hershey's candy bar and place on top until melted. Spread evenly across the top. Sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts. Cool until chocolate is firm. Break into serving size pieces, using the handle of a table knife. Store in an air-tight container.

Notes: chocolate chips can be substituted for the chocolate bar.

Foster's Fudge

4 c sugar
6 rounded T. cocoa [My mom uses less.]
l tsp. salt
l/3 c white corn syrup
l 1/3 c milk

¾ cube butter
l tsp. vanilla
nuts [optional]

Cook together until sample in cold water can be gathered up into a soft wad. Remove from heat and add butter. Allow to cool until hand can be held on the bottom of the pan. Add vanilla and stir until candy loses its gloss and becomes creamy-looking. Add nuts and pour out onto buttered platter before candy becomes too thick.

Notes from DeLynne: I think Mother used to make this but Uncle Foster Harrison created the recipe.

Penuche

AKA Brown sugar fudge

l lb. pkg. brown sugar [two cups]
2 cups white sugar
l½ c half and half (not canned milk)
l tsp. vanilla
l cup nuts [optional, in my opinion]

Mix sugars and cream and stir over heat until dissolved. Put lid on pan and boil one minute. Remove lid and continue cooking, stirring constantly so it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Wipe down sides of pan to remove sugar crystals. (I tear a 1-2” strip off a Bounty paper towel, wind it around a fork, and wet it with cold water. Squeeze extra water out.) Cook to soft ball stage; cool until you can put your hand on the bottom of the pan; beat until creamy and thick. Add vanilla and nuts at the end.

Megan's Notes: May be used to make a nut roll; also as centers for chocolates. Canned milk makes it grainy.(I like the brown sugar flavor, but the nuts make it way too bitter for me. I always used to pick out the nuts. I'd love to try it dipped in chocolate without nuts. =) One source I found said the new trend back East with penuche is to use maple flavoring.)

Caramel Popcorn

This recipe was hand-written by Grandma Woodbury:

1 lb package [2 cups] brown sugar
1 c white sugar
1/2 c water
1 cube [1/2 cup] butter or margarine
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Cook to softball stage. Pour over popped corn and mix well. Enough for 2 lb package of unpopped popcorn.

Megan's Notes: I loved it when Gma would make up a batch of caramel popcorn. Those clumps of caramel at the bottom were the best part! =)

Divinity

• 3 c sugar
• ¾ c white corn syrup
• ¾ c water
• 3 egg whites, beaten stiffly
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• nuts, optional

Mix sugar, corn syrup, and water in heavy saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved; then cook without stirring to 260 degrees {—a little dropped into cold water forms a hard ball}.

Remove from heat and pour in a fine stream, beating constantly, into the beaten egg whites.

Add vanilla and continue beating until mixture holds its shape and becomes slightly dull.

Fold in nuts. Drop quickly from tip of buttered spoon onto waxed paper in individual peaks or spread in a buttered pan and cut into 1” squares when firm. Makes 48 pieces.


Megan's Notes: I have not yet tried making this, probably because I've heard all my life how temperamental it is. It needs to be made on a sunny day, and it has to be beaten a long time, which is probably why the pioneers called it Patience. Grandma would start it in her stand mixer but would always finish beating it by hand.

This is probably my all time favorite thing Grandma Woodbury made; I would ask for it for my birthday, and sometimes, if they were traveling our way that time of year, I would be lucky enough to get it. =D I would savor every piece!!

Grandma Woodbury’s Molasses Candy

2 c sugar
2 c cream
4 T. butter
12 oz (1 1/2 c) sorghum or molasses

Cook, stirring constantly, until brittle, then add almonds and 2 rounded tsp. soda. Stir briskly only until the soda is mixed in and pour into buttered pan.

Megan's Notes: This is the candy I remember Grandma almost always had around. Not just at Christmas-time, too. I preferred it to be a little on the softer side -- you might be in danger or removing a filling, otherwise. =)

I have hand-written notes on my recipe card that say 1 cup molasses, cook until brittle or soft, and use 1 rounded tsp of soda. I'm not sure who made the adjustments, but I thought I'd be thorough and offer all options. =)

Uncle Clair says that sorghum makes a better candy. He said the molasses works but makes it more crispy than the sorghum.