VI: Christmas Candy
When the holiday season rolls around, my kitchen usually starts rocking. However, due to numerous blunders and flops in recent years, I've decided to minimize my pre-holiday treat making. I have no problem with the meals that I like to cook for the holidays, but it's the candies that have always given me trouble.
My mom used to have a seemingly never-ending list of candies and treats that she would make each year for the holidays. Maybe she rotated them out and only did a few, but to me, it seemed like she would make all of these. Every year! My grandma Strecker had a few of her own that she always made too. Here are the candies of Christmas that I remember the most!
Peppermint Bark - My mom now claims she had no "recipe" for this (much like other dishes and confections I ask her about) but I remember her making this once in awhile. The main reason I remember is because she would buy the big chunks of white chocolate - and I LOVE white chocolate!
Cherry Mash - This is just like the candy you can still buy in the store, except made similar to peppermint bark where the layer of cherry is under the layer of chocolate, and there are nuts on top. I've tried to make this myself, but I can never seem to find cherry chips anymore. Has anyone been able to locate those in recent years?
Glass Candy - My mom usually made one green (mint) and one red (cinnamon) and then would smash it into pieces so they looked like chunks of stained glass. I always liked the way this one looked more than the way it tasted, but I did eat it quite often.
Turtles - These are caramel and some sort of nuts (walnuts or pecans?) and I'm pretty sure that's all there is to this sticky treat. Very yummy!
Divinity - Now here's one of my grandma Strecker's specialties. I tried this last year to horrifying results! Whenever grandma made them, they seemed to simple and almost boring. I would eat them, but I never got too excited about them. But later in life, being nostalgic and wanting to honor and remember my amazing grandma Eva, I tried to make this myself. Twice. Neither time even came close to coming out right. I gave up after that, and several of my friends and relatives advised me that making divinity is truly difficult and an art - one that my grandma only made seem effortless!
Peanut Brittle - Say what you will about Peanut Brittle, but I've always loved the stuff. My grandma made it best, and of course, just like the divinity, made it look easier than it actually is. I tried to make this and it never set up - it was just a mass of gooey sugar and peanuts.
Chocolate Fudge - I don't remember my mom making this often but I do think she made it every so often. I more remember my teacher, Mr. Kinyon, and his wife's famous (because he said it was) fudge. A few years ago, I discovered how relatively easy it was to make fudge, and created batches in several different flavors and then made little checkerboards with them to give to my friends. I got a mold of chess pieces and made them out of chocolate to go on the little chess boards.
Puppy Chow - My mom still has to make this every year for my brother. (I love it of course too, but Brandon would probably cry if he didn't get his!) This is made from a cereal, I think it's Crispix but I'm not sure, and it's got chocolate, maybe peanut butter, and powdered sugar. It's actually completely addictive. Mom usually also concurrently whips up a big batch of party mix to go with it.
Frosted Sugar Cookies - Probably the standard holiday treat for moms to make with kids, we definitely made these almost every year. We had the cookie cutters - the tree, the star, the stocking, the santa face... and then we'd make the frosting and decorate the cookies with green and red sprinkles and gold dragées and whatever else we had to work with on any given year.
So, those are the ones I remember the most. Family, did I leave out anything obvious, like your personal favorite? Where there any of these that made you say "yuck"? Have you made any of these with any success or failures! Tell me about it in the comments!
My mom used to have a seemingly never-ending list of candies and treats that she would make each year for the holidays. Maybe she rotated them out and only did a few, but to me, it seemed like she would make all of these. Every year! My grandma Strecker had a few of her own that she always made too. Here are the candies of Christmas that I remember the most!
Peppermint Bark - My mom now claims she had no "recipe" for this (much like other dishes and confections I ask her about) but I remember her making this once in awhile. The main reason I remember is because she would buy the big chunks of white chocolate - and I LOVE white chocolate!
Cherry Mash - This is just like the candy you can still buy in the store, except made similar to peppermint bark where the layer of cherry is under the layer of chocolate, and there are nuts on top. I've tried to make this myself, but I can never seem to find cherry chips anymore. Has anyone been able to locate those in recent years?
Glass Candy - My mom usually made one green (mint) and one red (cinnamon) and then would smash it into pieces so they looked like chunks of stained glass. I always liked the way this one looked more than the way it tasted, but I did eat it quite often.
Turtles - These are caramel and some sort of nuts (walnuts or pecans?) and I'm pretty sure that's all there is to this sticky treat. Very yummy!
Divinity - Now here's one of my grandma Strecker's specialties. I tried this last year to horrifying results! Whenever grandma made them, they seemed to simple and almost boring. I would eat them, but I never got too excited about them. But later in life, being nostalgic and wanting to honor and remember my amazing grandma Eva, I tried to make this myself. Twice. Neither time even came close to coming out right. I gave up after that, and several of my friends and relatives advised me that making divinity is truly difficult and an art - one that my grandma only made seem effortless!
Peanut Brittle - Say what you will about Peanut Brittle, but I've always loved the stuff. My grandma made it best, and of course, just like the divinity, made it look easier than it actually is. I tried to make this and it never set up - it was just a mass of gooey sugar and peanuts.
Chocolate Fudge - I don't remember my mom making this often but I do think she made it every so often. I more remember my teacher, Mr. Kinyon, and his wife's famous (because he said it was) fudge. A few years ago, I discovered how relatively easy it was to make fudge, and created batches in several different flavors and then made little checkerboards with them to give to my friends. I got a mold of chess pieces and made them out of chocolate to go on the little chess boards.
Puppy Chow - My mom still has to make this every year for my brother. (I love it of course too, but Brandon would probably cry if he didn't get his!) This is made from a cereal, I think it's Crispix but I'm not sure, and it's got chocolate, maybe peanut butter, and powdered sugar. It's actually completely addictive. Mom usually also concurrently whips up a big batch of party mix to go with it.
Frosted Sugar Cookies - Probably the standard holiday treat for moms to make with kids, we definitely made these almost every year. We had the cookie cutters - the tree, the star, the stocking, the santa face... and then we'd make the frosting and decorate the cookies with green and red sprinkles and gold dragées and whatever else we had to work with on any given year.
So, those are the ones I remember the most. Family, did I leave out anything obvious, like your personal favorite? Where there any of these that made you say "yuck"? Have you made any of these with any success or failures! Tell me about it in the comments!
Comments
I always loved the glass candy.
I can't believe how many years it took of me demanding one item to be left out of the chex mix a year until it finally achieved the perfect chex only recipe I always dreamed of.