Part 5

Always have your slab warm before pouring this candy on it, as it is cooked very high and will harden very quickly if your slab is cold, which you do not want it to do. If you stand your slab by the stove for a while, previous to making the candy, it will warm it enough. After being on the slab a very few moments, take hold of it all the way around the edge, lift it so as to free it from the slab, then catch hold of one side with both hands, one hand at each end of the batch, and quickly flop the whole batch right over, just the same as you would turn a pancake. Now commence around the edge and stretch it, by pulling it out as thin as possible, and you will find that the candy will stretch out very easily and leave all the peanuts completely covered with the candy.

Always work very rapidly in doing this, and also work around the edges first, as that hardens more quickly than the center of the batch. If your slab is not large enough to hold this candy after it is stretched out, as soon as you stretch part of it, cut that off with a knife and lay it on some smooth surface, so that the candy will be perfectly flat when cool, as it looks better. By cutting it off as you stretch it, in this manner, you will find that after you have worked around the edges, your slab will probably be large enough to hold the remainder of the batch after being stretched out. The thinner you stretch this the nicer it will be, so try and do not leave any thick places in it, and you will find you have the finest peanut candy you ever tasted, being as brittle as glass, and it may be eaten as easily as a soda cracker.

In making this candy, you must have a kettle large enough to allow for the foaming up, and a kettle holding two and one half gallons will easily hold a batch just twice the size of this. You will find it is very easy to flop the batch over, if you loosen it first as we directed you. This is essentially a cold weather candy, as it keeps brittle then, and is much better.

BLACK WALNUT BRITTLE

2 pounds sugar. ½ pound glucose. 3 ounces butter. 1½ teaspoonfuls soda. ⅔ pint water. 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Black walnuts.

Cook sugar, glucose and water same as in peanut brittle, and when up to 275, remove the thermometer and stir in the butter only, and not the walnuts. Continue stirring after the butter is in until the candy is a golden brown color; then take off the stove and stir in the broken walnut meats, as many as you wish, but the more you put in the better it will taste. Stir them in thoroughly, and also the vanilla; then stir in the soda, the same as in peanut brittle, and pour out on greased slab. Do not flop this batch over and stretch it, as it is not necessary. As soon as batch is partly cool, mark in small oblong pieces and when cold, it will break very easily. This is very fine candy on account of the flavor the black walnuts give it. It is also very fine coated with chocolate.

FIG OR DATE BRITTLE

2 pounds sugar. ½ pound glucose. ⅔ pint water. Figs or dates.

Cook sugar, glucose and water on hot fire to 275 or 280. Then pour it on well greased slab or platter, which has previously been covered with figs cut up, or dates with seeds removed, putting in just as many as you wish. You may also, if you wish, use nuts of any description in place of the fruit, or part of each. Just before pouring the syrup over them, stir into it a good teaspoonful of vanilla, but do not stir it much or it may sugar for you. When cold break up in small pieces.

NUT BRITTLE.

1 pound sugar. ½ pound glucose. ¼ teaspoonful salt. ½ teaspoonful essence of lemon. 1 pound nuts. Butter size of a walnut. ½ pint water.

Heat the nuts in an oven. Put the sugar, glucose and water into a kettle, stir until it begins to boil, and wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth; put in thermometer and cook to 295. Turn out the fire and remove thermometer, add the butter, salt and essence of lemon, and stir in well, then stir in the warm nuts and scrape out on a greased slab. After it has been on the slab about thirty seconds, turn the batch upside down and commence pulling it out thin, as directed in making peanut brittle. You may use any kind of nuts in this, as they are all good in this kind of candy: English walnuts, black walnuts, roasted peanuts, almonds, filberts, pecans, or hickory nuts. This candy must be kept in air-tight cans or jars in wet weather or it will become sticky.

POPCORN CRISP.

1½ pounds sugar. ½ pound glucose. ⅔ cup dark molasses. 2 ounces butter. ⅔ pint water. Good pinch of salt.

Cook sugar, glucose and water to 280, in the same manner as other candies; then take out thermometer and put in the molasses and butter, and a good pinch of salt, and stir constantly after adding these. Cook until it is very brittle when dropped in water or until you can distinguish it just commencing to burn. Then take off the fire and pour it over about ten quarts of popped corn, stirring it constantly as you pour the syrup over it, so that it will all be covered, and as soon as this is done, it is best to scoop it out of the pan and spread it out on your slab somewhat, so that it will not pack down any, which it would do if you allowed it to remain in the pan. Before pouring this candy on the corn, it is best to have your corn free from all the small hard grains, and put the well popped ones in some very large pan before pouring the syrup over it.

SUGARED POPCORN

½ pound sugar. 4 quarts popped corn.

Put the sugar in a small kettle with just enough water to dissolve the sugar, stir until it boils, put in thermometer and cook to 222. Have the corn ready in a good sized kettle, and as soon as the syrup is cooked, pour over the corn in a fine stream. Have someone stir the corn while you pour the syrup in it. Continue stirring briskly, until the corn separates, and turn out on your work board or wax paper and immediately pull the grains apart. You may also add a little red or green color to the syrup before pouring it on the corn. Have the corn slightly warmed in the oven, so that the sugar syrup will grain easily.

POPCORN BALLS

6 quarts popped corn. 1 pound sugar. 1 pound glucose. ½ pint water. Vanilla flavor.

Put the sugar, glucose and water into a kettle and stir until it commences to boil. Put in the thermometer and cook to 240. Add vanilla. Pour the syrup slowly over the corn, stirring well. Moisten the hands with cold water and take out the desired amount of corn, pressing it into a ball.

Maple sugar may be used instead of the white. For a variety, color the white syrup pink and flavor with strawberry.

Have the corn slightly warmed in the oven, so that when the batch is done cooking, you can get the corn and syrup mixed good, and the balls moulded up before it gets too cold.

PEANUT BAR.

1 pound sugar. 1 pound glucose. 2 pounds raw Spanish peanuts. ½ pint water.

Put the sugar, glucose and water in a kettle, stir until it boils, wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth and cook to 240. Take out the thermometer and add the raw peanuts and stir continually, until the batch turns a yellowish color, and the peanuts pop and are roasted. Simply lift out the paddle with a few peanuts on it occasionally, is a better way to tell when the peanuts are roasted enough. Do not try to get these peanuts too brown in the kettle, as they will roast considerably after being poured on the slab, but just until they turn a yellowish color and pop in the kettle. You must stir the batch continually after you add the peanuts, and do not use too hot a fire. They are liable to scorch a little but if your fire is right and you stir them enough, they will be all right. As soon as the peanuts are roasted, remove from the fire, take out the paddle and scrape out of the kettle onto a greased slab, between the bars. Take a knife and spread it out even, so that it will fill all the corners of the square made by the bars. Take a greased rolling pin, and run over the top to smooth it down a little. When almost cool, run a knife under the batch to loosen it from the slab. Then cut or saw the batch in bars as desired, but do this while it is yet warm. Have the raw peanuts ready so that when the thermometer registers 240 you can take it out, put in the paddle and peanuts and start stirring immediately, and remember, if the fire is too hot, but not allowed to just simmer, it is liable to scorch the candy before the nuts are half roasted. It is best to wrap this candy in wax paper, or put it in air-tight cans or jars in wet weather. Do not make this candy in warm weather and expect to get good results, as it is essentially a cold weather candy.

NOUGATINES.

1½ pounds sugar. 1 pound glucose. Butter size of a walnut. ¼ teaspoonful essence of lemon. 1½ pounds almonds or peanuts.

Roast the almonds in the oven, (or peanuts if you desire) and chop fine, then set them where they will keep warm until needed. Put sugar, glucose and one-half pint of water in the kettle, set on fire, and stir until it commences to boil; then take out paddle, wash down sides of the kettle and cook to 295. Set off the fire and remove thermometer, put in the butter and essence of lemon, and stir in well. Have someone add the warm nuts slowly, while you stir them in, and when mixed good set the kettle back on the fire for a second or two, to loosen the batch in the kettle, then scrape out on a greased slab between bars, about three-quarters of an inch thick; roll it out even between the bars with a rolling pin quickly, and mark off into blocks three-eighths by one inch and cut while still warm. You will have to watch very close, so that your batch will not get too stiff before you get it cut up. You must use a sharp knife and use a sawing motion while cutting, as you cannot push the knife straight down and cut them right. If your batch should happen to get too cold before you get it cut up, hold it over the fire, turning it over to warm both sides, until it softens or bends easily, then finish cutting. This is an elegant piece, when dipped in chocolate, but they must not be coated until they are perfectly cold.

HOREHOUND CANDY.

1¾ pounds sugar. ¾ pound glucose. ½ pint horehound tea.

Put sugar, glucose and horehound tea, (the strength of the tea will depend upon the individual taste) into a kettle, stir until it boils, wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth, put in thermometer and cook to 295 to 300; when it reaches that point, remove the thermometer and get it off the fire as quickly as possible. Then pour on a greased slab, with the bars set out far enough so that when the batch has been poured out evenly, it will be about a quarter of an inch thick. As soon as it cools a little, run a long knife underneath the batch, to loosen it from the slab; then mark it into squares any size desired, and keep going over the marks with a knife until it is cold, then break up with the hands. Pack in an air-tight jar and it will keep for a long time in a cool place. This also may be wrapped in wax paper.

GLACE NUTS.

Take about one pound of granulated sugar and one small tablespoonful of glucose, pour over it just enough water to dissolve it well, stir until it commences boiling, wash down sides, cover and steam, then remove cover, and cook without the thermometer until it just starts to turn straw color. Do not allow it to discolor any, but take it off the fire just at the moment it commences turning color. If you wish, you may use the thermometer in this and cook it to about 295, but you will have no trouble in doing it without the thermometer. Have your double boiler setting on the stove with boiling water underneath it, or else have a small bowl in a pan of boiling water in order that either of them will be very warm. Then stir a few drops of lemon extract into your syrup which you have just cooked, but do it very gently, then pour the syrup into the double boiler and set it on the table and commence dipping. Have handy your nuts, dates with seeds removed, figs cut in small pieces, any kind of candied fruit, especially candied cherries, as they are very pretty prepared in this manner, and proceed to dip them in this syrup in exactly the same manner that we directed you to dip bon-bons, only in dipping these fruits and nuts in this syrup, you must be very careful and not disturb the syrup more than is absolutely necessary. Just drop your nut in, and quickly lift it out and lay on a piece of tin if you have it, or the bottom of a tin pan will do, as they do not stick a particle to tin and will harden in a very few seconds. Malaga grapes are also very nice dipped in this manner. Marshmallows cut in two and dipped are also very fine. Candied cherries are really the prettiest fruit that you can dip in this manner, as they show up very nicely in decorating a box. As soon as you see your syrup commencing to get cloudy looking, you must stop dipping, and as quickly as possible, scrape the remaining syrup out into a kettle, and it may be used for making table syrup but must not be used for this work again. It will be necessary for you to cook more sugar in the same manner as you did before, if you are not through dipping.

GRILLED NUTS

Take one pound of granulated sugar with enough water to dissolve it, and cook with the thermometer, in the same manner as other candies, to about 275, then set off the stove, and pour into it as many filberts or hazelnuts as this will cover, and stir them well until they sugar, and become very white, which will be in a few moments. Have your nuts previously roasted a little and the skins rubbed off. Do this by putting them in a pan in the oven, watch them closely, and as soon as they are nearly brown enough, take them out, and as they brown considerably after taken out of the oven, you will find, when cooled, they will be about right; but if you had allowed them to get good and brown in the oven, they would be roasted too much when cold. These are very fine eating, especially for a luncheon or tea party and also look very pretty if used in decorating your boxes. If some of them should stick together when sugaring, break them apart before serving.

ORIENTAL JELLY.

3 pounds sugar. 1½ pounds glucose. 2½ ounces Japanese gelatine. 1 quart boiling water.

Cut the gelatine in pieces about one inch long, with a pair of shears, and put into a kettle, and over this pour the boiling water, then set aside. Put sugar and glucose into another kettle and remember that this is the kettle you will cook the batch in. Now take the kettle with the gelatine in, and add enough warm water to cover the gelatine, which by this time has puffed up quite a bit, and set on the fire and stir until it starts to boil. Then turn out the fire and continue stirring until it is dissolved, then strain this through a sieve or collander, into the kettle which contains the sugar and glucose. Now set the batch on the fire, stir and cook to 220. Remember to stir this from the time you set it on the fire, until it is cooked, and try to cover the whole bottom of the kettle with the paddle while stirring to prevent scorching. When the exact degree is reached, set it off the fire and let stand about ten minutes, then add one-half teaspoonful essence of lemon, and one and one-half pounds of ground figs, and stir through. Prepare the slab by dusting it well with XXXX sugar. Pour the jelly on the slab, between the bars, about three-fourths of an inch thick. This size batch will fill a place about twelve inches square. Sprinkle the top with XXXX sugar and let it stand a few hours until it sets, when it can be cut as desired. This jelly may be made any flavor or color you want and you may want to change the flavors occasionally. Here are a few: Color red when the batch is cooked and flavor with strawberry. Color green and flavor either mint or lime. Color orange and flavor the same. For lemon, use no color and flavor lemon. Roll the pieces, after being cut, in XXXX sugar and it can either be packed away or eaten as it is. If your batch gets a little softer than you like it, simply cook it two degrees higher the next time.

PINEAPPLE PUFFS.

1 pound sugar. ½ pound glucose. Whites of 2 eggs. 3 ounces water.

Put sugar, glucose and water into a kettle, set on the fire, stir until it commences boiling. Then take out the paddle and wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth, and cook to 252. Beat the egg whites while this is cooking, or better still, have someone beat them for you, and as soon as the thermometer registers 252, take the kettle off the fire. Put the well beaten egg whites into a pan and have them ready, then take your paddle or spoon and rub the candy against the sides of the pan, until the batch looks a little cloudy or shows white streaks, being careful not to work it too long, then put the paddle into the kettle with the eggs, and pour slowly about one-half of the batch into the eggs, and have someone stir the eggs continually while pouring. Then immediately put the paddle back into the other kettle, and pour the eggs into the kettle with the plain syrup, stirring the syrup continually. The kettle which held the eggs may be scraped out clean, but you must remember to do this double mixing as quickly as possible or the syrup is liable to sugar and harden for you before you get it mixed. Continue beating, and when it begins to stiffen a little, add one-half teaspoonful of essence of pineapple, and about a handful of candied pineapple, cut fine. When stiff enough to handle, drop out on wax paper or buttered plates in the following manner: With a large spoon, take a spoonful from around the edge, where it stiffens first and with a fork push off small portions of it onto the wax paper or plates. It should harden in a short time after being dropped. If it is slow in stiffening in the kettle, let it stand a few minutes. It should be stiff enough to stand and not flatten, when dropped on the paper. Do not allow the syrup to cool before starting to grain the batch in the kettle, but start rubbing it against the sides of the pan as soon as you take it off the fire. If the puffs are too hard, cook them two degrees lower, the next time.

NUT PUFFS

Use the recipe for Pineapple Puffs, and simply add the nuts in place of the pineapple, and vanilla flavor instead of the essence of pineapple. Hickory nuts or pecans are considered the best.

CHERRY BOUNCE.

Make the same as pineapple puffs, using candied cherries and vanilla flavor in place of the pineapple fruit and flavor. This may also be colored a delicate pink and are fine when dipped in chocolate.

MEXICAN PENOCHE.

2 pounds light brown sugar. ½ pound glucose. 1 quart cream or fresh, rich milk. 1½ pounds bon-bon cream. 1 pound nuts.

Put the sugar, glucose and cream into a kettle, stir until it boils, then put in thermometer, keep stirring and cook to 234. Set off the fire and add the bon-bon cream and beat until the bon-bon cream is all melted, and the batch stiffens a little. Chop the nuts a little and work them in the batch. Beat slowly until the candy is stiff enough to stand and not flatten out when dropped on wax paper or buttered plates, then spoon out as directed in dropping pineapple puffs. English walnuts are the standard nuts to use for penoche, but pecans or hickory nuts are excellent. If you do not use fresh milk or cream, your batch is very liable to curdle. If you keep stirring it continually and do not let it stand, you may even prevent it from curdling at all. But if it should, you will know that the milk or cream was not fresh. If it curdles, cook it up just the same, and while not being as smooth, will taste all right.

ICED SHELL BARKS.

Melt some fondant in a double boiler and flavor it with vanilla. Choose perfect halves of shell bark nut meats. Dip each nut meat in the cream, giving it a thin coat. Drop them on wax paper. After they are all dipped in this manner, put some fresh fondant in the double boiler and heat the cream just enough so that you can use it for dipping. Flavor with vanilla. Dip them a second time and drop them on wax paper.

ICED LEMON WALNUTS

Melt some fondant in a double boiler. Color a light yellow and flavor with grated rind of lemon. Choose perfect halves of white English walnuts. Dip them into the fondant and drop them on wax paper. If they are not coated sufficiently thick, dip them a second time. One dipping is usually sufficient.

TURKISH NOUGAT OR ALAKUMA.

First Batch

1¼ pounds sugar. ¼ teaspoonful cream of tartar. ½ pint water. Whites of 5 eggs.

Put the sugar, water and cream of tartar into a kettle, set on the fire, and stir until it commences to boil, then take out the paddle and wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth, put in the thermometer and cook to 248. Have someone beat the egg whites stiff, so that they will be ready when this batch is done cooking. Put the egg whites in a kettle large enough to hold the eggs and both of these batches, and allow room for beating. Have the eggs in the kettle ready, and as soon as the batch reaches 248, remove the thermometer and get the batch off the fire as quickly as possible, so that the batch does not cook up one or two degrees while you are doing this, as that is sufficient to spoil the whole thing. As soon as the batch is cooked and off the fire, pour at once very slowly, into the beaten egg whites, and have someone stir the egg whites while you are pouring, in order to mix the batch with the eggs thoroughly, but do not let the syrup drip out, and under no circumstances scrape out the kettle after it is all poured out and will not run out easily or in a fine stream. Continue stirring the eggs for a minute, then stop stirring, and let it stand undisturbed until you pour in the second batch. Do not wash out the kettle after the first batch is done, but set it on the scales the way it is, then weigh up the second batch and cook at once.

Second Batch

1½ pounds sugar. 1½ pounds glucose. ½ pint water.

Set on the fire, stir until it boils, wash down sides of the kettle, put in the thermometer and cook to 258. Take out the thermometer quickly and get off the fire, as directed in the first batch, and immediately pour slowly into the first batch with the eggs, stirring the egg batch continually, and it does not hurt to scrape out the kettle a little in this last batch. Now beat the batch until it begins to get a little stiff, then add a good tablespoon of vanilla flavor; keep beating until it gets pretty thick and then add about one and one-half pounds of English walnuts, candied cherries and pineapple cut fine, or just walnuts alone. Mix through well and scrape out of the kettle into a small bucket or a deep bread pan, which has been previously lined with rice paper. This paper need not be taken off but can be eaten right with the candy. After it has stood for a few hours it may be cut up as desired. If your batch is a little too dry, but not too hard, add a trifle more glucose than the recipe calls for, the next time. Keep this in a crock, with a damp cloth on top of the crock, and it will stay fresh a long time. This is an elegant piece, when coated in chocolate.

FRUIT LOAF.

1½ pounds sugar. ¾ pound glucose. 1 pint water. Whites of 3 small eggs. 1½ pounds nuts and fruit.