Today I started baking the traditional candies that my Granny used to always make for us. Well, technically I started last week by making some buckeyes. I did them non-traditionally by dipping them in white chocolate and putting a hat on them to look like little Santas. But today, I started on the fudge and divinity. I tried to make divinity twice last year. Both times the candy turned out a flat mess that wouldn't dry. I finally figured out that the key is to get the sugar to a soft boil stage and the egg whites have to be very stiff. Then you have to blend the mixture forever and ever and ever until it's almost stiff. Most recipes say 5 minutes. My Granny's recipe didn't have a time specified. I called mom & she said it just seems like forever & it did. I think it was around 15 minutes by the time it finally set up.
Vince was such a great sous-chef and helped me spoon the candy onto wax paper before it got too hard. We had to work quickly. I made them kind of small so we got 112 pieces. Mom said she usually gets 96 pieces, so I know mine were a little bit small. It turned out sooooo great! I was really pleased with it.
I didn't use my Granny's recipe for fudge today. Instead, I used the one on the side of the marshmallow cream jar. It turns out a little softer than Granny's. It too turned out really well. 2 for 2 today! The last thing I made was the dough for the candy cane cookies. I haven't decided if I'm going to bake them tonight or tomorrow night, but the dough is now ready.
I still will need to make some cornflake wreaths, gingerbread whoopie cookies, and some more buckeyes. I'm selling a lot of these in tins this week to folks that need gifts for teachers and for school treats. It's so fun to bake all the candies during this season instead of just cakes. If I had a maid that cleaned all my dishes each time, it would be even better.
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