Grandma's Classic Fudge

 This was our go to treat for special occasions.  Christmas, Easter, even once for my birthday.  It's easy to make, easy to mess up, but absolutely amazing when you get the knack.  Also, with candy thermometers, there's not so much a knack any more as just pay attention.

Grandma Esther Romero's Classic Fudge

3 cups white sugar

3 heaping Tbs cocoa

1 cup milk (whole milk or half-n-half is best, but condensed is ok too)

1/4 cup corn syrup (don't substitute, there's nothing healthy about this, just go for it)

Bring to a boil in a heavy sauce pan to hard ball stage (~250-266(F) on candy thermometer)

Pour into mixing bowl, beat with 1/2 butter or margarine
Here's the tricky bit, you have to pay attention and be ready to move quick
It should lighten up and get glossy as you beat it, pour into greased pan or raised plate before it sets (before it looses it's gloss)

If you like nuts in your fudge, you can add nuts as you beat in the butter

 

Chocolate covered Pecan Creams

I haven't found anything similar to these treats.

My mother's friend Mary made these for us one year, and they became one of my favorite treats.  They seem like a lot of work, but every time I make them I thank myself for the effort and remember our hikes with Mary.

Pecan Creams

In pot on stove mix together:

2 cups sugar

1 Tbs corn syrup

1/2 cup warm water

Boil to soft ball stage (~ 235(F) on candy thermometer)

Then beat in 1/4 cup margarine or butter
cool to luke warm, before it sets beat in pecan pieces (wouldn't it be useful for me to know how much pecans?  but that's all the recipe says, so ....)

Roll into balls before it cools completely.

Cool, dip in melted chocolate

Russian Teacakes

 When I was a girl my Great Aunt Dorothy would always bring Crescent and Moon cookies.  According to her they were traditional Danish cookies.  I never got her recipe, but this recipe from my childhood Cooky cookbook tastes the same to me.  This recipe uses almonds, but if you switch up the nuts and use pecans I think they're called Mexican Wedding Cakes.

Russian Teacakes

1 cup butter (or margarine)

1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds Russian/Danish cookies, pecans for Mexican Wedding cakes)

Mix butter, sugar and vanilla
mix flour and salt together, blend in, add nuts

Chill dough

roll into 1" balls
bake at 400(F) for 10-12 minutes
 (375(F) for convection bake)

While still warm roll in confectioners' sugar
cool, roll or dust with sugar again

Christmas Bell Cookies

 When BitBoy was actually a boy, and not a grown man like he is now, I let him pick a new Christmas cookie to make.  He wasn't reading at the time, so picked this recipe based completely on a picture in the classic Betty Crocker Cooky Book.  My copy is from my childhood, held together with tape. The cover of my book is missing, as is the title page, I can only guess that it was printed in the late 70' or 1980 at the latest.  It's now a required Christmas cookie for all of the kids.

Christmas Bell Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (butter is best)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

cream shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla together

stir flour, soda, and salt together, blend in

Color 2/3 of the dough red or green, then mold into a roll and freeze.

(Roll can be triangle for a green tree, or bell shaped for green and red bells)

Roll out not-colored dough into a sheet, wrap it around the chilled/frozen log of colored dough

Freeze again

to bake cookies, slice from roll ~1/8" thick and place ` 1/2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Place cinnamon candies (like Red Hots) on cookie as bell clapper or tree ornaments.
(original recipe calls for using un-tinted dough for clapper, trust me, cinnamon hots are better)

Bake at 375 (F) for 8-10 minutes
( 350 (F) for convection oven)

makes 5 doz cookies

Notes:

This is a small recipe, so if you want two colors of bells, rather than split the dough, it's easiest and most efficient to make three batches.  Color 2 whatever colors you want, then leave the 3rd uncolored and split in half to make wraps for each colored log.

Wressed Chicken with Broccoli

If you, like us, have a lot of turkey left over, try this casserole.

It's basically Thanksgiving in a casserole dish, but we like it year around.  It's a good way to use up leftover poultry, or a rotisserie chicken
 

Wressed Chicken with Broccoli

4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed  (~ 1.5 lbs of cooked chicken or turkey)

20 oz frozen broccoli

sauce:

    1/2 cup butter

    3 Tbs flour

    2 cups chicken broth

    1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Arrange in casserole dish in this order:
Broccoli, chicken, sauce

Top with stuffing mix:

~ 7oz dried bread cubes (homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup butter

(if bread is unseasoned, add poultry seasoning or herbs de Provance for spice to taste)

Bake at 350 until heated through

For crunchy topping bake uncovered, cover lightly to keep dressing soft

Notes:
If this looks like
"Put a layer of  frozen broccoli in a casserole dish, then layer chopped left over turkey, pour gravy over it, and then top with stuffing, you're not wrong.

Chocolate Pud-n-Cake

When I was a little girl we would go to Grandma's house every Sunday.  There was always a lot of food.  Fried chicken or rabbit (Grandpa raised rabbits), pinto beans, green beans, raspeberries, peaches, and if we were lucky, maybe, this cake.  More recently I was watching The Great British Baking Show and learned it has another name and is part of a whole class of cakes "self-saucing cake".  It's meant to be served by turning it upside down as you take each portion out of the pan.

Chocolate pud-n-cake

1 cup flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilia

3 tablespoons cocoa

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Mix wet ingredients together, sift dry ingredients together and add to wet

Pour into ungreased pan.

mix together:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons  cocoa

sprinkle this mixture on top of cake batter in pan.  Pour 1 cup cold water on top

Bake for 45 min at 375 F

Notes and Comments:

You can easily substitute a gf flour.  Better Batter is my current favorite.
I don't use nuts, I like the creamy texture it has w/o them.

You can serve w/ whipped cream or ice cream if you want.

Honey Toffee Pennies

One of the first cook books I got as a kid was The Pooh Cook Book
My favorite recipe to make from that were these.

Honey Toffee Pennies

1/4 cup butter, sliced
3/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon

Melt putter, honey, sugar and vinegar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Keep over low heat until it has melted together. Stir and increase heat for
   10 min for chewy toffee
   15 minutes for hard toffee
   20 minutes for brittle toffee

Add the lemon juice (or other flavor) when it has reached desired consistency but while it is still boiling.

Drop onto wax paper into shapes.  As it cools you can use your hand to shape it, especially if at the chewy stage.


Notes and comments

I'd suggest using a candy thermometer to get the desired level of firmness.  As a kid I did the drop test to see if it was at the consistency I wanted.  I'd fill a clear glass w/ ice water and then drop a bit of the mixture from a spoon into the cold water, watching how the drop formed (soft or hard) told me when to take it off.  This works well for being at altitude, when you can't always depend on a thermometer to tell you what is what.

Instead of lemon juice you could add 6 drops of mint, or cinnamon, or nutmeg, or ginger.
You'd be wrong, because lemon is best.  But go ahead, you be you.

This recipe can be used to make candy covered apples, use the hard toffee stage

If you'd like something more like brittle than a hard candy, add a teaspoon of baking soda at the end of the brittle stage (hard crack).