Strawberry divinity (untested)

This recipe is written in a handwriting I don't recognize.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup Karo corn syrup
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 eggs whites
• 1 package strawberry flavored gelatin (e.g., Jell-o)
• 1 cup nuts

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan
2. Boil together until mixture reaches 252°F or hard ball stage*
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff
4. Beat in the strawberry flavored gelatin
5. Pour syrup in slowly 
6. Add nuts
7. Beat until candy loses its glossy sheen

*If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water. Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

Peppermint drops (untested)

This recipe appears to be written in Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different when she wrote in fountain pen). It is undated, but I suspect this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

What I like about this recipe is that is appears to be a great way to make homemade candies that could be used as breath-mints or lozenges.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 6 drops essence of peppermint [peppermint essential oil]*

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, cook the water and sugar until it reaches thread stage (230°F-235°F)**. Do not stir while cooking
2. Remove from fire
3. Add peppermint and stir until candy thickens and looks cloudy
4. Drop immediately from a teaspoon onto waxed paper or a greased plate
5. If it becomes too hard to drop, warm by standing the saucepan over hot water for a moment

*Wintergreen may be substituted for peppermint [I imagine any flavor of essential oil could be substituted as well]

**If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water. Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

Peanut butter fudge (untested)

This recipe seems to be one of the older ones in Grammy's recipe box and appears to be written in fountain pen in either Esther's or Maggie's handwriting.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup sweet milk [probably sweetened condensed milk, but without testing I can't be certain]
• 2 heaping tablespoons Heinz peanut butter [any brand will work]

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients
2. Boil for exactly 5 minutes
3. Remove from fire
4. Beat until thick
5. Pour on buttered platter
6. Cut and serve [I'm sure you have to wait until it has cooled]

Molasses candy (untested)

This recipe appears to be written in Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different when she wrote in fountain pen). It is undated, but I suspect this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married). This candy sounds very much like a taffy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups molasses
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup vinegar

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients (except vinegar) into a large saucepan
2. Cook fast until a little of the mixture dropped into cold water feels brittle [this must be the hard crack stage* (300°F-310°F)]
3. Add vinegar
4. Cook 2 minutes more
5. Pour into a greased pan to cool
6. As soon as possible, pull with fingers until white
7. Cut into pieces before it is too hard

*If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water. Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

Mary Greiner's Divinity (untested)

This typewritten recipe is attributed to Mary Greiner.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup (dark Karo can be used in place of white to give is a caramel flavor)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup water
• Vanilla or almond extract [no measurement is given but I'm guessing a teaspoon would do]
• Nuts, cherries and/or coconut (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place sugar, salt, syrup, and water in a saucepan to boil
2. Cook until hard brittle stage* (300°F-310°F) 
3. The secret of divinity is to have the syrup crackle when tapped on edge of cup
4. Add slowly to stiffly beaten egg whites and beat until candy begins to stiffen
5. Add vanilla or almond flavor, nuts, cherries and/or coconut (whichever is preferred). When using an electric mixer it is best to remove from beater and continue by hand when adding nuts, etc.
6. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper

*If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water. Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

Maple Taffy (untested)

This technically isn't a "recipe" and it really isn't "taffy" either, but it is so charming I needed to include it here because it was in Grammy's recipe box after all. It is written in pencil in a childlike cursive handwriting I don't recognize. It could have been something one of Grammy's daughters brought home from school.

Ingredients:

• Maple syrup
• Snow [this ingredient means you can only make this in the winter in a place where it snows]

Instructions:

1. Fill a bowl with snow
2. Then pour maple syrup on it
3. When syrup is frozen, pick up and eat it

Maple kisses (untested)

This recipe appears to be written in Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different when she wrote in fountain pen). It is undated, but I suspect this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups maple sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup shelled pecans

Instructions:

1. Cook the water, sugar and butter until it reaches the soft ball stage* (235°F-240°F)
2. Add the nuts and stir until the mixture begins to cool and thicken
3. Then drop in small spoonfuls on a greased paper [wax paper might be the modern equivalent] or greased plate 

*If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water. Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

Dakota caramels (untested)

This recipe appears to be written in Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different when she wrote in fountain pen). It is undated, but I suspect this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 1/4 pound grated chocolate
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients (except nuts) in a saucepan
2. Cook until mixture reaches the firm ball stage* (245°F-250°F)
3. Add nuts
4. Pour into a well-greased plate [a glass Pyrex pan would be good]
5. Cut in squares when cool

*If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water.  Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

Creamed walnuts (untested)

This recipe appears to be written in Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different when she wrote in fountain pen). It is undated, but I suspect this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• Vanilla [no measurement is given but I'd guess a teaspoon is probably good]
• Shelled walnuts [no measurement is given so I would suppose it depends on how many you want to make]

Instructions [incomplete]:

1. Cook the sugar and water without stirring
2. [This is where the instructions end]

Without testing this recipe, I cannot give further details. I suspect the vanilla is added to the sugar mixture as it begins to form a thick syrup. I don't know if the walnuts are supposed to be dipped in this syrup as a candy coating or if they are supposed to crushed and "creamed" to create a walnut cream. Any insight from other family members that may have had this recipe would be greatly appreciated.

Cocoa fudge (untested)

This handwritten recipe is in a handwriting I don't recognize. It is written on a piece of notebook paper that was folded and tucked into the "Candies" section along with the rest of the recipe cards. The front of this recipe is spattered and I have to wonder if it was spattered with cocoa fudge.

What I love about this recipe is the way it is written in a familiar tone. Reading it feels like the cook is right there giving you instructions in her own voice. Read it. You'll see what I mean. I had to smile as I transcribed it.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Equipment:

• a deep saucepan
• a flat buttered dish
• a large spoon

Instructions:

1. Stir the sugar and cocoa together in the saucepan
2. Add the milk, a little at a time, and stir until very smooth
3. Put the mixture over a low fire and let it boil slowly (whatever you do, don't stir it after it has begun to boil or your fudge will be sugary and hard)
4. When the bubbles grow as a large as a quarter, your fudge is ready to be tested
5. Drop a little from the end of a spoon into a cup of cold water and try to form it into a ball with your fingers. If it is too thin to roll up, then your fudge will be soft and sticky.. If your fudge is stiff and thick, then your fudge will be like a brick. Not too soft and not too thick is the way it ought to be.
6. Take the fudge off the stove
7. Stir in the butter, vanilla and salt
8. Set the pan in a bowl of cold cold water for about ten minutes
9. Everyone may take a hand at beating it to make it smooth and creamy. The butter gives it a shiny look. As the fudge thickens, it loses this shiny glow. At last it begins to harden on the spoon and around the edges of the pan.
10. Then pour it into the buttered dish
11. Cut it into squares and eat

Hip-O-Lite fudge (untested)

This typewritten recipe requires a bit of "translation" because of brand name products used in it that no longer exist—Hip-O-Lite (misspelled on the recipe card) and Sego Milk. For those interested in how I arrived at the ingredient substitutes, you can go to the bottom of this post for more info.

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 large can unsweetened evaporated milk [substitute for Sego Milk]
• 3 packages of Nestles chocolate chips
• 1 cube margarine [I'd use butter]
• 2 cups nuts
• 13 ounces of marshmallow creme [substitute for Hip-O-Lite]
• vanilla [no measurement is included but 1 teaspoon is probably a good guess-timate]

Instructions:

1. Boil sugar and unsweetened evaporated milk for 10 minutes
2. Take off heat and add the remainder of ingredients
3. [There are no further instructions beyond this point. I'm certain that all ingredients need to be mixed thoroughly and then poured into a rectangular baking pan (I'd use my glass Pyrex pan as I do with other fudge)]

Hip-O-Lite
Hip-O-Lite was a brand of marshmallow creme. Although the recipe above calls for "1 can hipolite", in my research I could only find references of Hip-O-Lite marshmallow creme in jars. After some hunting around, I found someone on Pinterest that had posted a photo of a vintage jar label that shows the actual amount of product in one jar was 13 ounces.

Sego Milk

Sego Milk was produced at the Sego Milk Plant (also known as the Utah Condensed Milk Company Plant) located in the town of Galt in Northern California (a couple hours drive south of my Grammy's home). Based on the alternate name of the plant, I thought that Sego was a brand of sweetened condensed milk. But after doing further sleuthing, I found a photo on Pinterest of an original Sego Milk tin from the 1920s that clearly shows Sego Milk was unsweetened evaporated milk.

I also found a scan of a vintage ad that says the same thing:

Then I found an even more informative vintage ad from 1926:

Click image to enlarge

I won't make you squint to read the text. Here's the transcription:

Richer than Cream in "Whole-Milk" Richness 

Cream is rich in only one food element of milk—butterfat.

Sego Milk is extra rich in all the food elements of milk—in butterfat and in the bone and tissue building substances that cream does not contain.
That is what we mean by "whole-milk" richness. It is the quality that makes milk nature's perfect food.
As Cream—Use Sego Milk undiluted. It does the things you want cream to do—gives fine consistency and flavor to your good.
In coffee, ice creams, and desserts—in all cream uses—Sego Milk provides the "whole-milk" richness for which there is no substitute.
For Milk Uses—Dilute Sego Milk to suit any need. It still has the "whole-milk" richness—contains all the food elements of milk in their natural proportions—is never like the bottom half of the bottle—skimmed milk.
In cream soups, creamed vegetables—in all cooking—the "whole-milk" richness and clean purity of Sego Milk gives substance and flavor that nothing else can give.
Sterilized in sealed containers, every drop uniformly rich in "whole-milk" richness, Sego Milk is "nature's most perfect food" in cleanest form.
Sego Milk costs less than half as much as cream—as extra-rich milk, costs no more than ordinary milk. 

Penoche (untested)

This undated recipe appears to be Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different in fountain pen when she was younger). I suspect that this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

Ingredients:

• 3 cups brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup nuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1. Cook syrup to 236°F for soft ball [I think the brown sugar and milk make up the syrup]
2. Remove from fire and add butter without stirring
3. When lukewarm, beat until creamy
4. Stir in nuts [although not noted, I suspect this is also when you would stir in the vanilla]
5. Pour into pans
6. Cut in squares

Peanut Brittle (untested)

This recipe appears to be Grammy's handwriting (her handwriting looked different when she wrote in fountain pen). It is undated, but I suspect this recipe pre-dates 1941 (the year she got married).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon butter [this doesn't seem like enough butter]
• 1 cup chopped peanuts

Instructions:

1. Put sugar into an iron sauce pan and let it melt over a moderately hot fire
2. Add butter and nuts and pour immediately into a well-greased pan
3. Mark into squares when cool enough

Candied orange peel

With oranges in season right now in most of the northern hemisphere, now would be a great time to try out this recipe. You can eat the insides and then candy the peels. Works for me!

Click on the image above to view larger

This recipe is one of a set of gorgeously illustrated vintage Sunkist recipes I found in Grammy's recipe box preserved in nearly pristine condition. Feel free to download the image so you can print it out and use it in your kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 4 Sunkist oranges
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup sugar

Instructions:

1. Remove peel from four Sunkist oranges in quarters
2. Cover with cold water in saucepan
3. Bring to a boil
4. Cook slowly until soft
5. Drain
6. Using a spoon, remove white portion off orange peels
7. Using kitchen scissors, cut yellow (orange) portion in thin strips
8. In separate saucepan, boil 1/2 cup of water and sugar until syrup will thread when dropped from tip of spoon [thread stage is 230°F-235°F)*]
9. Cook orange peel strips in syrup for 5 minutes
10. Drain
11. Coat with fine granulated sugar

*If you aren't using a candy thermometer (which I highly recommend) you can test candy the old fashioned way using cold water. Click here to read all about testing candy using cold water.

"Fantasy Fudge" for the Holidays

Ever since I can remember, there were two things that my mom made especially for Christmas--homemade fudge and English toffee. So although not technically a recipe from Grammy's recipe box, my mother's homemade fudge is such a long-standing family Christmas tradition, I needed to include it here.

The whole process of making candy absolutely fascinated me through my childhood. When I was old enough, maybe 8 years old, Mom let me help out instead of just watch. I was usually responsible for stirring because keeping the sugar and butter mixture stirring constantly was critical as it heated to the temperature desired for either soft ball (fudge) or hard crack (toffee).

My mom's fudge recipe is no secret. It's the recipe that Kraft has been printing on its jars of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme (an essential ingredient in fudge) for eons . The recipe is "officially" called "Fantasy Fudge". I didn't know that until I was an adult. All I knew was that Mom's fudge was the best! There wasn't any other kind of fudge from any fancy candy shop that could rival it, and I still have yet to find one. The funny thing is that it's a Kraft recipe!

So without further adieu, here is the recipe straight off the Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme jar:

Fantasy Fudge
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks butter or margarine--go with the butter)
1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (about 2/3 cup)
1 1/2 pkg. (12 squares) Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped
1 jar (7 oz.) Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
1 cup chopped walnuts (or leave them out if you have an allergy like Hubby does)
1 tsp. vanilla

Line 9-inch square pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan; set aside. Place sugar, butter and evaporated milke in large heavy saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 min. or until candy thermometer reaches 234ºF (soft ball), stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and marshmallow creme, stir until completely melted. Add walnuts (if desired) and vanilla; mix well.

Pour immediately into prepared pan; spread to form even layer in pan. Let stand at room temperature 4 hours or until completely cooled; cut into 1-inch squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature. Makes 3 lb. or 40 servings, about two squares each.

Variation - Classic Fantasy Fudge (the way Mom made it)
Prepare recipe as directed, using 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) margarine and substituting 1 pkg. (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips for the chopped BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate and a 13x9-inch baking pan for the 9-inch square pan.

Homemade Marshmallows

Okay, I admit it... I'm not brave enough to try the vintage recipe for homemade marshmallow that I found in my Grammy's recipe box. There. I said it.

Not to make excuses, but I have visions of me in the kitchen creating more heat than is sane and ending up with a mess akin to the attack of the StayPuft Marshmallow Man on New York City.

But there are braver souls than I...

One blog I enjoy reading is by Emily at Sugar Plum. One evening she mentioned on Twitter that she was considering making some homemade marshmallows. I asked her later if she had and admitted my lack of bravery in trying Grammy's recipe. This was her reply, "I didn't try :( I decided it was too much work--might try in a few minutes. Need to find a recipe. Wish I had Grammy's recipe."
Well... Emily asked and she received!

Take a look at a digital scan of the recipe below. It was written in fountain pen by my Grammy sometime between 1910 and 1930-ish (I've also typed it out below). The way I can date this recipe is that some of the other recipes my Grammy's box are actually dated with Esther's name in the top right corner. This undated recipe looks like those dated ones so that's how I can zero in on a date. This would have been an early version of her handwriting.




Now here it is typed out so it's easier to read:

Marshmallow

Soften the following ingredients well:

• 2 T gelatine
• 1/2 c cold water

Cook the following ingredients to 236 degrees F or until it threads about the length of the arm:

• 2 c sugar
• 3/4 c boiling water
• 1/8 t salt

Pour syrup slowly over gelatine, beating constantly until thick and cool (about 20 min.). Flavor as desired. Color. Butter a shallow pan slightly and dust with powdered sugar. Turn the mixture out on this and smooth top evenly. Dust with powdered sugar. Let stand overnight. Cut in squares. Roll in sugar.

Variations:
Chopped nuts, figs, raisins, or candied cherries may be added to the recipe. Plain marshmallow may be cooled in cocoa-nut before dipping in sugar, or dipped in melted chocolate.

Emily took on the daunting challenge and succeeded! The photo above is hers (she's an amazing food photographer). I'm so impressed. And I'm still too chicken to do it myself.

Click here to read Emily's adaptations on this recipe

Chocolate Creams

In Grammy's recipe box I found a handwritten recipe for "Chocolate Creams".

They seemed simple enough. But as I have discovered with many of the recipes in the box, the measurements on the ingredients are a bit vague--like exactly how much confectioners' sugar goes into the "cream" to make it a stiff paste. As Hubby pointed out, one was probably supposed to learn how to make it from watching someone else do it again and again. So I had to experiment a bit and tweak a little.

This is a direct transcription of the recipe (I did some tweaking that I'll note after):

Chocolate Creams 

1 egg white 

2 T cold water  

Confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) 

6 drops flavoring 

1/4 lb. sweet chocolate

Beat the egg and water together only til mixed; add the sugar til the ingredients form a stiff paste (about 1-1 1/2 cups). Work in flavoring with sugar; then form into small balls. Grate the chocolate and put in a cup over hot water to melt. Dip the balls into it one at a time; using a fork for the dipping. Lay separately on waxed paper and, if necessary, dip a second time.

Now for my tweaks and tips:

• It took more than 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar to create a paste that could be rolled. I just kept adding until it was stiff enough then rolled the centers using powdered sugar to keep it from sticking.
• All the recipe says is "6 drops of flavoring". I used almond extract AND vanilla as a flavoring and it took way more than just 6 drops to fit my taste.
• I used semi-sweet chocolate chips but I think that next time I'll use an even darker chocolate since the centers are so sweet that the darker chocolate would work. It took more than only a 1/4 lb. to have a deep enough bowl of dipping chocolate. Once I had a deep enough reservoir the dipping was really easy with a fork, and it only took one dip to coat the centers nice and thick.
• I suppose you could flavor the centers with about anything that you can think of. You could even color the center paste to make it different too.
• These need to be kept refrigerated (especially in warmer weather). I had some little Wilton's treat bags that I packaged them in to give away to friends.

Waiting for the chocolate to cool and harden

The results were decadent candy delights that feel "sinful" to even have in the kitchen. Hubby did try some of the "oops" candies and deemed them officially "sinful" in every way that a chocolate-covered almond and vanilla flavored sugar-paste ball can be. Of course I had to taste as I mixed to get the flavoring just right.  The tasting alone gave me a sugar buzz that I was still feeling as I typed up my notes over an hour later.