It's in the Genes

My cousin commented on my Christmas candy post. Her comment: "Taking after G'pa Miller I see..Me too I make all kinds of goodies this time of year, mostly candies."

Great Grandma & Grandpa Miller

G'pa Miller was my Great Grandpa on my mother's side. Her mother's father. G'pa Miller was a candy maker. I do remember my Great Grandparents. I have one vivid memory of making applesauce with G'ma Miller. I hope it's not a dreamed up memory. I also vaguely remember the gathering for a memorial in my Granma Irma's back yard. Or maybe it was a big wedding anniversary for them. I was little, definitely under 9 and probably 5 or 6, or younger. Cousin Sue and my sister Diane would remember, they have 10 years on me.


So on Sunday, I made peanut brittle and thought of my Great Grandpa. The vague remembrance of him and my Great Grandma. I have photos of them and I hope my memories are based on real events rather than just a photo that brings realness to a story. I recall caramel corn at Christmas. I remember my mom telling me Grandad Miller made it for us. I love caramel corn to this day. Can't make it but I love it. I have tried to make it and the popcorn always melts.


The peanut brittle is a Martha Stewart recipe from the 1998 TV show. Fairly easy to make and delicious. Thank you Great Grandpa Miller for good genes.

Christmas Candy

I put my Christmas tree and decorations up yesterday. My friend reminded me it’s only December 2. Well, that’s a week later than my mom used to put up the tree. She always did Thanksgiving weekend and we were lucky to get everything down by Valentine’s Day.

I love to bake and make sweet treats for the holidays. I made a batch of Scottish Shortbread a couple of days ago (now tucked in the freezer) and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies this a.m. I am also making a batch of Marilyn’s English Toffee. There’s history behind this.

Several years ago, two of my best friends and I would spend a Saturday in early December making candy for the holidays. We would do caramel, toffee, peanut brittle and other recipes that sparked our interest on any particular year. We’d start with Espresso shots first thing in the morning and get batches of toffee and caramel going. Next we would have some Mimosas (Champagne & orange juice) with a light breakfast. The next batch of toffee would go on. We would also be roasting nuts and preparing other goodies along the way. At lunch there was usually more Espresso and the next batch of caramel and toffee. Mid-afternoon warranted opening a bottle of wine and more toffee started (don’t ever try to double the recipe, it just doesn’t work). Late in the day we would cut and wrap the caramel and package everything up; an exhausting and fun day. As the years past busy lives and less desire for all the candy discontinued our candy parties.

Now, I still make a couple of batches of toffee, cookies and occasionally brittle or caramel. Toffee is easy and tricky at the same time. The easy is you just cook 1 ½ cups each of butter and sugar to 286F. Dump it in a pan, cover with chocolate chips, spread them around when melted and sprinkle toasted chopped almonds on top. Flat Almond Roca actually. 

Ah, the tricky part – don’t bring up to temp too fast or it will be grainy and pale. Pray to the candy gods it doesn’t break. When it breaks the butter separates from the sugar and you end up with a rather greasy mess. There's no predicting what will cause it to break. It just does sometimes. You don’t have to stir constantly but it is advised not to walk away from it for too long. Always use a digital candy thermometer. Dial ones are hard to read. Bring it up to temp as slowly as possible. This develops flavor and color. When it reaches temp pull it and dump it. I am using sliced toasted almonds on this batch. Chopped is traditional but they still taste good sliced.