How To Make Homemade Christmas Candy

Spicy Cashew Brittle

I decided to stick with a Christmas theme and used a basic Peanut Brittle recipe and added some Pumpkin Pie Spice and substituted Cashews for the Peanuts. This recipe will yield two pounds of Cashew Brittle. *Because you must work quickly when making any kind of Brittle, it is best to cut the recipe in half and make it in two batches.
Ingredients
•         2 cups white granulated sugar
•         1 cup light corn syrup
•         1/3  teaspoon salt
•         ½  cup water
•         1 ½ - 2  cups Cashews
•         1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
•         4 tablespoons butter, softened
•         2 teaspoon baking soda

Method

•    Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside.
•    In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, spices and water.
•     Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts.
•     Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking.
•    Stir frequently until temperature reaches 300 degrees F.
•     Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter and baking soda
•    Pour immediately  onto greased cookie sheet.
•     Lift and pull peanut mixture into rectangle about 14x12 inches; cool.
•     Break the brittle  into pieces once it has cooled.

* If you do not have a candy thermometer, you drop a  small amount of mixture into very cold water. It is ready when it separates into hard and brittle threads.

White Chocolate Rum and Eggnog Truffles

Ingredients

8 oz good quality White Chocolate

•     1/4  cup  butter, softened
•     1/4  cup  eggnog
•     2  tablespoons  dark rum (Captain Morgans Spiced Rum is nice too)
•    1/4  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
•    1/2  cup  powdered sugar

Method

•    Heat white chocolate in a double boiler until completely melted
•    Add butter, and eggnog and  stir gently until mixture is smooth.
•    Add rum and nutmeg, stirring just until blended.
•    Cover and chill for  2-3 hours.
•    Remove mixture from fridge and, using a melon-baller or two tea spoons, scoop into aprox. 1" balls
•    Roll in Powdered Sugar immediately and freeze until completely firm.

Hard Cinnamon Candy

Ingredients

•          3 3/4 cup sugar
•         1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
•         1 cup water
•         Cinnamon flavoring
•         Red Food Coloring

Method

•    Mix the first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan.
•    Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, and mixture begins to boil
•    Boil, * WITHOUT STIRRING until temperature reaches 310*, then remove from heat.
•    After mixture stops boiling, stir in flavoring and coloring.
•    Pour onto a lightly greased candy molds.
•    Let cool and remove from molds.
•    Store in airtight containers

* Stirring the mixture while it is melting can result in a cloudy candy.

Note. If you do not have candy molds, pour the prepared hot mixture onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and spread out evenly. While still warm, score into squares with a knife. When it is cooled, candy can be broken at score marks.