The Saga of Aunt Bill's Brown Candy (ABBC)
(or, as I like to call it,
Aunt Bill's Damn Candy)

While sitting around at work just before Christmas, we were discussing what all we would be bringing to the Festivus party. (Yes, we had a Festivus pole.) Someone mentioned ABBC and how much they missed having it 'cause only their Granny/Auntie/Some other older relative made it and no one else really can 'cause it is really hard to do and blah, blah, blah. Of course, me being me, piped up, "I can make it." Now I should mention here that I have never made it before and quite frankly, I had no clue what it even was. But I can cook sweets/desserts/munchies like nobody's business so how hard could it be? One co-worker jumped up out of her chair, a la Jerry Springer complete with pointing finger, and challenged me. That's right, challenged me to make ABBC. If I made it, she would have to stand up at the Festivus party and apologize for doubting my ability to make it and if I failed, I had to apologize to her and admit defeat. Bring it on.

So I did it with a little help from my friend, Deanna, and my hubby (Someone had to hold the skillet!)It takes for-freakin-ever to make this stuff and if you are new to the candy making game, I wouldn't advise it. The recipes actually say "Difficulty: Hard" and "This candy is not for the inexperienced." But on the plus side "It's sturdy, keeps well, and won't be damaged in transit."

A couple of photos...

Sugar melting. See tip #1

Mmmmmm...tasty.

Brown in color...hence the name.

Survey says!

But the kicker here is THE CO-WORKER CALLED IN SICK ON THE PARTY DAY SO SHE WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE RAZZED BY THE CANDY QUEEN!!!!!!

You can find the recipe online in many places. I used one from organizedchristmas.com and one from shoeboxrecipes.com and used the best of both worlds.

Here are some tips for you...

#1 - Don't use a wimpy 8 or 9 inch skillet. Use the 12 incher or so. Spread the heat around. As soon as the sugar would start to melt and we would give it a little stir, it would clump up. Aargh. The 30 minute melt-a-thon turned into over an hour!

#2 - I used English Walnuts instead of pecans because pecans are very, very expensive in comparison. And I only used 10 oz. instead of two pounds. Your call.

#3 - Bump the heat up just a teech for melting.

#4 - Instead of pouring the melted sugar directly from the extremely heavy mondo sized skillet into the sugar/cream mixture, we used a heated saucepan to be our go-between. Much lighter.

#5 - Have a bar stool or an elevated seat to park your tired butt on while you stir and stir and stir and stir and stir and stir for TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES until it thickens.

#6 - Do not start making this candy after 7:00pm. Trust me. Get an early start.

And, after all of this, I didn't really care for it. My stepson, Matt, has been eating it up though. Thank goodness for teenagers, they'll eat just about anything.

I will be attempting the recipe for Hopping John on New Year's Day. Wish me luck.

Oh, one more interesting thing that went on at my house - The Second Bi-Annual Festival of The Fire. Two years ago one of the Harleys shorted out and caught on fire in the garage. This year a brush fire got out of control. I got to call the fire department on this one. Of course we had it under control by the time they made it here. Could I have given you any more specific instructions to our land?!?!? I don't think so. I could have driven to the firehouse and had them follow me back home quicker than it took them to get here. Thank goodness they saved the basement! (hehehehe)