Kentucky Cream Candy

This is my late mother's recipe for cream candy like that in a Blue Monday.

• 3 cups sugar
• ½ cup water
• 1 cup cream
• pinch of baking soda

Combine the ingredients in a heavy, greased sauce pan.  Heat, stirring until boiling. Cook covered about 3 minutes until the sides of the pan are washed free of crystals.

Remove the cover and cook without stirring to the hard ball stage (262°F).

Pour the mixture over a buttered marble slab. Let cool enough to handle easily.  Cut into short ropes, grease your hands with butter, and pull the candy (fold it over on itself and pull, fold again and pull...) about 15 minutes until it begins to set (it will begin to lighten as it does).

Cut into pieces (about 1-1½ inches long) with well buttered scissors.

Wrap the candy pieces in foil and store in a closed tin.

After it has set, you may also cover the candy with dark chocolate if desired.

Enjoy.

Comments

[susanna]

I've made this a few times, and I always get little blisters on my hands from the heat of the candy as you twist and pull it. We always did it with two people pulling. And you must let it cream! It will be hard like a rock when it sets, and in my experience takes several hours, up to 24, to become soft like the Blue Monday candy.

You just can't beat Kentucky Cream Candy, ouches and all.

[Mike]

You were still in your crib when Mom, always willing to try something once, made Jo Ann and me sit in the basement and pull cream candy on a marble slab. No one should ever try to make their own. Ruth Hunt does it better.

[Allan]

I did it one time, too. I can still feel the butter on my hands.

[Elzer]

One of my maternal Uncle's used to make Pull Candy when I was a kid and would never share his recipe. When he died, his kids would not share the recipe either. When my Mom was critically ill, I tried to get my cousins to make some Pull Candy for my Mom but they would not and would still not give me the recipe. A lady where I went to church made the candy, too, and she invitied me and my wife into her home and taught us to make the candy. I kept my Mom supplied with the candy until she died. My wife and I have made it ever since. We still love it....I gave the recipe to everyone in the family interested in making it....the cousins don't have a monopoly anymore!

[Allan]

Thanks for sharing that.

It was wonderful to read. Truly.

[Adam]

Its better if its tradition.

My family has made cream candy since my great grand father...Used to sell it pretty cheap(comparitively, still a nice profit) for christmas time and people would start asking about 6 months in advance.

[Anna]

Mike - Ruth Hunt can't do it better than my Papaw. :) Looking forward to this holiday favorite when I go home.

[connie]

I followed the directions and my candy didn't turn out . Could you please give me some advice. Do I need to pull this outside in the cold? Does it have to be a certain degree? Approx. how long does it take to cook the ingredents. Thankyou Connie

[Deborah Stevens]

do you know how many calories this candy has, I love it but would like to know how many calories is in a normal size peice

[Rita Faye Hill]

I love this candy! My mother before she passed away, use to talk about how my grandmother use to make it and send it to the Boys in the Navy during WW II. Momma never quite caught the hang of making it. But she bought it whenever she could find it. Thanks for the recipe, now its like a bit of home come back again.

[Pat Winship]

My grandmother made it. When I decided to try, I used the recipe in The Joy of Cooking, and was flopping about one batch in four. My mother then told me that my grandmother liked to overcook it slightly. When I upped the temps a couple of degrees, the results were consistent. We never added any flavorings, preferring the natural butterscotch taste. I really don't like to cover it with chocolate, since this seems to mask the real flavor too much. However, a couple of slivers of good bittersweet choclate, a couple of pieces of cream candy, and a cup of good coffee make a lovely dessert!

Burned hands are a hazard if you make a lot of it. I've had second-degree burns on the insides of both thumbs from handling cream candy!

[Miranda Panda]

My grandma makes the best cream candy in my opinion its better than ruth hunts but mine has never turned out as good as hers but i think im gonna try this recipe thanx

[Sarah Stockton]

I would love to know how to make this candy.I have tried twice and both times was a flop. I have a few questions if anyone would be kind enough to help me out.

How do you pull the candy? About how long should you pull the candy? It always gets very sticky on me; why is that?

Thanks,
Sarah

[K Jackson]

I am trying to find the origin of cream candy, aka pulled candy. Does anyone out there have any history for me?

[Sara]

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I lived in KY for 8 years and loved eating the store-bought variety. Now that we live many states away, I want to learn to make it and have that as a Christmas tradition. I am in search of a marble slab. This is not as easy as I thought to find. Is it really necessary, or can I use some other chilled surface? I am so looking forward to having a true Kentucky experience this Christmas; I just hope it doesn't turn into a giant, sticky fiasco!

[Lisa]

Ms. Alma Seeley is the Queen of Cream Candy. Ms. Alma is 94 and is still making the cream candy. Her secret is in the wooden spoon. She uses a heavy aluminum pan and an old wooden spoon each time she makes a batch. The spoon has stirred so much candy that it is no longer round but has a very angled side! There is a little bit of that spoon in every batch! She loves to teach anyone who wants to know how to make her candy.

[Garry]

How do I get in contact with Alma?

[Myra]

One of the key things that Allan's mother taught me about the cream candy - it had to be made on a very low humidity, day. We never made it anytime but the winter, so I'm not sure if today's AC systems can get the humidity low enough in the summer. Her candy was the best!!!

[L Trusty]

You have no idea how many cook books I have looked through and how many people I have asked for the recipe for "pulled cream candy". My grandma always made it, but I never knew what it was called. By the time I thought to ask her to show me how to make it, she had lost her eyesight and couldn't recall the recipe. It's been 25 years since I have had it, but I remember exactly what it taste like. I knew that she called it pulled cream, but I didn't know if that was just her "Kentucky slang" for something else. I remembered that it had to cure (cream). I set out today to get on the computer and not stop until I found a recipe. Lucky me!!!!The only difference is that I think I remember her saying that she used cream of tarter. I don't know what difference that would make. Thanks L.Trusty

[Nita Nix]

Hello to all the "Cream Candy Lover's",
It would seem that we all have our memories of this one of a kind candy. As a child I enjoyed my first tasting at a neighbor's home. Needless to say, it took another 20 years to find out what it was, and another 30 years of practice making it each Christmas. I still search for recipes, to see how others make this candy. My most important advice is be prepared, make only on a clear day in a cool kitchen, chill your marble slab outside, if necessary.
I have always loved teaching others how I make this candy, as I cannot supply all that request it during the holidays. Anyone may email me, if you have questions.
Nita in Kentucky (NitaNix@aol.com)

[Lorrie in Kentucky (lmfinegan@hotmail.com]

I am dying to make this candy. anyone with any advice that you feel is very important to the success of this candy PLEASE email me!! Is there any way to get Ms. Seeley's advice?? Nita, I will be emailing you as well. My dad is a Baptist preacher and we had a church member when I was a child who made this candy. I havent had it in over 30 years but I will never forget it and would love to surprise my family with it this Christmas!!