Grandma Kurtz’s Chocolate Caramel Christmas Candy
2 lbs Brown Sugar
½ lb Unsweetened Chocolate
1 cup Dark Karo Syrup
1 cup Whipping Cream
½ lb Butter (2 squares)
2 tsp Vanilla
2 cups Chopped Walnuts
Mix ingredients together and boil to 246 degrees
Stir, but not too much.
Add Vanilla and Chopped Nuts.
Pour into buttered pan (Do not scrape sides of pan; put scrappings on a plate).
When cool, cut into squares and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap.
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The annual Christmas holiday treat and stocking filler, cooked up by my mother, Beverly,
and her mother, Reetha Studebaker-Kurtz, for her husband, Paul Kurtz, and three daughters –
Paula, Mom, and twin sister, Betty – during their childhoods in Modesto, California, United States.
Besides her family and teaching, perhaps Grandma Kurtz’s greatest legacy was her Chocolate Caramel Christmas Candy. The chocolate caramels are unsurpassed by anything sold on the market, and everyone seems to have their own recipe variations. The basic recipe above is usually doubled, tripled or quadrupled, depending on the size of the family and its collective appetite.