I remember that Mom made this treat several years in a row for Dad to take to the WABCO Christmas party, and would send the whole batch in with him. That was tough on us kids! I think that at some point she started making it just for us along with those toffee bars and also sugar cookies, and I still remember how she would store it in that brown (with black stripes on the bottom) lidded enamel stock pot. And of course there were the wonderfully varied sizes of the kooky brittle pieces . . . I always wanted one that was not too big, not too small, JUST the right size.
Here's the recipe, with a bonus: candy cane cookies! I have even made these a number of times myself, although not in recent years. (We were going to make them a few days before Christmas this year but ran out of time). They are actually really tasty, especially with the ground up peppermint candy sprinkled on top, which is a step I think we skipped a lot back in the day.
I love how Mom marked these recipes with a little line, as in "note to self: yes, these would be good for us to make/try." I don't think we ever made "Chocolate Loves," though, did we?
Sorry about the fold in the candy cane recipe. The word that's covered up is "vanilla."
What is neat also is that at the top of this page is an ad for mincemeat pie filling and pie crust (see below). Grandma Gilkerson frequently used to have this pie filling around at her apartment on Missouri. I do remember that quite often Mom would buy a Mrs. Smith's mincemeat pie (frozen) and bake it up on Christmas because Grandma liked them and I think Mom did, too. They got me hooked on that great old-fashioned taste, so now I usually make one from scratch every year because you can't find the frozen ones anymore, besides, they're actually pretty easy to make.
Here's to another year of great family cooking and recipe-sharing!
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