Thursday, a woman at my work brought a treat to share with everybody. It was called Tiger Butter.

Such a fun name! (I imagine the name would really appeal to little grandsons.)

When I tasted it, I had a hard time eating only one piece.

(Actually, I went back at different times throughout the day to check on the candy . . . Totally for security’s sake.  Totally. It was sitting on a shelf and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to it, you know. And if you believe that, then I would like to introduce you to my friend from Nigeria who needs all of you bank account information . . .)

When she told me how to make the candy, I knew immediately that I had to share it with my readers. It is such a snap to make!  Here’s the recipe.

Tiger Butter

16 ounces white chocolate chips
1/2 creamy peanut butter

Microwave for 1 minute — or until melted. Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pour the mixture on the paper and spread it out.

Take 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and melt in the microwave.  Drop small spoonfuls of chocolate over the peanut butter mixture.  Swirl the chocolate into the peanut mixture with a knife. Cool until firm.  (It’s best not to cool it in the fridge. Just leave it on the countertop.) Break into pieces.

This candy is something that would be really easy to make with grandchildren.  And, it will be a hit — if your grandchildren like peanut butter and chocolate. (I can’t imagine any grandchildren who don’t.)

And the best thing is that there aren’t lots of pots and pans to clean up and it’s fast, fast, fast to make.

It’s also fast, fast, fast to gobble it all up!  Voice of experience here.

Back in the Dark Ages when my children were little, I would occasionally make suckers.  You know the kind. Sugar, water, corn syrup, and flavoring.  Boil to hard ball stage. Put in a metal sucker mold held around a sucker stick with an elastic band that you could barely see with a high powered magnifying lens.

So, when I saw the directions for these lollipops I was delighted.  Utterly!

The Decorated Cookie shared this idea on her site.  It is so clever.  So easy.  So colorful. Wish I had known how to make these when my kids were little!

All is not lost.  I can make them with my grandchildren.  (Or for them.  At this moment in time, they are just a tad too small to be cookin’ in the kitchen with grandma.)

These Easy Lollies are well, like their name implies.  Easy to make.  Simply put Jolly Ranchers on a cookie sheet, bake them for a few minutes to melt them, and then press the sucker stick in them after you take them out of the oven.  Click here to read her directions. (The Decorated Cookie gave me permission to use her picture.  She is so sweet to allow me to use it!  I graciously thank her!)

Imagine the fun flavored suckers you can make by mixing different flavored Jolly Ranchers.  I think they will be a hit with my grandchildren.  (If I don’t eat them all myself . . .)

If you have grandchildren that live far away, print up the directions on how to make them.  Send them along with a bag of Jolly Rancher candies and some sucker sticks to your grand chickabiddies.  It’s like a party in a box.  Something that is easy for grandma to mail and something fun for grandchildren to do.

Mmmm . . . I was thinking.  What would it be like to put a couple of Red Hots on top of a Jolly Rancher.  It could make for a cinnamony-hot sucker.  I wonder what it would be like to melt a caramel and have a caramel sucker — especially after it’s dipped in melted chocolate.  Or possibly Lemon Drops.  Or Root Beer Barrels.  Or Butterscotch Buttons. (If some of the candies didn’t work, I’d just have to eat my mistakes.  Rough task, eh?)

I feel a creative cooking moment coming on. Excuse me as I zip to the grocery store to buy Jolly Ranchers and then hurry home to my kitchen.

P.S.  You’ve just GOT to check out her painting on marshmallows. I adore the love bug, the snowmen, the zombies, the creepy clowns (that really aren’t creepy), Sesame Street marshmallows, the skellies, and ghosts.

I mentioned in my posting about Lewis Day (creating your own family holiday) that our son and his wife left pieces of homemade licorice around the house.  I finally got the recipe and finally made it.

I had to exert TONS of self-control with the candy they left us and eat only one or two pieces at a time because it was so yummy.

As I wrapped up the candy that I made, I didn’t have any self-control.  At the end, I almost felt like I was sugared out.  I’ve decided I have lots of self-control when there isn’t any tempting thing to eat in the house.  When it’s right in front of me and I’m working with it (wrapping the pieces of licorice in pieces of wax paper), I’m a goner.  I ought to join Licorice Anonymous . . .

Here’s the recipe.

Licorice Caramels

2 cubes butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon black paste food coloring
1 teaspoon anise flavoring oil

Line a 9×13 inch pan with foil.  Butter the foil and set aside.

Slowly melt butter in a large, heavy pan.  Use a fork to swirl butter up the sides of the pan to prevent sugar crystals.  When melted, add the rest of the ingredients — except the black paste food coloring and the flavoring.

Turn heat to medium-high and cook stirring constantly with a flat bottom wooden spoon.  Do not cook on high heat.  It will scortch!)

Cook to 234 degreed on candy thermometer (soft ball stage).  Remove from heat and add coloring and flavoring.  Mix well so there are no light colored streaks in the caramel.

Pour into prepared pan and let sit in a cool place overnight.  Turn out on a cutting board and remove foil.  Cut into squares and wrap in waxed paper.

Now that you’ve read the recipe, let me give you a couple of hints — based on my experience.  First, about the coloring.  When I went to the store, the clerk told me about a powdered coloring.  “It will last 30 years and won’t go bad,” she said.  I thought that sounded like a great deal.  The food coloring from my cake decorating days that sat in my cupboard was 30 years old.  That’s why I went to get new coloring. . .

However, the coloring wasn’t a dark black.  It was more a greenish steel gray.  The candy tastes yummy but looks rather odd.  I recommend that you try the gel coloring instead.

Second.  My daughter-in-law said that her sister just sprayed a cake pan with Pam instead of lining the pan with foil.  (At least that is what my memory told me.)  Even though I sprayed the pan it was rather hard to get the licorice out.  (And then there was the flavoring from the spray.  I had to wipe the oil off so it wouldn’t over power the yummy licorice flavoring.)  So, next time, I’m going to use buttered foil in the pan.

Third.  When the recipe said to put in a cool place overnight, I thought, “Put it in the fridge.”  The fridge is a cool place, right?  Well, I think it is almost too cool.  The licorice was really hard to cut.  And that leads me to my fourth suggestion.

Fourth.  Test out your candy thermometer BEFORE you make the candy.  It had been a long time since I used my thermometer.  Heck, I don’t even know if I really even used it at all!  As I was cooking the candy, it started looking like candy at the hard ball stage instead of the soft ball stage.  But the thermometer didn’t say 234 degrees.  So, I’m thinking that part of the reason the candy was so hard to cut was because it was cooked too long.

You might want to make a practice batch before you invite your grandchildren over to make it with you.  That way, you’ll work out the kinks beforehand.  Then, you’ll have a much happier time with your grandchildren!

Candy making is a great skill to add to your grandchildren’s culinary repertoire.  Happy cooking!