Cabbie’s Cooking

My mother (Ruthlace) has had this play dough recipe for as long as I can remember.  When my kids were little, we’d make it together.  It really produces some good play dough, and it’s something you can make when your kids have a last minute project to do for school or when they are just in the mood to play with play dough - and you don’t want to drive to the store to buy it.

Home Made Play Dough

1 cup salt

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup boiling water

Mix ingredients well and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until dough is too stiff to stir.  Let cool and knead until pliable.  As you knead the dough, add food coloring to make the desired color.

I’ve been raiding my mother’s (Ruthlace) recipe book.  There are several reasons for this: I love to cook,  she has so many wonderful recipes, and people are always looking for good, tried-and-true recipes.  I’m not sure where she got this recipe, but I’ve made it and it’s wonderful and delicious.  It’s a great recipe to make with children because there’s no cooking involved (except for melting the chocolate/paraffin coating mixture),  and it makes such a great presentation. It looks MUCH harder than it is.  Here’s the easy (and delicious) recipe for candy.  Easy Christmas Candy

Christmas (or anytime) Candy

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 box confectioners sugar

1 stick margarine or butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Mix together well.  Roll into balls (marble-size).  Place in the refrigerator to harden for an hour.  Stick a toothpick in each ball.  In a double boiler melt the following:

1 cup chocolate (baking chocolate - semi-sweet is good but you could also use dark chocolate or white chocolate)

1 cup paraffin (equal parts to the chocolate). 

Dip each candy ball in the chocolate mixture, hold in the air for a moment to dry and place on wax paper and remove the toothpick.  Once you’ve dipped all the candy balls, you can use a small spoon to add a drop of the chocolate mixture to cover the hole made by the toothpick.  They’re ready to eat immediately.