I Want Candy

I skip most Christmas cookie making and go straight for the candy.  This is the only time of year I can get my hands on enough really good candy.  My shamelessness can be unleashed, my unabashed sweet tooth let  loose and no one will so much as blink.  A candy recipe has only to murmur, "yields four pounds" into my ear and I am smitten. 

The ingredients in my candy are shameless too so I am in good company.  I reveal my Midwestern lust for marshmallows and they reveal their talent for melting into a pool of goodness when combined with butter.

And sweetened condensed milk...languid liquid lust pours forth from that can!  I am not above putting myself in physical danger (beyond that of mere weight gain) by licking the sharp uneven lid after stripping it from the can opener.



So here is a candy recipe involving a menage a trois of marshmallow, butter and sweetened condensed milk.  I tore this out of a magazine approximately 1 to 20 years ago.  Says it's from the Ice Cream Parlor in Osceola, WI.


Salted Peanut Squares
YIELDS 4 POUNDS


4 C dry-roasted or (if you are an addict like me) honey roasted peanuts
1/2 C butter
1- 10 1/2 oz. bag tiny marshmallows
2 C peanut butter chips
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 C peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

Line a 9x13 pan with foil.  Massage it with butter.  Cover evenly with HALF of the peanuts.  Set aside.  In a 3 quart saucepan, melt butter with marshmallows on low heat.  Add chips and sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Stir until smooth.  Quickly pour over peanut layer.  Sprinkle remaining peanuts on top.  Cool and cut into squares.  Store candy in refrigerator.