One of our family’s
Christmas traditions was going to the Brown & Haley candy factory in
Tacoma, Washington, where we bought white boxes of candy filled with Almond Roca
and an assortment of other chocolates, including three flavors of Mountain Bars.
Their motto “Brown & Haley makes ‘em
daily” still jingles in my mind.
Harry L Brown met J. C. Haley at a church in Tacoma,
starting their famous candy company in 1912. Eleven years of experimentation took
place before the “crunchy, log-shaped candy piece infused with butter and coated
with chocolate and diced almonds” was given the legendary name of Almond Roca®
by a local librarian. Today, the foil-wrapped butter crunch toffee in pink tins
is famous worldwide.
One Christmas, imagine my family's delight when a neighbor presented us with a holiday plateful of delicious homemade cookies and candy, including Almond Roca. Needless to say, we asked Mrs. Joyce Baker for her recipe and I want to share it with you!
ALMOND ROCA
1 lb. butter
2 tbsp. light Karo syrup (Use the full
calorie kind, the low calorie “lite” won’t work)
2 c. white sugar
1 c. chopped almonds (after dipping in chocolate, roll in nut coating)
1 c. gr. almonds (mixed into the candy)
3 lg. Hershey milk chocolate 7 oz.
bars (melted). Add approximately 1 tbsp. paraffin, the kind used to seal jelly
jars, to the chocolate before melting. It helps the chocolate coating stick and
harden on the candy.
Directions:
Melt butter and bring it to a boil.
Add Karo syrup and sugar, bringing the
mixture to a rolling boil. Boil 5 minutes, then add cut-up almonds and boil to
hard crack stage, stirring constantly. A silicon flat-edged
scraper works well.
Pour the mixture into a greased shallow pan
with sides. I use an 11” x 16” jelly roll pan. Score with a knife when partly
cool.
When hard, break it into pieces, and cover the
pieces with melted chocolate using a double-boiler or microwave and roll in
nuts.
NOTE: I chop a 12 oz. pkg. of almonds in a
blender, using the same size for inside the candy and for its coating.
What kind of Christmas candy do you make
for your family? Here’s wishing you all a sweet holiday as we celebrate the
birth of Jesus this Christmas!
Cheers,
Deb
P.S. Please leave a comment to be entered
in our StitchesThruTime weekly windup giveaway.
Thank you for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Melanie. It is the closest recipe I've found to the real thing. Enjoy!
DeleteYou're welcome, Melanie. It is the closest recipe I've found to the real thing. Enjoy!
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing thus recipe. I'm not familiar with this candy but it sounds delicious. Our family enjoys both chocolate and peanut butter fudge and I dip pretzels in almond bark to make a sweet and salty treat. I also make an easy candy using peanut butter, butterscotch morsels and peanuts.
ReplyDeleteConnie
Your fudge sounds equally yummy. One of my favorites is the combination of chocolate and peanut butter in the same piece of fudge. I've never made dipped pretzels, but I imagine it isn't too hard. Thanks for sharing your holiday treats, Connie!
DeleteI think Almond Roca is my favorite holiday treat, even though you can get it year round. I have only made it once (when I was in college) and it turned out pretty good. That was a looong time ago, so a new recipe is probably needed. :) I don't have holiday standard as far as treats, but my kids would be thrilled if I went all out with the Christmas baking. :) It seems that once I had kids, my baking lessened.
ReplyDeleteI think Almond Roca is my favorite treat too, even beyond fudge. And I can certainly understand why you might be a bit busy to be baking! Have a wonderful Christmas and blessings in the New Year, my friend.
ReplyDelete