Posted by Kimmieboomboom KY

Lellie Ishmael's Pulled Cream Candy

"This is a pulled sugar candy rich with cream. After the candy has been
allowed to stand 3-4 hours in a warm room, it creams, but at first it is
chewy like molasses taffy. Mrs. Ishmael does not add any flavoring,
claiming that the sugar and cream are flavor enough. There are many
tricks in achieving success with this candy,
but Mrs. Ishmael has shared them all with us. Here is her foolproof
recipe which I watched her make while I took down everything she did
step by step. Her ingredients were:
4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 cup cream
A heavy metal saucepan is required for this candy. Mrs. Ishmael used a
heavy aluminum chicken roaster but a Dutch oven will do. Put the water,
sugar salt and soda in the pan and do not stir them. Put on top of the
stove over high heat. When the mixture has cooked long enough so that it
makes large, clear bubbles, called "sheep's eyes" by Mrs. Ishmael, and
will spin a hair thread 3-6" long, add the cream. This is an important
step in making this candy successfully, for the cream must be added
almost drop by drop as if you were making mayonnaise. The candy must
never stop boiling and this process of adding the cream cannot be
rushed. After the last bit of cream has been added, lower the heat and
simmer until the mixture gets "butterscoth-brown" and will once more
spin a thread 3-6" long. The whole cooking process does not take moree
than 15-20 minutes.
Now pour the mixture on a greased marble slab or enamel table top. Use
only butter to grease the slab for the taste will incorporate in the
candy. The pouring-out process is important too. Mrs. Ishmael pours the
candy in a thin, narrow stream, making a "rivulet" about 6-8 inches
long, then she leaves a space and pours another narrow stream of candy,
and so on. She does not scrape the pan as this, she says, causes the
candy to sugar too soon. Begin to pull the candy as soon as the last bit
has been poured on the slab or table. Beginning with the first little
stream, take that up and begin to pull, then add the next and
incorporate that and so on until you have used up all the candy.
Continue to pull until the candy gets white or just the palest ivory
color and is too stiff to continue pulling. The room should be warm
while the candy is being pulled and Mrs. Ishmael leaves the door of the
lighted oven open (she had the stove set at about 375 degrees). When the
candy begins to get stiff, she pulls it while standing in front of the
stove door. When the candy becomes too stiff to pull any longer, it is
twisted into a rope about 1-1/2" thick cut in pieces 1 to 1-1/2" wide
with scissors then spread out on the greased table. It is necessary to
work quickly as the candy gets hard very suddenly and at this stage twoo
hands are better than one. One person can cut from one end of the rope,
another from the other end. In pulling, it will be found that two people
can handle the stiff candy better than one. Either leave the candy to
cream on the table or pack it into tin boxes, putting a sheet of wax
paper or foil between each layer. Put the lids on the boxes & leave in a
warm room until it becomes 'creamy' and melts when touched with the
tongue. Can be dipped in melted choc. chips as soon as it creams, or
the next day. Keeps 'indefinitely' if each piece is wrapped separately
in wax paper & put into tin boxes.