Editor's Notebook

 

February 2, 2023



Candy canes are a popular item stocked on candy counters at Christmas time. When my father operated his business on Blauvelt’s Hill, each Christmas season he displayed a small bucket size container on top of his candy case. The bucket was filled with candy canes.

I never measured one, but I suspect they were about 12 inches in length with a diameter of a half to three-quarters of an inch. In those days, the large canes could be purchased for a quarter.

I don’t know if Dad stocked them because they sold well or if he enjoyed eating the candy.

If I wanted a piece of the candy cane, I often could find a started one in his desk drawer along with a pair pliers which could be used to beat off a piece.

   The left over or broken candy canes were consumed by the Blauvelt family.

I thought the candy canes were particularly good when crushed and blended with the homemade ice cream my parents liked to make.  Mother used her meat cleaver to pulverize the candy and resulting pieces were add to the ice cream mix as the freezer was filled.

Sometimes she substituted crushed pineapple for the candy cane dust. The pineapple made my favorite ice cream if eaten fresh from the freezer. If there was left over homemade ice cream after we had eaten our fill, it was frozen and kept for another time. If eating left over hard frozen ice cream, I preferred the candy cane mixture. Freezing the ice cream in our Deep Freeze made an undesirable change in the pineapple but it didn’t affect the crushed candy cane.

Last December, while delivering counter sales, I found a supermarket on my route was offering for a limited time chocolate sandwich cookies containing bits of crushed candy canes.  The display reminded me of the Christmas season at the gasoline station and summertime candy cane ice cream.

I didn’t have to think about it, I snatched up a package of cookies planning to save it as a Christmas gift for Rita.  But the temptation was too great. I couldn’t save it. When meal time arrived, I brought out the cookies and Rita and I ate some for dessert.  I thought they were delicious and wished I had bought an entire case. I think I could eat those cookies the year around. Rita didn’t care for them. She only allowed me three per meal but I got to eat most of the package.

A few days before Christmas a co-worker brought to the newspaper office as a treat a candy cane cake. I liked the cake and scarfed down my share and more.

In case you have candy canes left over from Christmas, a super easy recipe I found on the internet follows. The second recipe is the one used to make which I enjoyed at the newspaper office. It is harder but I can atest it is good. The first one, I haven’t tried.

Cake

1 box moist white cake mix

Water, vegetable oil and egg whites as called for on cake mix box

1/2 teaspoon red food color

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

White Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk or water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla, if desired

Decorate with crushed candy canes if desired

If you prefer to make the cake from scratch, here’s the recipe used for the cake brought to the newspaper office:

Cake

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup crushed candy cane (add 1\3 to

batter and add 1/3 to top and swirl)

1 1/4 cups whole milk

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream or whole milk yogurt

6 egg whites

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

Buttercream Topping

3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 lb confectioners sugar sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, add parchment paper to a cake sheet.

Cream the butter and mix in sugar

Add vanilla and salt. Mix til creamy

Whisk milk and sour cream together in separate bowl

In another bowl, soft flour and baking powder together

Add egg whites then mix on medium until combined.

Alternate adding milk mixture and dry mixture. Mix until batter fully combined.

Fold in 1/3 of the crushed candy cane. Do not overmix

Pour cake batter into sheet cake pan.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the crushed candy into batter. Swirl with a spatula.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until cake is springy in the middle.

Let cool.

Frosting

Cream the butter

Add sifted sugar on low speed

Slowly pour in milk, peppermint extract and vanilla.

Beat until combined and fluffy

Evenly distribute frosting on the cake, smooth, sprinkle 1/3 of the crushed candy cane on top.

If a store has any candy canes left from Christmas, now that February is here I suspect they can be purchased for a faction of the price they were selling for originally. At least at the gasoline station, candy cane were a seasonal item that didn’t sell well after Christmas.

If you find on sale candy canes, some can be used now for cake and some can be saved to make ice cream with when warmer weather arrives. If you can’t find leftover candy canes, perhaps peppermint candies might be a substitute.

 

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