Puddin’ Candy Clusters

Here we are at week 12 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies & Sweets.  What an arsenal of new recipes I have at my disposal.  Last year as a reader, I followed along.  This year as a blogger, it has been great fun sharing some of my favorite recipes.  I think I am going to miss this each week for awhile.

Thank you Brenda at Meal Planning Magic for organizing this and being such a great hostess.

The recipe I am sharing this week is for a quick and easy candy made from cook-and-serve pudding mix.  The recipe comes from Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book printed in 1963.  I have two copies of this book.  My old, original copy has no cover and is missing some pages I used it so much.  In 2002 a facsimile edition was published, and I was lucky enough to purchase one of those.

In 1963 there were a number of flavors of cook-and-serve puddings available such as coconut cream and lemon.  Now I can only find vanilla, chocolate, and butterscotch.  I use extracts such as coconut, mint, cherry, almond and orange to vary the flavors of the vanilla and chocolate puddings to create variety.

Any nut can be used in these candies.  Some good pairings are vanilla and toasted almonds, butterscotch and pecan, chocolate and peanuts, chocolate and walnuts.  Coconut can be used in place of the nuts.  Coconut flavoring added to vanilla or chocolate with toasted coconut is very good.  Raisins can be added to the chocolate to make raisin clusters.  This is a fun recipe to play around with.  Today the combination is
butterscotch and toasted pecans.

Puddin’ Candy Clusters
Betty Crocker Cooky Book, 1963
1 pkg. (3 oz.) cook-and-serve pudding mix, butterscotch, vanilla or chocolate
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. evaporated milk
1 T. butter or margarine
1 c. toasted pecans, halved lengthwise

Mix pudding mix and sugar in a 2-qt. saucepan.  Add milk and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a full rolling boil.  (This will take about 7 minutes.)  Lower heat and boil gently 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in the nuts.  Immediately beat the mixture until it thickens and becomes somewhat dull looking.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto aluminum foil or waxed paper.  Let stand until set.  If candy sets up before all mixture is dropped, add a few drops of hot water.  The mixture may also be poured into a greased 9x3-inch loaf pan.  Let it set up and cut into squares.  Makes about 30 clusters.

Here is a list of links to the recipes that I contributed.  There are only 11 as I did not post a recipe the week that my Mom died.

Week 1  No-Bake Peanut Butter or Chocolate Drops
Week 2  Graham Marshmallow Drops
Week 3  Oatmeal Crisp Brownies
Week 4  Cranberry Orange Snack Mix
Week 5  Almond Joy Fudgies
Week 6  Chocolate Bar Cookies
Week 7  Not Pecan Pie Bars
Week 8  No Post
Week 9  Maple Sugars
Week 10  Hidden Kiss Cookies
Week 11  Coconut Medallions
Week 12 Puddin' Candy Clusters (above)

I hope that people have enjoyed some of the recipes that I shared this year.  I am looking forward to making many great new recipes that I found through the swap.