The last time that I made divinity (a few years ago) I brought some to my in-laws’ house and, as I recall, my father-in-law really liked it. This year the in-laws will be coming to our little apartment for Christmas, so I thought I would make him some divinity. I know, it is not the easiest Christmas candy to make, but my mother and I made it almost every year while I was still living at home. I found a good recipe, read the reviews and all the hints, and set out on my first divinity adventure all on my own.
I dragged the dehumidifier out into the middle of the kitchen, turned on the celling fan (after dusting it thoroughly), set EVERYTHING out that I would need, and had all the bases covered. I even had both my phones close so that I could call mom at any sign of trouble (I did call her about 8 times). So, things were going well. The egg whites weren’t too difficult, except that my mixer bowl is broken, so I just used the largest glass mixing bowl that I had and then used a spatula to get the edges that the mixer couldn’t reach. I should also mention that the bowl is a little unstable on the mixer’s base.
I don’t have a candy thermometer, but we never used one back home, so I thought I could handle the hard ball test (I called my mom every time I dropped any into the water). When it FINALLY passed the test I started to pour it into the bowl with the egg whites. The mixer was on, I had one hand on the pan pouring, one hand with a spatula making sure that the mixer wasn’t missing anything, and I was balancing the bowl on the mixer with my tummy (yes, it’s big enough). Half way through that procedure, I realized that my largest glass bowl is too small, so I tossed aside the pan (half full of HOT sugar), grabbed my big blue (plastic) popcorn bowl, and attempted to quickly get everything into that. After I got all of both mixtures into the big blue bowl, it occurred to me that I just finished pouring a 270 degree sugar mixture into a PLASTIC popcorn bowl. Plastic doesn’t give off any toxic fumes when it is melting, does it?!
At this point, you are supposed to beat until the divinity “holds its shape”. I mixed and mixed and mixed, and the mixer started smelling a little hot, so I tried to plop a little down on the wax paper. The divinity was still flat like a pancake, so I called mom (about the 10th time by now) but she forgot her phone and was down at the church. So I called the church. I am not sure who answered, but I told them I needed my mom cause I was having a cooking emergency! In the mean time, mom went back home for the phone, and called. She said to keep beating, so I did. It didn’t get much thicker, but I trusted my mom, so I kept beating. That is, until that “hot” smell turned into smoke- that is when I decided it was done.
I am all about not waisting anything, so I still plopped all of it out on wax paper. It looks like I have a bunch of ranch dressing poured out in little one serving patches all over my counter. Maybe I should add some carrots and broccoli; it would at least look purposeful that way.
They do taste good!
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Townsend is my mother's maiden name. Her, her sisters, her mother, and those before them are the best kind of women. They are (in my eyes) the perfect example of the domesticated woman. They are Godly, always seeking the Lord and also have been blessed with many, many talents. Over the years they have passed on a few of the tricks of the trade and the importance of faith and living it out. Below are excerpts from the life of a young "Townsend."
Wow! At least you tried. Did you serve them to your father-in-law since they still tasted good?
ReplyDeleteno. I did get them into a tin with layers of wax paper while they were still semi-solid. They ended up being one large clump of sugar and wax paper.
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