Paula Talks Candy with Stan Strickland - What's Cooking With Paula Deen

Every time I go to Minneapolis, Minnesota and appear on Evine, y'all hear me talking about this one man, Stan the Candyman

Well, I am so happy to tell all my friends out there and introduce all my friends to Stan the Candyman

Stan Strickland is a wonderful friend of mine, and he makes all those goodies, all those wonderful sweets for me

that I sell on Evine that I bring to y'all. And steal your cake recipes

Yes, yes, and he makes my cakes for me. And I just thank you so much

and I'm so happy that everybody's going to be able to put a face with a name

Stan the Man. Well, I'm glad you invited me today, Paula. I was talking earlier before you got here because you were late. Max

You were late as usual. I was late, y'all. Just kidding, Paula

No, no. I was talking earlier that why I think Savannah has done so well had to do with you

I said it was the book first, and then it was Paula. Because I remember when your restaurant was down close to my second store, which we now have 17

when we were down at our second store, and you moved a block away, it hurt our business by 10%

So I knew it was important to have you in Savannah. Oh, my gosh

And now we've been able to spread that throughout the country by TV and media

It's been good for us. Oh, well, Stan, he has been so successful

He was like me, y'all. He didn't go to work until he was how old Stan

I think I got it all together about 50. Actually, I started working hard at 45

But I've been doing the candy business since 78. So however many years ago that is, it's been about 40 years, almost 40 years we've been making candy

Wow. Well, Stan and his company makes the best pralines, y'all, and gophers

That's Michael's favorite is the gophers. Yeah. You know, we may change the name of that thing to loggerhead, too, now, because we're giving money here off of Georgia and off the coast of Florida

You know, loggerhead's a big deal. Yeah. So we're going to be changing that name from a gopher to a loggerhead, and we're going to donate money

from that item for every pound we sell. That's great because all of our big, beautiful turtles

they're probably endangered, aren't they? They are endangered, and there's a big study on them here

So we think it's a good mix. Yes. Well, out of how many eggs does a turtle lay

Oh, Lord, this is a load bunch, 50, 60 eggs. Yeah. It's a lot

And how many of those eggs survive? I think they say 5% or something

That's very small. Yeah, maybe a couple of those eggs will survive

not get eaten. We want all of ours to be eaten. All your

loggerheads. The one with caramel and pecans. Well, I tell you what

I don't know which, you could probably tell me which product people

enjoy the most. You said it in the beginning. Oh, in Evine

There's a toss-up, I think, between something pretty junior doing is the

pecan log roll or pecan log roll listen those pecan logs you know as a kid staying i would start

screaming there's a stucky's there's a stucky's you know because you had to get that pecan log

and they're so good and i slice them and i put them in brownies or my gooey butter cake mixes

oh my goodness i'm glad to hear that that item's really done well here lately and it's a new item

for you and also the coconut cake which you've done well with for years yes everybody still

likes that cake yes yes but we and then we got the the dreamsicle cake it reminds me of that

dreamsicle that we ate as children with the orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream and then the

strawberry cake they love the strawberry cake and that's a good time of year for that you know

sometimes it makes me think of that yeah yeah and they're so pretty and uh one time you did for me

three of the loaf cakes Yes And I thought that was a fabulous idea We did two different ways We did did a spring loaf cake that had some spring items and then we did a regular layer cake trio right which was our

mainstay the praline right right now we need to call it a loggerhead cake but it was called

turtle cake yeah but those are the items we make but you called our number one item in the very

beginning when you said pralines we can now say that we sell more pralines than anybody in the

country. I would believe that. To include New Orleans. We have left them. They say praline

we say praline. Uh-huh. But we have left them into dust. Well, nobody can touch your praline

Thank you. Nobody. And you know, I can make a pretty good praline at home, but I'd so much

rather have yours. Well, you're the only person that I ever gave my recipe to. I don't know if

you remember that. I hope you don't. No, I don't. Well, listen, it's safe because I didn't know I

I about got divorced from that. Are you kidding? Yes. When did you give me the recipe

You and I did it together one time on TV. I don't have it

And I made it. I wouldn't give it to everybody else, but I gave it to you. No. No

No. Well, see, secrets are safe with me. Yeah, I can know the feeling

Because I forget so quickly. Golly bum, now I'm going to have to go back and watch every show to find that show

Well, listen, we got to take a quick break, Stan. We're going to get to talk some more

We're going to sing for our supper. Yeah, we're going to talk some more. All right, good. So we'll be right back

Thank you. The space that you live in really affects the way you feel

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For details about my special offer, go to smithandnoble.com slash paula. That's smithandnoble.com slash Paula, or call 1-800-659-3300

That's 1-800-659-3300. Okey-doke. Well, we're back, Stan, with Stan the Candyman, Stan Strickland, that owns Savannah's Candy Kitchen

and also River Street Sweets. That's my kids, and now we've combined them

That's his children. Y'all are a candy-making family. We are. You know, my mom made candy in a place called Rawls Pecan back on Highway 17 in the 40s

That didn't really have anything to do with me getting into candy business, but I was around it even as a kid, you know

And our divinity recipe is my mom's recipe. You're kidding me. And you know how our divinity is to make

Oh, listen, Stan, my mother was the queen of divinity. I can see that beautiful red-headed woman standing up there with those two spoons just dipping that beautiful divinity

In Albany, Georgia. In Albany, Georgia. And she never failed with it

And all the women in our family would try to make it. And they said, I can't

Corry's just going to make it. We still struggle with it. We try not to make it ever when it's raining

Right. You can't make it on a rainy day. And I don't know that we can teach the country how good divinity is

But in the fall, everybody loves the way it looks. And I think everybody still eats lots of it in the fall and Christmas

Oh, I just do love it. And sometimes mine will turn out like mama's, and sometimes it won't

Well, we've got it now where we're doing it pretty much. I think we probably hand-dip more Divinity than anybody in the country

I've never found a machine. You're talking about like this, you call that. Yes, we hand-dip it

I've never seen a machine that would do Divinity. You hand-dip every piece of Divinity

Yes, half a million pieces. hand no yes and where is that done is that down here in savannah we have a factory now that 75 000 square feet i heard i hadn been to your factory but i heard it bad to the bone Your boys have been Yes But we have we do hand divinity

And listen, I know your buddies with my husband don't ever let him in your factory

Just a word to the wise. He comes by at Christmas every Christmas and gets something for the kids y'all help every year. Yes

He comes by, we donate all the stuff. I know, listen. Michael loves working with that and he does that every year

I appreciate that. Years back, y'all, I started working with the Salvation Army, you know, and I

told my children, I said, listen, you know, we've got more than we ever can need, and I think it's

time for us to forget about each other and help tend to children that are not going to have

anything, and they said, Mama, we are all in. Yeah, I think your whole family's been involved

Yes, the whole entire family. And so every Christmas Eve morning we go to the Salvation Army

and we play Santa Claus. And, of course, one of the favorite things that's in their big old sacks

is Stan's candy. Stan is kind enough to give us a lot of cakes and candies

We'll always do that. Well, thank you, Stan. And it, you know, I've held fathers in my arms while they cried like a baby

And it's just. You talk about you talk about with the Salvation Army

Yes. Yes. And it just gives me great pleasure to be able to help people that that need a hand up

Yeah. They haven't been as fortunate as we have. That's that's right. That's right

Well, I think you've always been that way, even before we could

I can remember you back when you were the bag lady. Yeah

So we were needing handouts instead of giving handouts. Yeah. So those times have changed for all of us, for both of us. Yes

I said, Lord, if I ever make it, I just want to be in a position to help other women

And finally in 2012, we were able to start my foundation, the Bag Lady, the Paula Deen Bag Lady Foundation

And it's designed to help women and their children. Well, I'm hoping that you'll come up with some kind of new recipe for the fall, maybe to have us work on, to be sold on Evine, maybe for this fall

You know, I'll put my thinking cap on. I'll put my thinking cap on

do you like dealing with apples or well you know we're doing a lot of apples right now but

you're doing the candied apples which are you're thinking about baking with apples yeah we haven't

done much of that so that'd be good that'd be a good place to go you know what i love i love

like a baked apple i wonder if we could come up with a candied baked apple and i don't know how

long that the life would be on them but oh my gosh i bake apples for me in my uh air fryer

my air fryer i've heard it air fryer special oh listen it can be life-changing for you you know

if you're wanting to cut back on your grease consumption and all of that on your fats um

you think i need that i think you ate one too many praline that's for sure i'm trying to do better listen it's hard

michael's on a diet and i i keep trying you know i try to practice moderation

you know just push back and uh because i can't do without the things i love i can't go cold turkey Yeah

But you're cooking a lot different. Not really. Not really. I did for four months, you know, to get the initial weight off

But then I started gradually adding things back but I really trying to practice moderation I could use some of that And it hard you know you have to slap your hand But I been baking a lot of apples in my air fryer

And to me, they're so good. So I was sitting here thinking about that candied apple that you do

If somehow you could do that and then bake it. Would it like a cherry flavor from the apple

Or are you thinking about something with caramel on it? I'm talking about something with caramel on it

Would it stick to it? You know, that caramel, I worked years on that caramel recipe

I don't believe anybody's making as good a recipe as we are in caramel. Oh, no. And again, we're making it by hand

We're making it in 30, 40-pound batches. That's small with the number of batches we are having to make

Yeah, yeah. Does your factory work 24-7? No, we run two shifts, but not three

Now, when Christmas gets here in the fall, we'll ship 10,000 people a day in Christmas

Holy moly. We keep tractor trailers backed up. Holy moly. And a bunch of that stuff you're going to sell

Yeah. Hopefully it's going to be your product. Well, I tell you what, it sounds like to me that Stan Strickland is probably having to weigh his money instead of counting

I wish. Hey, I told my dad one time I finally make it more than I can spend, he said, I don't believe you

And he was right. Oh, you can spend it pretty good. I'm investing it

wisely boats, fishing. Uh-huh. Things that are important. Yeah, things that are important

You remember that chocolate bar made from you that time? That chocolate bar was

Oh my gosh. less big with a picture of you on it. Where'd he go

You ate it, I think. It weighed 30-something pounds one chocolate bar, yeah

With your picture in the middle of it. Oh my gosh. We've had fun over the years

We certainly have. We've had fun. And I hope we continue. I hope we've got a lot more

You retired? Huh? That's what I said. No. I don't think either one of us will ever retire

No, honey, no. We got started late. We got to double up and catch up

I'm with you. Well, I appreciate so much you coming in. I know you're a busy man

It's hard to even get you on the telephone. Well, I don't remember you calling. And then I held him up this morning, y'all, because I was like 30, 45 minutes left

I should have known. Yeah. Listen, you always pad Paula time. Right, pad Paula time

I like that. Hey, I remember one time we had to turn a jet around and come back and get something you left from your makeup bag

So I understand the volatime. No. Did that happen? See, I forgot that too

Oh, yeah, that happened. No. Yes, yes, it did. We were going to New York

You were doing a show. It was a fancy food show. We had to turn around. No

Oh, yeah. That's not a fun thing. I'm bad. I'm bad. Well, thank you, my friend

Thanks for inviting me. wish you much more success thank you and back at you uh and i appreciate you making all those

wonderful things we're gonna have to come up with some good things for fall yeah come up with

something new for us yeah we'll try anything you give us okay okay all right where are you going

i'm going to fish i've held him up well thanks so much honey i love you thank you we'll see y'all

later. Bye-bye. The space that you live in really affects the way you

feel. So my first recommendation is start by updating your window treatments

with Smith & Noble. Smith & Noble's beautiful handcrafted blinds, drapes, shades, and shutters

are custom made just for you. And they offer different service options

to fit your needs. To get started today, contact Smith & Noble

to get my special limited time offer 25% off on your window treatments, plus free design consultation. Create a space

that you're gonna love. For details about my special offer, go to smithandnoble.com

slash paula. That's smithandnoble.com slash paula. Or call 1-800-659-3300. That's 1-800-659-3300

you