Sugar Shack

Look who just walked in my kitchen

This guy knows how to make candy. Y'all, Stan is the owner of Savannah Candy Kitchens

And Stan's cooking up something special. It's pecan pralines. You know, you can't think of a candy without good old lollipops

And we'll be making peanut butter cups in a blanket. And to top it off, it's a banana split with a brulee twist

So y'all get your sweet tooth ready, because today I'm turning my kitchen in to the sugar shack

Stan is fixing to break down and give away the recipe for the number one candy that's sold in Savannah Candy Kitchen

and that's his pralines. That's right. We've been making it 30 years, Paula. 30 years

And we're going to use the same recipe that I've made it for at home before we started selling it for retail. Uh-uh

But you're going to make it. Listen, you're the master, and I'm your puppet, baby

Oh, I've been waiting for this. All right. Give me two cups of sugar

Okay. Okay. That's your cup for it. All right. Now, let me know when you want to cut your stove on, because I'm over here

I want it all in before we cut it on. Okay. I've got your eyes over here that'll turn that stove on

Okay. Okay, so two cups. I need a cup of half and half cream

A cup and half. All right, just go ahead and just pour it in. Yeah, pour it in

Okey-dokey. And I need an eighth of a teaspoon of baking soda

And that's the ingredient nobody knows about really in this recipe. Now, that's soda, not powder

That's correct. Right? an eighth of a teaspoon. Okay, there you go

And then however much butter you want to put in it. Because I'm going to tell you, you don't know. When I'm cooking any recipe out of your cookbook

I follow the directions. When I use somebody else's, I double the butter recipe

So give us about a third of that stick. And we'll make it a little buttery than normal

Just a third? Because it's yours. Well, I swear. Okay, now let's get the heat on it

Okay, now. I want you to use a medium heat. I got you, honey. This cream will certainly scorch if you don't keep it moving

Okay. And you want to stir this. And this is something you cannot stop stirring

Oh, you can't? You've got to stir it the whole time. So if you can talk and stir, you can have this job

If you cannot, it just won't work. I can talk and stir

Okay. I can multitask. Oh, you want me to do it? Yeah. Oh, okay

This will take about 15 minutes, so I'll keep you busy for a while. It is. And we're going to cook this to the soft boil stage, which is about 238 or 240

Okay. Now, I like to cook it just a shade more than that. And I can do it by eye because we've done it so much

But if you don't know what you're looking for, you need to have that thermometer. Okay. There you go

Okay, stick that in. It's going to move really quick right now. Okay

Keep it stirring. Am I not stirring? Oh, wait. Oh, you're fine. I just can't see. We've got glasses

Yes, I do. Take that spoon. Oh, you've got to keep stirring. I'll stir it until you get back

Okay, keep stirring. Oh, shoot you, honey. I keep glasses all over my kitchen

Well, I can see them good. See good. That must be 2.75. Okay

You know, as a kid growing up, I remember my mother's thermometer. It just seemed like I could read hers better than I can the ones today

I think it's because you had kid eyes. That may be it

I got 230 right now. I want to get to 240, 241. You see it beginning to look a little more like candy, though

It's sticking to the sides. That's the sign that it's coming in our direction

It looks like it's getting thick, kind of thick and sticky. That's what we want it to do

Now, while we're doing this, since you're the butter queen, how about buttering this marble over here

Okay. How much butter do you want on this? I want a good, thick coat because it won't stick

The first time I ever made these, Paula, in the store was in April. We had to tour homes in Savannah

And I had it cooking like this in a bigger pot, and I had people just smelling it and lining it up

Oh, gosh, I bet you did. And I started dipping them. I was so excited. Then I started to take them up and they wouldn't come up

They just fell apart. I didn't know you had the butter to the marble. That was 30 years ago

Oh. So they crumbled and we still sold them. So I knew then we had something good

I bet that's how you came up with the idea because when you go in to stay in store, you can get samples

Always get a sample. So I bet you that's where that came from

With little pieces in the beginning. Uh-huh, the little pieces in the beginning. That's good, Butter Queen

That'll do it. Oh, that's good? Well. Save it over here. I'll just put this in my pocket

Save it for later. Now, see, now that's tearing good. See that

You can forget that thermometer if you get that look right there. Well, that's great. Now we've got to add the nuts

Add the pecans. Yes. Let's use a cup and a half. About a cup and a half okay Now we cooking Ooh Oh oh my goodness Let get it off even that little bit of heat

These are beautiful. Here, take that rag stand so you won't... I'm going to hold that like that for you

Okay, good. Then you dip it in the size that you want

Don't say that to Paul. I don't have a praline this big, honey

All right. Look at that. Isn't that going to be pretty? Is that a praline or is that a praline

The color is beautiful, Stan. Those are pretty ball. Oh, Stan. So we're going to let these cool for a minute

It takes about five minutes, and then we'll be able to pour them right off. That's not bad. Well, why don't we just take a quick break for a minute, give these a chance to cool

And when we come back, Stan the Candyman is going to feed me one of these wonderful pralines

So y'all don't go anywhere. We've got more things coming out of our Sugar Shack kitchen today

Coming up, it's lollipops, y'all. And later, peanut butter cups in a blanket and brulee banana split

Stan, these pralines look fabulous. Well, I've been a very patient girl

You made me work for these, so I really am ready to taste

You want to put them up and save them for Michael? It's your nuts, man

No, maybe one of them. Okay. But I'm ready to taste. Let me cut you off a little piece

Just a little piece, then. Okay. A lot of nuts or a little bit of nuts

A lot of nuts. Okay. That's the way we do it in the store. That is..

Try to get you one when it's warm, too. That's always better

I think you did a good job. I think you did a good job, Stan. Well, listen, I'm going to put you to work on this next dish

What are we making? Do you feel like a sucker sucker? You know, I've never made a sucker

You're hunting. I have never made a sucker. You've been a sucker, but you've never made one, right

Well, come on over here. I made dummy fudge with you before. You worked me the last time

I'm going to work you this time. All right. So we're going to put in our pan three-fourths of a cup of white sugar

You know, suckers are nothing but pure sugar, Stan. I think that's probably why children like them so much

All right, and that's a fourth of a cup measure. So there we go. Now, I'm going to take my measuring cup, and I'm going to give it a little spray because you know how sticky corn syrup can be

So by spraying that, we're going to measure a half a cup

All right, there we go. All right, now look, I'm going to show you something. Look how easy, because we sprayed this, look how easy that syrup's coming out of there

But, you know, just to give it a little push, we can do that. And you get the whole thing in there without trying

Yeah, yeah. All right, now here's your spoon. The last ingredient that we're going to add is a half a stick of butter

I'm surprised. Yeah, try that shot. All right. How much? Half a stick of butter

Okay. All right, now we're going to cook this over about medium. Now, this is going to take a little longer because suckers have to cook to the hard crack

So we're going to have to cook this to 300 degrees. Ooh, that's going to be hot

We don't want to get that on us. It's going to be hot. No. When it gets to 300 degrees, we're going to put in a small box of cherry gelatin

Now, you can make any flavor you want. There's a lot of different choices out there staying

But I don't know anybody that doesn't love a cherry sucker. That's my favorite

Uh-huh, but you can make grape or orange or lime. There's a lot of different flavors out there you could make

Yeah. What you showing? Starting to cook up pretty good for you

Pass 200 and climbing fast. You'll want to be very, very careful with children around this kind of hot syrup

Let them enjoy just eating, but don't let them near the stove. All right, so where are we now, Stan

I just saw a softball. Oh, my goodness. We're getting up there, aren't we

I'm already past hardball. I'm at soft crack. You got that right

Where are we going now? We're there, Stan. We're there? Yes yes So let cut her off and going to quickly stir in our cherry gelatin And I going to take out our thermometer

Yeah, it's looking great. And smell that cherry flavoring. That's pretty, Paula

All right. Now, over here, Stan, on our cookie sheet, I've got some parchment paper that I sprayed with a little no-stick

I've got our sucker sticks lined up here on our pan. So now it's time to just pour our candy

Oh, my goodness. It looks like it's just right. Uh-huh. All right, and we're just going to pour that

Let it form a circle around our stick. I thought you had to have a mold

That's great. No, honey, this is so nice and thick. And look at that

Look at that. What a sucker. You know what? I don't believe I'm going to be able to get that whole sucker in my mouth

Mmm. Well, let's finish these up, Stan, and then take a quick break

And when we come back, hopefully these will be cooled and we can taste them

Y'all don't leave us now. Suckers for everybody. Coming up, it's peanut butter cups in a blanket

And later, banana split brulee. Well, Stan, what do you think about those suckers

They really turned out great. Aren't they cute? Well, I'm going to let them harden for another minute

because I'm going to make peanut butter cups in a blanket. Just in case, y'all, this peanut butter cup is not fattening enough

we're going to wrap him in a blanket. Our blanket is going to be puff pastry

Now, we're going to start staying with some little mini paper liners, muffin liners

And if you would now, I have melted a pound of semi-sweet chocolate right here

So just take this spoon and put a little bit of chocolate, about a teaspoonful of chocolate in each of those cups

And I'm going to move down over here, and I'm going to be making our peanut butter center

Well, you know what? Let's go ahead and just get that stick of butter out of the way

We'll go ahead and pour that in the bowl so I can reach my measuring cup

So I'm going to come in here, and I'm going to scoop out one cup of creamy peanut butter

So how long have you been in the candy business now? This year will be 30 years

Really? 30 years. People think candy's magic. You know, if you know how to make candy, you like magic

It can bring a lot of smiles to faces. Oops. That knife jumped in my mouth

I can do that. It's like your finger just jumped in yours. Okay

And now we're going to put a cup of graham cracker crumbs

And this is just kind of going to hold it together. And if you would, Stan, I'm going to get you to go ahead and start stirring that up for me

And while you're doing that, I'm going to add two cups of powdered sugar

Hmm. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? All three good ingredients right now

You may want to wash your hands and just dig in with your hands

I'm going to move on down here because, you know, I said that we were going to wrap these in a blanket

So I'm taking just puff pastry sheets. You know, you buy those in your frozen food section

And for each sheet now, I'm going to cut into nine pieces

Just like that. Now, we're just going to come over here to our muffin tins

And I'm using, like, just an average size. And I'm just going to tuck those in there just like that

So you see, there is nothing to this recipe. There we go

How's this looking to you, Paula? That's perfect-looking, Stan. Okay. All right, let's take our muffin tins now back down here

And we're just going to finish up our cups. Now we're just going to take about a teaspoon of the peanut butter on the chocolate

Do I have to use the screen? No, you can use your hand because this is almost the consistency of like my peanut butter balls

that I make for the children, and I'll just roll them around in that chocolate like that

Look at that, Steve. Yeah, that's good. Mmm I don think we need the blanket I don think we do either

Yum. Isn't that good? That's really good. All right. We're going to go back to our chocolate and cover the peanut butter with chocolate

Now, when it gets the top layer of chocolate, we're going to sit these to the side

I got peanut butter everywhere. We're going to put these to the side and let them harden

Just a thin coat here on top, okay? Yeah, that looks good

Perfect. This is still really soft. You don't have to do any more, Stan, because I've actually got some ready down here that have already firmed back up

So all we're going to do now, Stan, is take these peanut butter cups

We're just going to nestle those down into the blanket, because we don't want them to get cold, do we

See, just nestle it right down in there, just like that. All right, so before these go in the oven now

just going to put a few marshmallows on them. There we go

and then we're gonna bake this in the oven, 350-degree oven, for 10 minutes

Let's hurry. Let's hurry. These are gonna just puff all up and wrap around that chocolate peanut butter cup

and those marshmallows... They're gonna be yummy. Coming up, the ultimate sugar rush

banana split brulee. Hey, y'all. While we were on break, I took our peanut butter cups and a blanket out of the oven

I've let them cool for a minute. So. It's good. Let's try. Mmm

Isn't that yummy? That is yummy. I told you that I'm going to make you a banana creme brulee

I'm going to take our banana. And slice this in two and put this on our cookie sheet

It's got a little tinfoil on it. And I'm going to sprinkle it with about a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half of brown sugar

Now, what I want you to do is brown this banana off

You know, just like you do when you're making a normal creme brulee

Whoa, you're cooking with fire, baby. Oh, that's looking good. You know, if you don't have a torch

you can always run this under the broiler. Oh, that looks good

Damn. That does look good. I think that's good. Kind of looks like the color of your pralines, doesn't it

Yeah, it's got that caramel color. All right, now, whoops. Don't let that burn. One down, I know it

Now, see how quickly that starts to harden? All right, now let's scoop us up some ice cream

And I've actually got homemade ice cream for you. I've got a strawberry

We'll put that in the center. Got a nice chocolate. There we go

All right, a scoop of vanilla right there in the center. and let's

just drizzle a little caramel syrup and you can find this at your grocery store

Just like that. And then let's drizzle a little chocolate over the chocolate and then back

down here on the strawberry. And of course you gotta have whipped cream. Okay

And we gotta have a cherry And do you like sprinkles? The kid in me does still

The kid in you does. Okay, well, let's feed the kid in you

Boy, that's great looking. And don't forget your mint. And I'm going to come down here and get us a sucker

So you got banana brulee split in one hand and a sucker in the other

Are we happy or what? Yes, or what? Dig in, honey. I'm starting with a chocolate

I'm starting with a chocolate down here, too. Stan. I don't think this is right

That's too good. You know, I feel like 12 years old again. I've had a great time being with you, Stan

I have too. Sweet dreams, y'all, from the Sugar Shack