“I don’t know any princess stories . . .
. . but I know a Slippery Weasel Story.” He’d been deflecting our requests for a bedtime story for months, or so we thought. Finally, we called his bluff.
“Okay dad, tell us a – (insert snarky tone here) – Slippery Weasel story.”
What happened next lit a spark in me that still burns. The offer had not been an empty one. Beyond the princess stories there were other adventures to be had: bear encounters, seaside crab boils (in which the crabs had to be caught!), sixth grade heart breaks and haphazard driving lessons down old country lanes.
For years he regaled us with an unending supply of adventures and then – when I was eleven – the stories stopped.
The recordings he’d sent to me while receiving chemo were all I had, so I played them. And I played them. And then I realized they were not just stories, these were his life, tucked away into the minds and hearts of two little girls who could not understand much more about what was going on.
It Was One Story In Particular . . .
That helped me put it all together. Young love in Iowa, a boy who had to go away to make a name for himself, racing in the Oklahoma land rush, and going back to take his bride to the frontier. Our family still has the land that was claimed on that day.
My dad was a slippery weasel indeed, and he’s left a legacy that I’m trying to figure out how to pass on. Long spoken narratives are not my style, but somehow working a batch of old-fashioned honey & cream taffy – which was a favorite in the frontier he taught us to love – helps unlock the words.
“Once upon a time in Iowa, there was a poor boy who loved a girl . . . “
Honey & Cream Taffy
Sweet and chewy with a hint of caramel, this hand-pulled taffy is as fun to make as it is to eat. For best results, share with someone you love along with a good story. ♥
Ingredients
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup cream, preferably grassfed
- 1 ½ cups honey (where to buy honey)
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
Equipment
- candy thermometer (this is the one I have)
- medium pot
- medium baking pan
- kitchen scissors (like these)
Instructions
Note: These candies hold their shape for 1 day outside of the fridge. After that they soften and stretch out. They’re delicious that way, too, but if you want the pretty shape keep them in the fridge.
- Grease a medium-sized pan with butter and place in the refrigerator.
- In a medium-sized pot, combine cream and honey. The mixture will bubble up quite a bit so make sure there is a lot of room at the top, but you need the mixture to be deep enough to get a good reading with your candy thermometer.
- Cook over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Cook uncovered without stirring until a candy thermometer reads 280°.
- Remove from the heat and mix in the baking soda.
- Pour into your greased dish/baking pan, taking care not to scrape the sides of the pot. Now for the fun part!
Wait until it is cool enough to handle, then pick it up with buttered hands
. . . and stretch until the taffy becomes a bit lighter and firm ridges form when you pull.
Braid taffy into whatever design you like
. . . then trim with clean, buttered kitchen scissors.
Wrap individually in waxed paper and store in the fridge/freezer.
Want more delicious, easy recipes?
No problem, I’ve created a free ebook for you – 35+ Gluten-Free Desserts – as a gift for signing up for my newsletter. Every Sunday you’ll get recipes, actionable health tips, and highly-vetted product recommendations delivered fresh to your inbox.
Sign up using the form below.
I can’t tell if the recipe says 11 cups of honey (seems like a lot) or 1 cup..clarification please?
Oops! That should say 1 and 1/2. Correcting now! Thanks Schelli!
I wonder if you could make it dairy free with full fat Coconut milk(from the can not tetra pak like we drink) instead of cream and coconut oil or ghee instead of butter? Any thoughts?
Hi Heather! I’m not exactly sure. In my experience, the cream stabilizes the mixture and keeps it from burning – coconut milk/cream might have the same effect but I haven’t tested it. If you try it please let me know how it works for you!
was wondering if earth balance would work…allergic to dairy.
I just made it with canned coconut milk. Delicious. I also added a 1/2 cup almond butter once I removed it from the stove. Kind of like a Bit-o-honey.
The story about made me cry. I’ll have to try the taffy soon, too.
I sat down to write a post about the history of taffy pulls on the frontier, but that’s what came out instead! Hope you enjoy the taffy 🙂
It’s my Husband’s birthday Saturday and he LOVES anything caramel. this will be so fun!
YAY! I hope he likes it!
Do you think this would work with coconut milk?
I’m not exactly sure. In my experience, the cream stabilizes the mixture and keeps it from burning – coconut milk/cream might have the same effect but I haven’t tested it. If you try it please let me know how it works for you!
I love taffy and I know the combo of honey and cream will make my husband happy! He loves caramel, I love taffy…perfect dessert!
Can’t wait to try this and make it from scratch. Always seen the machines making it, but hand-pulled just has a better ring to it. 😉
– Katie
I love taffy pulls, we had them at least 2 or 3 times a year when I was about 8. Mom quit making it when I was a sr in high school. We always did it by hand. Just be sure you have enough for the people who are going to be there, 1 time Mom Goofed and only mad half enough, we had another one the next day so those that did not get to participate could do so. I think I am going to try it now that I have a recipe, sadly I did start this with my kids, ages 52 to 44. But the grands should love it.
Can you tell me why you don’t scrape the sides? Thank you for sharing the recipe & the memories!
That’s just what it said in the vintage cookbook I adapted this recipe from. I think it’s probably because they didn’t have thermometers (they used methods like dropping a piece in cold water to determine when it’s ready) to let them know when to pull it off the stove and so sometimes it got a little burned on the sides 🙂
It has to do with not encouraging the formation of sugar crystals. You want to leave it as undisturbed as possible, anytime you are cooking a sugar.
You don’t scrape the sides because it can cause the sugar mixture to crystallize. Most candies you don’t stir while the sugar heats.
Hi:
I don’t have a candy thermometer. Could I use a meat thermometer? If yes, any precautions I must take? I am desperate to make the taffy. So very delicious and pure. I have all the ingredients but the candy thermometer.
Thanks!
Hi Bonnie! I don’t know if a meat thermometer would work, sorry!
A meat one would totally work! its what i use with all my sweet treat making.
You have got to be kidding me! YUM!!
🙂
thank you for such a lovely post!…brought tears to my eyes and a longing to make great memories with the ones we love. My granny made this growing up on the farm and we’ve been meaning to make it since last summer by piecing together recipes I’d found online-now I don’t have to!
Those look amazing! I loved being told stories as a kid too. My parents would read to us more than tell their own stories, but it was definitely a favorite time.
Fantastic recipe! Could you recommend a good candy thermometer please?
280C or F?
Farenheit!
Is there anyway that you can add peanut butter to this to help it not be so sweet. Do you think that would work?
I don’t think so, Sally, but if you try it please let me know how it turns out!
Please, if you receive a positive review of this made with coconut milk/cream and coconut oil or ghee, please post!!! I have run into a lot of lovely ladies recently looking for dairy-free sweet treat recipes for their littles, and this one looks like a fun and tasty recipe!!! Thank you!!!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
I just made these with a 1 yr old crying at my knee and a 3 yr old playing hurricane in the kitchen….. that aside. WOW… so yummy and easy. My mission is to hide a few in the girls Easter basket…..if I can stop eating them. Thanks again!
Yay! So glad you like the recipe Leah!
I don’t know if you would know this, but since you research so much I thought of you to ask:) I really trust your site and appreciate all the research you put into everything. I was thinking about honey in recipes and was wondering if there is a honey that is okay to use besides raw in recipes using high heat. I figure the high heat of baking, or a recipe like this will kill all the enzymes in raw honey. But, I know many store bought brands of honey have been found to have undesirable ingredients. I was just wondering if there was a cheaper honey that would be able to be used in higher heat recipes that is still was a descent honey, if that makes sense? I don’t know if you have addressed this anywhere, but thought I would ask. These look wonderful! Oh, and congrats on baby #3!
Thank you, Lisa! I personally would be fine with using non-raw honey in a recipe like this, but as you said there are other potential issues with contamination. Because I trust local sources over big distributors I stick to what I can get at my farmer’s market. That’s not to say there isn’t a decent brand out there for cooking purposes – I just haven’t researched it!
I tried to make this but after the mixture cooling for quite a few hours now, it hasn’t got past the gooey stage. It just looks like one giant runny blob of honey! I’m guessing our ingredients Downunder have a slightly different composition.
So do you think it’d work to re-boil the mixture (with some modifications)? Or now that I’ve added the baking soda will it not work to re-boil it? 🙂
I’m so sorry you had trouble with it, Victoria! Did you have a candy thermometer on hand? I’m wondering if maybe the temp is measured differently (mine measures in Farenheit). Regarding rebatching, I’m honestly not sure. Please let me know how it goes if you try it!
Wonderful recipe!! Made it last night with my 3 year old, and he loved every minute of it. He woke up talking about it this morning. I have just one suggestion regarding the instructions: It may be helpful to have noted how long to expect the pulling to take, as well as a note that you will need to keep buttering your hands as you pull. The caramel seems to absorb the butter. I started the recipe with exactly the amount of butter listed in the ingredients list. It was all I had and I thought it would be enough. It wasn’t enough for an hour-long pull. But everything turned out okay. I ended up putting the soft taffy into the butter dish and then cutting it into cubes this morning. Yum! Thanks for the recipe!
It didnt work! 🙁 I doubled the recipe being so excited to have some taffy. Cream and honey brought to a boil and then to 280F. Took off hear added baking soda and poured into cold pan. Waited waited waited and it wouldn’t set into a pull able stage it stayed runny and liquidy. Put in freezer to try and make it colder but to no luck. Mixture in the garbage. 🙁 trying again as soon as I get to the store for more honey. Maybe I’ll try a single batch this time.
Awww, I’m so sorry! Have you checked your thermometer to make sure it is accurate? http://candy.about.com/od/candybasics/ht/How-To-Test-Your-Candy-Thermometer.htm
Many candy recipes tell you not to double the recipe. Might be it changes the reaction of the ingredients when double. Try single recipe.
Would it work if I substitute honey to maple syrup. I don’t like honey in my sweets, it is fine by it self or in food, but some reason I can’t stand honey sweets.
I don’t think so. I researched and researched but couldn’t ever find anyone that’s had success making a maple syrup taffy unless it is “snow taffy.” I think something about the composition doesn’t allow it to set up right.
I made a similar recipe from a Little House on the Praire cookbook and I used coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar. Here is where you can find the recipe: http://www.littlehousebooks.com/fun/molassescandy.cfm. It turned out yummy! So my guess is you could use coconut sugar or sucanat in place of honey.
Hey Heather!
I actually just made these with maple, the result is very yummy and it looks great! BUT, it is not as stable as in your pictures.. so if i braid it, a few minutes after it just turn back into a a puddle,, but it was good enough to make squares and wrap it up! everyone loved it 🙂
you can see the result here :http://goo.gl/KnbUh
(but the picture is second before that twist turned back to a puddle). ill give it a try with honey soon! 🙂
Thanks!!! Lior
Yay, thank you for the update, Lior! What was the texture like once you got them wrapped up?
….and I am the only one waiting here for a story! : ) Maybe we can have the taffy next year; we’re busy healing this time around. But I love the story about a story, and hope you tell the weasel story.
Can you sub half and half for cream?
I haven’t tested it with half and half so I can’t say. If you try it please let us know how it works out, though!
Hi!
I used half and half the first time I made this and it came out wonderfully.
It’s all I had.
On my way to the kitchen to make more!
Just a warning: never use a glass dish for this recipe. It exploded in our kitchen (my husband wanted to make this, and he poored the taffy out of the pan in a glass dish), he got burned because the hot taffy came on his knees and socks, and my daughter woke up from the noise and cried for one hour…..
I used a glass dish, too, but it was fine? Did you use a baking dish (Pyrex) or just a glass bowl that’s not oven/microwave safe?
Hello, Heather! I made this today, but ended up burning mine! It started boiling over and I had to switch pots in the middle, so it’s no wonder ;-). I started with a pot that was big enough to let it boil, but it kept going. Was I supposed to turn the burner down once it started boiling? They still turned out, just have a burnt taste to them! Can’t wait to try it again so I can get it right next time 😀
Maybe it is because of my pans or my stove, but I knew I had to stop at 245-F. It turned out just slightly too stiff but nearly perfect. Next time I’m going to try 240-F.
Tried this recipe using half and half instead of cream, and coconut oil instead of butter… It was perfect!!!
Also, I somehow forgot the baking soda, still, it was perfect! Except mine was a much much lighter color after I had stretched it.
Ainslie, thank you for telling us about your omission. I was wondering how it would turn out without the baking soda to make it GAPS legal. Now I know!
Baking soda IS GAPS legal. It’s baking POWDER that’s got grain in it.
Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda and that’s all there is in it.
HI, I’M WONDERING IF I CAN ADD GINGER OR CINNAMON TO THE MIX AND IF SO, WHEN?
We are in the process of making this recipe, I left the kitchen and walked by the front door and there must have been 15 bees at the screen trying to get in….OMG!! What a treat!
Lol! Hope you like it. 🙂
We loved it!! Thank you so much!
Maybe it’s just the oncoming baby growth spurt talking but this looks SO yummy!
Looks yummy! I tried pinning from the pin link you left, but Pinterest would not let me. It said, “Sorry! Users have reported that this url links to spam or inappropriate content.” I went to the blog post and pinned directly from there and it worked fine. Just thought I’d let you know.
Mi Real Food – I am so glad you told me about this, thank you! I went to the pin and found that it had somehow been hacked. It was going to another website that I’ve never heard of. Changing my password now . . .
That makes sense! I had my account hacked into not long ago, it’s such a pain. Glad I was able to catch that for you. 🙂
Making mine right now. I just tried a taste and it is DELICIOUS. I have to keep myself from eating it before it’s ready.
I’m totally making this tonight for a house warming! Can’t wait to see how it works out!!!
I need this in my life, thanks so much!
Great intro story. It sounds like your dad’s life would make a great movie. I wonder if this taffy tastes similar to bit-o-honey candy. I will be trying it.
Really enjoyed the story about your family. What was the family name? Maybe you should call it the Family Name Taffy. My family was in Ok at that time also. I am going to try this when some of the grandkids come to visit as we have to watch the sweets but it sounds so good. Thanks
This was the first taffy recipe I’ve ever made and it was phenomenal. My family adored it and I can’t say that I eat it as sparingly as I’d like too either
I made this wonderful candy last month and it turned out perfect! I did not have a candy thermometer so i used a bowl of cold water and when i thought it was getting close i dropped some taffy in the bowl until a chewy ball formed.
Needless to say i finished the last of it yesterday. My 15 year old daughter kept taking samples to school to share and her friends loved it. My olders daughter will be happybto find a candy that is corn free since she is allergic to corn. Thanks so much for sharing and i will be making this again soon.
I followed the Recipe to the letter and I have an accurate Thermometer and It wont stay firm unless I put it in the freezer and I can’t get it to stay firm as IM trying to turn it into Taffy Pieces.
Oh my goodness… This looks SO good! Can’t wait to try!
Does anyone know if you could substitute the honey for date syrup?
Thank you for a great easy treat without corn syrup.