Christmas Confections

I'm going to take a short break from the 1927 Detroit Times Cook Book and show you a few holiday themed clippings that are pasted into the book. I think this is much older than 1927. Some of these recipes terrify me so fair warning, hot sugar is dangerous stuff!
But first a bit of an idea of what the book also contains, a chunk of one of the unpasted pages.

Delectable homemade candies are the delight of old and young. Housewives and maids delight in preparing toothsome sweets for holiday gifts and lucky indeed is the recipient of such a box.
Beginners in confections as in cooking are often at a loss to know how much of a recipe must be followed to the letter. To have success when making candy follow directions given in recipes faithfully and candy will turn out exactly right.
CHRISTMAS GLACES
Take 2 parts of sugar and 1 part of cold water in any quantity desired. Stir together in a saucepan. Let this mixture boil hard without stirring until a little of it dropped into cold water becomes at once as brittle as glass. Then pour into cups previously warmed and drop into the hot candy white grapes, mandarin oranges, prunes, figs, nuts, etc. With a pair of confectioners tongs or sugar tongs lift out the fruit or nuts -- one piece at a time -- as quickly as possible, placing them on greased papers and set them out in the cold. In about 20 minutes you will have as nice candy as can be manufactured.

CHOCOLATE CREAMS
Boil together for 5 minutes 2 cups of sugar with 1/2 cup of cream. Put in 1 teaspoon of vanilla and set the pan in a dish of cold water and stir until the cream is stiff enough to work. Make into little balls and drop on a buttered plate and let harden for an hour or more. Shave 5 ounces of chocolate into a double boiler, and when melted, drop the creams in, one at a time with bonbon dipper and put gently on buttered dish to dry.

PRALINES
Blanch 2 cups of filbert meats by heating in the oven and rubbing the skins off with a napkin. Boil 1 7/8 cups of powdered sugar 1 cup of maple syrup and 1/2 cup cream until when tried to cold water it forms a soft ball. Remove from the fire and add a teaspoon of essence of peach kernel and heat until of a cream consistency add the nut meats broken and drop from the tip of a spoon in small wafers on buttered paper.

NUT LOAF
Boil 2 cups of sugar with 1 cup of water. After it has come to a boil put in 1/2 saltspoonful of cream of tartar and cook until it forms a soft ball when dropped in water. pour out on a large platter, flavor and beat until white. Put in it 1/2 cup of chopped English walnuts 1/2 cup of blanched and chopped almonds 1/2 cup of pecans cut fine and 1/2 cup of hickory meats cut fine. Mix and mold into a roll and when cold cut in slices and wrap in paraffine paper.

CREAMED WALNUTS
Boil together without stirring 2 cups of sugar and 2-3 cups of water until it will spin like a thread. Set into a dish of cold water, flavor with vanilla and stir briskly until white and creamy. Have walnuts shelled, make cream into small round cakes with the fingers, press half a walnut on either side and drop into sifted granulated sugar.

STUFFED DATES
Use fine large dates and carefully remove the seed by splitting on one side only. Fill with chopped nuts prepared with a little powdered sugar and boiled cider to form a paste. Press the date together to secure the filling, and dust with powdered sugar.