Martha Washington Candies
Why I Love This Recipe
This recipe is handed down from my great-grandmother. It's best to use a stand mixer because the filling is a bit thick. These are a Christmas tradition in my family. I make a batch every year as part of the gift packages of homemade goodies.
Ingredients You'll Need
2 sticks melted butter; cooled
32 oz confectioners sugar sifted (2 16 oz boxes)
1 can sweetened condensed milk ( NOT evaporated milk)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
Directions
Cream melted butter and sugar.
Add sugar a cup at a time so you don't have a white kitchen.
Add sweetened condensed milk & blend.
Blend in chopped pecans.
Cover and put in freezer and chill well, 2-3 hours.
Take out of freezer and pinch out and roll 1inch or less balls.
Place balls on a pan and put back into freezer long enough for them to hold their shape when dipped. (about 5 mins)
For best results, remove only a few at a time to dip. note: I may make half the bowl one evening and then the rest the next evening.
I personally don't have the freezer space to roll all the mixture into balls at once.
Chocolate paraffin mixture
Melt in top of double boiler:
1/2 of a 4 oz block of paraffin (find it in the canning section of your grocery store)
2 16 oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips
Keep this chocolate mixture on low heat while dipping balls
Yield: About 100 1-inch balls
As a note I line my pans with waxed paper and use toothpicks to pierce the balls to dip into the chocolate then place them back onto the waxed paper. Once they've hardened put in a container and store in the refrigerator. I layer the container with waxed paper between each layer. It's been an experiment since my great-grandmother didn't include hints. We were lucky enough to just get measurements! These will keep for a while. Not sure exactly how long but I make them beginning of Dec to give as gifts middle of Dec and they're usually all eaten by New Year's. Enjoy!
