Patience candy is a pre-WWII sort of caramel. The Kitchen-Aid stand mixer hit the market originally in 1919, but it was the Egmont Arens-designed Model K (1936) and K5A (1941) that created the iconic look of the Kitchen-Aid stand mixer we know today.
Patience candy got its name for the “patience” you had to have in beating it. And beating molten sugar is every bit as much fun as you think, which is to say, dangerous and exhausting. But stand mixers made it a heck of a lot easier. Like quenelles and the food processor, once this was no longer a feat of culinary technique and focus, our attention drifted to new horizons.
My mom pointed out that this is a few eggs away from being an Italian meringue/white divinity fudge/torrone. Quite right!
And… also… notice that “Do not let this cool before you beat it” is in the same hand, but in a different writing instrument. Apparently someone learned THAT lesson the hard way.
From the box of S.J. from Portland, Oregon.
Patience
3 cups white sugar
1 cup milk
Butter size of a walnut
Nuts + Vanilla
Mix 2 cups of the sugar and milk and let boil. In the meantime, caramelize one cup of sugar and add to the boiling milk and sugar. Cook to soft ball stage and remove from fire.
Add butter, nuts and flavoring; beat it till creamy.
Do not let this cool before you beat it.
Yesterdish suggestions: Use 1 1/2 cups of chopped nuts (try pecans or walnuts) and 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. I also urge you to use a stand mixer if you have one, and stand back, unless blistered red burns from molten sugar is the kind of thing you enjoy.