About two weeks ago my husband asked me about a candy he remembered from his childhood and wondered if it sounded familiar to me. He said when he was just 4 or 5 years old a family friend (an elderly man) would always have them and offer him one when he visited. I'm sure the man passed away 20 or 30 years ago but this candy he was known to love and hand out to small children lives on. It was described to me by my husband as a pure white ball of sugar surrounding a nut... a whole nut, not pieces. He said it was basically a sugar ball surrounding an almond. That's all he remembered. It did not sound the least bit familiar to me but I tucked it away in my brain and spent about an hour online the other night trying to track it down. The nut inside wasn't an almond, but a filbert... but I'll forgive his memory lapse as a child he wouldn't know the difference!
The first thing I came across was a recipe to make my own... which I copied down in my files to surprise him with. But then I grinned as I found a company that still makes them!!! Difficult to find, but not impossible I ordered a pound of them and will surprise my husband with them when they are delivered later this week. Since they are a bit costly with delivery charges I'll be making them from scratch from now on.
Cream Filberts or Cream Nuts or even Mothballs or Snowballs
1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole shelled filberts or hazelnuts
GLAZE:
2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Granulated sugar or about 60 crushed sugar cubes
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar, add egg and vanilla; mix well.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to creamed mixture. Roll heaping teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls; press a filbert into each and reshape so dough covers the nut. Place on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Combine first three glaze ingredients; dip entire top of the cooled cookies into the glaze. Roll in sugar.
