Savannah Style: Taffy Table

I just wanted to change things up a bit this holiday season. Of course I’m still makin’ cookies. Michael (a.k.a. The Cookie Monster) would never forgive me if I didn’t bake all his favorites. I just started dreaming about taffy and how pretty it was and how fun it is to make. I knew Jack and I would have a ball pulling it. I never thought Jamie and Bobby would have as much fun as they did! Well, at the end of the taffy making, I was setting on a big ole’ pile of taffy and decided to use it to decorate a lunch table for me and my girl friends! Here’s the ingredients I used:

For my centerpiece: I took a topiary form I bought at the craft store and hot glued taffy all over it. I placed the bottom in a clay pot so it would stand up and added in some magnolia leaves and branches from my yard just to make it more festive.

Glassware, plates, linens and flatware: Some of the most precious things I own, are the few pieces of cranberry glass I have that were my grandmothers. They live most of the year in a glass case in my butler’s pantry. I couldn’t bare to break one, so I don’t bring them out often, but I wanted the girls to see and use them. I chose some bakelite handled flatware and just cut up some fabric I had leftover from covering a piano bench in the guest room to make napkins…they looked perfect and didn’t cost much at all.

Take Away Tip: For the place cards, I took a piece of that pink taffy and rolled it out real thin using just my fingers. Then I wrapped it around a styrofoam ball, rolled it in some candy sprinkles and set it on top of a mini terra cotta pot. I used a gold pen to write the name of each guest on a fresh magnolia leaf and stuck it in the taffy covered ball. I can’t wait for the girls to come over!

Here’s what I’m making the girls for lunch:

Appetizers:
Spinach Gruyere Puff Pastry
Pecan Stuffed Dates

Salad:
Spinach Salad with Hot Blackberry Walnut Dressing

Main Course:
Chicken Chili Stew
Easy Yeast Rolls

Dessert:
Mason Jars filled with Paula’s Homemade Taffy (one for all the girls to take home)

You May Also Like These Articles:

• Cinco de Mayo Margarita Bar Read More
• Brining Poultry Read More
• Slow Cookers are a Cook’s Best Friend Read More

You May Also Like These Recipes:

• Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
  
  View Now
• Tomato Sandwich with Parsley or Basil
  
  View Now
• Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
  
  View Now
• Chicken Stir Fry
  
  View Now

Reader Comments:

There is much confusion about cranberry and ruby glass. May I shed some light on this subject? I traveled with an antique dealer for 23 years who specialized in early American pattern glass and art glass. True cranberry glass is cranberry colored throughout the glass, as pictured in the background cranberry pitcher. Ruby glass is a dark ruby color glass throughout the glass. Ruby stained or "flashed" glass has a coating of ruby on the top surface of clear glass only. There are hundreds of patterns that are ruby flashed. The pattern of the plates she used had dual names: If it was clear glass with NO ruby staining, it was called King's Crown. If it was clear with a ruby flashed band, it was called Ruby thumbprint. There are many early American pattern glass (EAPG) reference guides, including one exclusively on Ruby Stained glass which has pictures, pattern identification, manufacturers, years made and a price guide. There is also a glass called Rubina glass that has a deep ruby that gradually shades to clear glass. Another type of glass is called Amberina whis is amber glass shaded to ruby glass. There is also a glass called Rubina Verde, which is vaseline colored glass that gradually shades to ruby.

By Clifford E. Alfrey Jr. on July 16, 2012