2 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
14 ounce can sweeted condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans OR 2 cups dry roasted peanuts.
Generously butter or spray Pam in a 9x13 pan. In a heavy Dutch oven melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and mix well. Stir in the corn syrup and cook over medium low heat until the brown sugar is dissolved and the mixture is well blended. Remove the pan from the heat and add the can of condensed milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the candy thermometer reaches 248* just about hard ball stage but not quite...about 20-30 minutes (I usually make sure there is a good movie on Lifetime when I make these)
Stir in vanilla. Remove from heat and stir in pecans or peanuts. Pour hot mixture into prepared pan and let cool at room temperature. When candy is completely cooled cut into 1" squares. That is the hardest part for me! Then chill. Dip in chocolate...this requres another movie! I usually use a 12 ounce Hersey's dark bitter chocolate chips and about four squares from an almond bark package and about 2 tablespoons of grated paraffin. You can melt in a double boiler or in the microwave. Let chocolate set after dipping. Then layer in a container with waxed paper. Keep in a cool place...hidden from teenage sons and husbands until Christmas.The recipe actually calls for pecans, but when I was teaching the school cooks used to get more commodity peanuts than they knew what to do with so they would give me several of the cans to use in the Home Ec. Dept. The department food budget was always an issue so the kids and I improvised and used the free peanuts. I used to make two batches for the holidays one with pecans and the other with peanuts but it seems that most people like the peanuts better.