Jennifer Hall's Christmases were spent in Brisbane and Toowoomba. The youngest at the gathering would have the task of handing out all the presents and the dining table would always be laden full of cooked prawns. Afternoon's were spent lazily eating watermelon on the back lawn under the Mango trees.
Aunt Maud was the mother of five and she met her husband when she was fifteen. Jen notes she had a terrific sense of humor, she always wore bright colors and she never seemed to age much. Sometimes her Milk Lollies were hard and brittle, sometimes they were soft and chewy. They were different every year but they were always good. When other family members tried to replicate them though, they never tasted quite right. Apparently there was a secret ingredient, but no one ever knew what it was. Jen's Aunt Maud is now in a nursing home, and sadly has dementia, and they don't do Christmas up in Toowoomba anymore. Just recently though, Jen was able to secure the Milk Lollies recipe. She tried, before I posted this, to make these however said they came out too dark and not quite right. The lollies should be chewy, caramel-y, with a milky depth. Perhaps it was Aunt Maud—after all, who was the secret ingredient.
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AUSTRALIAN MILK LOLLIES: Jen's Aunt Maude made these lollies at Christmas time in Toowoomba, QLD. She used to sprinkle more milk powder on them before serving. I made these with Molasses, as it's difficult to find Golden Syrup in the States, which made mine lusciously dark. If you use traditional Golden Syrup they will be much lighter and truer to their original intention.