Candy and the Swamp Thang

I was chatting with my friends Susan Bishop and Anne Davis last Friday, and somehow we started talking about a candy recipe Anne's daughter, Cyndi, makes using a food seasoning called "Swamp Thang."

Swamp Thang is a mixture of paprika, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and herbs that can be ordered from My Mother's Garden online market.

There is something about the combination of salty and sweet that toots my horn. And I always like a recipe that's incredibly easy, and only three or four ingredients.

Cyndi melts a bag of white chocolate chips, folds in an eight-ounce container of cocktail peanuts, and then adds Swamp Thang — as little or as much as you want, depending on your heat tolerance.

When I tested the recipe, I added four teaspoons of Swamp Thang, next time I think I'll add a little bit more.

Anne likes to add Craisins to her mixture.

Dump the mixture onto a piece of wax paper, keeping it in one big blob. After refrigerating for 20 to 30 minutes until hard, break it into bite-size chunks.

When I asked Anne what Cyndi calls this concoction, I learned it didn't have one. So the three of us — all creative, talented, professional women — came up with the ingenious "Swamp Candy." Original, don't you think?