Hard Candy

My computer decided to continue working! You know, minus all personal files I had saved on it and all . . . Anyway, continuing on!

This candy has to be pretty good, because when I asked my little sister what she wanted for Christmas she requested more of this candy. I'll let you make it and see for yourself! Now, today's candy uses concentrated oil flavoring. (Or whatever you call it. I use LorAnn brand flavoring.) There are recipes that just use extracts (vanilla, orange, ect.), but that's not what we're going to be using today. 

The Details:

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup water

1 dram (1 teaspoon) flavoring

1/2 teaspoon liquid  food coloring

powdered sugar

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil without stirring. When syrup reaches 260 degrees, add color. Do not stir; boiling action will incorporate color. Remove from heat at 300 degrees. When boiling action stops, stir in flavoring. Pour into lightly oiled candy molds or greased cookie sheet and score with knife to form bite-sized pieces. When cool, break into pieces and dust with powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Store in airtight container.

These pieces were made with simple rectangle shaped hard candy molds. If you are going to be making this quite often, I would suggest getting some molds. Its easier, and turns out better, than just pouring it on a cooking sheet. You can also get lollipop molds as well. It all tastes the same though, so don't use the excuse of not having molds to not make this candy!

If you do decide to buy some molds, make sure they are HARD CANDY molds, not just chocolate or soap molds. The hard candy molds are designed to handle the higher temperature of the syrup. They are white plastic whereas the chocolate molds are usually clear.

The flavoring comes in 1 dram bottles, usually two to the package, and comes in any variety of flavors. If you don't have the flavoring, you can use an extract, but you will have to use more.

Also, in order to get the color as I got in this batch, I used LorAnn liquid food coloring. I don't think you'd get the same intensity of color using coloring that comes in those little 4 packs at the grocery store.

Happy Cooking!