Christmas Hard Candy

Submitted by Steve P.

"Easy to make Christmas candy."

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Yields: 1 Batch

ingredients

• 946.36 ml sugar
• 236.59 ml Karo syrup
• 236.59 ml water
• 9.85 ml cinnamon oil or 9.85 ml oil peppermint extract
• red food coloring or green food coloring
• powdered sugar

directions

1. Mix first 3 ingredients and boil to hard crack stage, 300ºF.
2. Add oil of cinnamon or peppermint and food coloring.
3. Pour into foiled lined cookie sheet.
4. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the candy while its still warm.
5. Break candy in small pieces when it is cool enough to handle.

Reviews

[eBeth]

I requested this recipe when I couldn't find my own. It was just what I needed. So simple and so good. Looks great in a small canning jar to be given as a gift. I used flavor oils: lemonade, licorice, and cran-raspberry.

 

[Dana S.]

I just wanted to add a few ideas for the more novice candy makers looking for a fun basic recipe. First, here is a very informative explanation of the science behind each ingredient. Don't worry it is 100% comprehensible, essentially it provides a basic description of the various ingredients in different hard candy recipes including; the purpose of each ingredient, how and why it serves that purpose and best of all how the ingredient affects the outcome of your hard candy. I know it cleared up a lot of confusion I had about all the different recipes, all the good advice, all the terrible advice and everything I read in-between when I was planning my first batch. Hopefully it will be helpful to you too, http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/lolly-pop.html Also I had to mention, I noticed someone wrote about 'draining the excess oil' from the hard candy after it has cooled... In my experience making all kinds of hard candy for the past few years I have not experienced a situation in which anything should be drained from it. I've found that silicone molds are the easiest to work with, minimal sticking reduces need for excess oil which makes the candy tacky. I've even used star-shaped silicone ice cube trays I found at the dollar store that work great. Also I like to use cream of tartar in my recipe to prevent crystallization and I've yet to have a problem with crystallization so perhaps it works. Placing a lid on your pot for the first 2 minutes it's boiling also helps, the steam washes down the sides of the pot, getting all the sugar crystals up on the sides from mixing, back down into the mixture. Once it begins boiling I don't mix it or mess with it until I take the lid off, only to insert my clean candy thermometer. After that, I let it reach the desired temperature untouched until I add the color and flavor and gently incorporate the two using a clean silicone spatula in a figure 8 pattern. Stirring just long enough to incorporate the color and flavor, then I pour it into my sparingly lubricated moulds, allow it to cool, remove my fabulous candies and wrap them individually in wax paper wrappers like the kind used for saltwater taffy or dust them with cornstarch for sea glass candies which I place in airtight jars or containers.

 

[ucah0neybee]

Just some tips for making hard candy: Omit corn syrup, can make mixture too hot, causes sugar to scorch. Add one tablespoon of vinegar to every cup of sugar you throw in the pot, this prevents re-crystalization of sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of corn starch. This can help to make the candy less sticky in areas where you deal with high humidity. Add food coloring at 260. Take mixture off heat at 300, let boiling action cease, add flavoring. Stir it in, put a lid on it for a few minutes. Pour candy onto a silicon mat. I place mine inside a cookie sheet. Let this cool off a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes. Once candy has cooled, take cookie sheet and pour off excess oil into sink. You can then pick up and stretch it, then form it into neat shapes, Candy canes too! After a few tugs, you'll get a nice opaque shiny color. Be careful about this, although candy is cool to touch on surface, it is still very hot underneath. Slip on a few disposable gloves to avoid blisters.

 

[TJ Witt]

This is great candy and very easy. Watch out if using cinnamon oil or other equally aromatic oil - the vapor can be irritating to eyes, etc. when you first put it in (this could be a duh, but I'm a novice!). Thanks for a keeper.

 

[nonnie4sj]

I needed a "coal" recipe for a gag Christmas gift, and tried this out. I used black Wilton paste coloring, and strawberry extract for flavor. I think I would increase the strawberry extract from the two tsp called for, as there was very little flavor. After breaking up the candy into "rocks", I liberally dusted them with powdered sugar, and they really look like pieces of coal!