Instructions sheet. Print it out and it will be easier to read. If it won't print with your usual graphics software, I recommend you try with PHOTO EXPRESS (or I-PHOTO PLUS - the deluxe edition). I'm sorry but I can't help you further on this matter.
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Molds and tools, click here
This is perhaps our most all around favorite candy. It is easy to make and looks so very pretty, done in all colors or in a candy dish. A favorite of our "little folk." It is especially cheap to make too. Add a little citric acid into all fruit flavors, or they tend to taste flat. Add as much as you like, (1-2 teaspoons of the powdered kind).
Stir together in LIGHT-WEIGHT saucepan before heating:
DIRECTIONS:
Spray molds with non-stick pan spray or oil. Gather together the flavor, color and citric acid. Cook at highest heat with lid on. Let boil at least 2 minutes with lid on. Place thermometer into boiling mixture. When thermometer reads 285°, remove pot from heat. (Temperature may rise to 300°). DO NOT STIR until candy reaches 260°. Add oil flavoring, coloring and citric acid (if fruit flavored). Stir just a little (too much stirring causes graining). Cover pan after adding citric acid for a few minutes or taste will fade. Keep lid on pot after you add flavoring too. Pour into special candy funnel or just pour out into molds or onto oiled cookie sheets; cool, unmold or break. Place the pieces in confectioners' sugar and coat well. If they start sticking together in a candy dish, coat again.
NOTES:
- Our special candy funnel allows you plenty of time to get candy into molds before it cools too much. The funnel holds the entire batch.
- Citric acid is available in powdered (the kind I prefer) and in liquid form.
- Candy can be cut into little "pillows" with scissors while still hot. Roll into a strip and cut.
- Hard candy mold sheets HERE are WHITE, where the chocolate molds are CLEAR. Clear ones cannot be used for this candy. They would melt. The WHITE hard candy molds come in a variety of shapes and sizes. 8x11" sheet like the CLEAR ones. Though the WHITE ones appear the same weight texture, they aren't.
- Some favorites of mine are the little white round rings. Easy; just lay them on an oiled surface, spray (only once) with non-stick cooking spray and add a sucker stick. Pour candy in and you are finished. They come in 2 sizes Round or Heart. Sometimes write names or Happy (whatever day) on them using a #1 tip, with thinned royal icing or add a sugar decoration.
- A good thermometer is "worth it's weight in gold!"
- Citric acid & Lorann oil flavors
food coloring
Ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
¾ cup water
1 dram LorAnn flavoring oil (1tsp.*) (or as desired)
LorAnn liquid food coloring (as desired)
Powdered sugar (optional)
Sucker bags (optional)
Twist ties (optional)
Use of a candy thermometer is recommended
*Please note that our Cinnamon, Clove and Peppermint flavors are particularly potent. You may wish to reduce the amount used for these flavors.
Before you begin, we recommend reading our suggestions on candy making found in the "Tips" section of Gourmet Recipes. Hard candy making requires the use of very high cooking temperatures. Caution should be used at all times to avoid being burned.
Directions:
Have all ingredients and tools assembled
and within easy reach of the stove. The use of metal spoons and measuring
utensils is recommended. Lightly spray cookie sheet* or the cavities of
clean, dry candy molds with cooking spray (we recommend PAM). Insert sucker
sticks. (If using two-piece plastic or aluminum molds, insert sticks after
candy has been poured into molds.) If using molds, you may also want to
spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray. If after pouring the
candy into the molds you have excess candy, you can pour it onto the foil.
In a 2-quart kettle or large saucepan,
mix together sugar, corn syrup and water. Stir over medium heat until sugar
dissolves. Insert candy thermometer if using, making certain it does not
touch the bottom of the pan. Bring mixture to a boil, without stirring.
Early in the cooking process, you can "wash down" any sugar crystals that
form on the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Continue to cook
the syrup until the temperature reaches 260º F; add color. Do not
stir; boiling action will incorporate color into syrup.
Remove from heat precisely at 300° F (temperature will continue rising), or until drops of syrup form hard, brittle threads in cold water. After boiling action has ceased, add flavor and stir. USE CAUTION WHEN ADDING FLAVORING TO AVOID RISING STEAM.
Pour syrup onto lightly greased cookie sheet or onto a heat resistant surface covered with a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. (As the sugar mixture begins to set up, you may want to score with a large knife to mark squares.) Alternately, pour candy into prepared molds. Do not refrigerate.
Cool completely. Lightly dust with powdered sugar on both sides, brushing off excess. Break into small pieces. Store in airtight containers between waxed paper. If making lollipops, do not dust with powdered sugar, but place in sucker bags and secure with twist ties.
*Another alternative is to pour the hot candy onto a heat-resistant surface covered in powdered sugar. When the candy is slightly cooled, it can be cut with well-oiled scissors into pillow-shaped pieces.