Hard Candy

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The one thing I did not get to on my 12 days of Christmas plan was hard candy. I ended up substituting something else because I just didn’t think I could get to it with small children who refused to nap. Then my sister bought me the silicone candy molds I had on my amazon wish list and I had to figure out how to do it. I love a good orange or peppermint hard candy. Store bought is yummy, but not quite like homemade. This hard candy recipe can be made in a variety of flavors and colors.

So if you’ve ever wanted to try homemade hard candy, but have been too scared to try this is the post for you! If I can manage to do it with a 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old who naps intermittently then so can you! Just make sure to read through everything and have it all out easy to get to before you start.

Here’s what you will need

• Sugar
• corn syrup
• water
• food coloring
• extract of desired flavor
• candy thermometer
• cookie sheet or hard candy mold

Some tips before you get started to make life easier

• Prep your kitchen! Once you get started you don’t want to leave it alone. Make sure you have everything you need together and within reach.
• Make sure to choose a pot that can hold your ingredients plus boiling space. Candy grows as it boils so make sure your pot has room for the mixture to double in size. The large stockpot I used is probably overkill, but trying to get hardened candy off of a glass stovetop is a pain.
• Hard candy is sticky and stringy. You will end up with hard candy strings if you try to spoon it into candy molds. I like how mine turned out, but it made a huge mess and I wasted a lot of candy.
• It gets very HOT so be careful with your hands that you don’t get any on yourself and burn your fingers.
• And most importantly it gets to 300 degrees; so make sure you set your food coloring and extract out to warm up. If you don’t when you add cool extract to super hot molten candy it will explode. The first time I made orange hard candy I didn’t warm it up and I ended up with orange candy everywhere. The ceiling, floor, walls, stovetop, utensils, and me. It was very hot and not fun to clean up.

Kitchen Prep time

Choose your pot that will contain the hot candy. You also will need a large wooden spoon, candy thermometer, and what you’re going to put it in to cool down. Typically I have used a large cookie sheet with sides. For Christmas my sister got me a silicone candy mold set. I love hard candy, but it has really sharp edges so I wanted to try the molds to see if that helped any. Whatever you decide to use make sure to give it a good coating of vegetable spray. Hard candy is very sticky, but cools to an extremely hard glass. The last thing you want is candy you can’t get out of the pan.

Let’s get started

Combine 3 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup light corn syrup, and 1 cup water in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally. If you can, mount your candy thermometer so it is sitting in the boiling candy, but not touching the bottom. Mine won’t stay on so I periodically put it in to check the temperature. I have an old school glass one that needs to be upgraded to a digital thermometer. One like this would be idea. Heat until your thermometer says 300 degrees. This will take about 30 minutes. So make sure you either have extra hands, sleeping children, or lots of patience.

When the thermometer reads 300 degrees remove the pot from the eye and turn off the heat. Now it is time for the food coloring and extract. You can use this recipe to make various flavors of extract; orange, peppermint, strawberry, lemon, etc. I typically make peppermint or orange. I use more extract when I make orange than I do peppermint. It just depends on how strong you want it. You can add anywhere from 1/2 – 1 1/2 teaspoons extract.

Add in 1 1/2 teaspoon orange extract and 1 teaspoon of orange food coloring. Be careful as it will bubble up some when it hits the hot candy and gets stirred in. Now pour the hot candy carefully into your prepared pan or candy mold. I typically have made it in a cookie sheet with sides. However this time I tried of my new silicon candy molds!

So that’s the end result. The eye droppers worked for about a minute and then hardened up with candy. So I used a metal spoon and made a disaster of my kitchen plus left a lot in the pan. The end result I was happy with, however I need to work on the process.

If you use a cookie sheet…

Pour the hot candy into your greased cookie sheet. You need to let it cool to the point that you can handle it. But while it is still hot, score the hot candy with a sharp knife where you will cut it later. This makes it easier to cut when it cools down. At this point you have a couple options, you can cut it with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors or you can break it into pieces. Now when you cut it it will end up splintering into pieces some too. If it gets too hard to cut or break you can throw it in the oven at the lowest setting to warm it back up enough to continue cutting it.

You do not have to sprinkle powdered sugar on it, but if you don’t it has a tendency to stick together. I pour some powdered sugar in a bowl and drop each piece in for a light coating. Then you are ready to enjoy!