Homemade Taffy
Round up the kids and get them involved in a taffy pulling session to create this sweet concoction for Mom or Dad.
Level: Moderately easy
Time involved: One to two hours
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
- Butter to grease cookie sheets
Equipment:
- Heavy saucepan
- Candy thermometer
- Cookie sheets
- Spatula
- Kitchen shears
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Mix the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy saucepan. Add the butter or margarine and insert a candy thermometer into the mixture. Heat, stirring constantly, over moderately high heat until the sugar dissolves. Cook uncovered without stirring to 270°F or until a drop placed in cold water forms firm, pliable strands.
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Pour the mixture all at once onto a cookie sheet greased with butter. Do not scrape the pan. Cool one to two minutes, and then sprinkle with the vanilla. Using a buttered spatula, fold the edges in toward the center to distribute the heat evenly.
When the candy is cool enough to handle, pull and stretch it with buttered hands until it is light and no longer shiny. When it is too stiff to pull anymore, stretch the taffy into a rope about 1/2 inch in diameter, and with kitchen shears greased with butter, cut across the grain into 1-inch pieces. Separate the pieces and dry thoroughly, and then wrap and store them in an airtight container.
More on: Christmas Food
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Holiday Crafts © 2002 by Marilee LeBon. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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