Old Fashioned Ribbon Candy Recipes

OLD FASHIONED HARD CANDY

Steps:

• Butter two 15x10x1-in. pans; set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and food coloring. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard-crack stage). , Remove from the heat; stir in flavoring. Immediately pour into prepared pans; cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar; break into pieces. Store in airtight containers.

OLD-FASHIONED HOMEMADE HARD CANDY

Steps:

• In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved; then cook without stirring, lowering the heat and cooking more slowly during the last few minutes, to the hard crack stage (300 degrees F), If sugar crystals form on sides of pan, wipe them off with a damp brush.
• Remove from heat, add oil flavoring and enough food coloring to color; stir only to mix. Pour into 2 well buttered 9 inch pans. Set one pan of candy over a sauce pan containing hot water (unless you have a helper to help cut the candy). As soon as the other pan of candy is cool enough to handle, cut it with scissors into 1-inch strips. Then snip the strips into pieces. Work fast. Drop the pieces onto a buttered baking sheet. If the candy cools too quickly, set it on a saucepan over hot water to soften it, but if it gets sticky, return at once to the work counter.
• Toss in a small amount of powdered sugar to keep from sticking together. Repeat with the second pan of candy.

OLD FASHIONED HARD CANDY

Steps:

• Generously coat a cookie sheet with confectioners' sugar, and set aside.
• In a heavy bottomed saucepan, stir together the white sugar, water and corn syrup until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium-high and cook to a temperature of 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. Remove from heat, and stir in the flavored oil and food coloring.
• Immediately pour the sugar mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet in a thin stream (this helps it cool). When the candy is cool enough for the outer edge to hold its shape, cut into bite size pieces with scissors. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

CANDY RIBBON

Steps:

• Before you begin this recipe, please take a class from a professional on working with sugar. This is a skill that professional pastry chefs develop after years of experience. Working with sugar will burn your fingers so know before you start that your fingers will develop burn blisters. Place the sugar, vinegar and water in a saucepan over high heat. Insert a candy thermometer and cook until the sugar reaches 320 degrees F. Use a pastry brush to keep the inside of the saucepan clean as the sugar cooks or the sugar may recrystallize. To do this, dip a clean brush in cold water and brush the inside of the pan clean. Pour the cooked sugar onto 3 or 4 silicone baking mats. If you want to color and/or flavor the sugar with food colors and/or flavored oils, this is the time to do so. Add a few drops of color to the sugar. Mix with a wooden skewer. To get started, push the sugar from the sides toward the center. This process takes a little while. Try to keep the sugar divided by color. Use the mat to push the firm sugar around the edges toward the center. Use a folding motion to accomplish that task. The next step is to pick up the sugar with your hands. Place each color under the heat of the sugar lamp. Pull the sugar until it becomes glossy and the color is evenly distributed. You will need to pull the colors simultaneously. Keep them under the sugar lamp but keep an eye on them. The lamp can melt the sugar so it is important keep rotating it and folding it onto itself.
• Start with 2 colors. I used green (mint) and yellow (lemon). Place the sugar pieces side- to-side. Pull and lengthen. Cut in half. Place them side-to-side again. Pull to lengthen. Cut in half and place them side-to-side. Now you have a flat piece of sugar that you are pulling long. Cut off the ends, (they are bulky), when the sugar starts to harden. Make some waves to create the ribbon. Join the 2 edges to make a circular ribbon. Voila! Beautiful for the holidays.

RED HOT CINNAMON APPLES - A RED HOT APPLES RECIPE

Steps:

• In a medium to large saucepan, heat water, sugar and Red Hot candies until it come to a boil and candies begin to melt. Turn off heat.
• Peel and quarter apples.
• Add apples to red syrup and turn heat to high, stirring often. Bring to a full boil until the syrup is almost boiling over; then lower heat to medium.
• Continue to cook and stir apples until they are tender and have absorbed the red color. For a more vibrant red, add red food coloring while they are cooking. Stir often.
• Gently ladle apples into a serving dish, and let cool. If desired, top with chopped pecans.