Candy Recipes

First off, a huge thanks to Sister Ridge for her willingness in teaching this class. This class was amazing, Sister Ridge had so much information to share with us, and I know I left with more information than I could’ve hoped for. Before getting into the recipes she gave us, I wanted to share a few tips/notes that I got from her that may be helpful to you when making candy.
1. Use heavy pans. Thin ones will scorch the candy much faster.
2. If you want your candy to taste great, use good ingredients. The higher the quality the better it will be.
3. Do NOT ever get water into melted chocolate. It will ruin your chocolate.
4. You can freeze whipping cream (after refrigerating it for 5 days) as long as you are going to use it for baking/cooking.
We hope will enjoy these recipes and tips from Sister Ridge.

Getting Started
Candy making has its utensils and most of them can be found in the kitchen. You are advised to have the following equipment before starting.
• Candy Thermometer
• 3” wide paint scraper
• Small pastry brush
• Marble slab
(If unable to obtain a marble slab you can use a large glass Pyrex 13½ x 9 – no smaller)

The Thermometer
It takes 212 degrees of heat to cause water to boil at sea level and since no water leaves the batch until it boils, the start of the cook is really the boiling point, and as the consistency of a batch of candy depends on the number of degrees the batch cooks above the boiling point, we must adjust our formulas to the altitude at which we live. The higher the altitude the lighter the air pressure and the lower the temperature of water at the boiling point. The lightness of air at higher altitudes allows the water to escape the batch at a lower temperature. Therefore, when you buy your thermometer put it in cold water, bring the water the water to a rolling boil and note the degree of heat registered, subtract it from 212 degrees, then subtract this difference, whatever it is, from the degree of cook given in each formula in this book. For example, if water boils at 204 degrees at your altitude, then 212-204=8;
236-8=228, which would be the proper temperature to cook candy at such an altitude. Water boils at 1 degree less for every 570 feet above sea level. The recipes in this book are adjusted for 5,000 feet above sea level.


Creamed Fudge
• 3 cups sugar (rounded up)
• 1 Tbs. Karo syrup
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 oz. (1/4 cube) butter or margarine.
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• 2 level Tbs. cocoa
Make your marble slab ready, cold and damp. If you pour hot fudge on a dry slab it may cause the batch to grain or go to sugar. Put your sugar and cocoa in a heavy 6 Quart sauce pan, and mix thoroughly before adding the Karo syrup, cream and butter. Stir, mixing all ingredients before placing on medium heat. Bring to a boil and wash down the sides of the pan with a small wet pastry brush. Start at the top and wash all the sugar that sticks to the sides of the pan down into the batch. Fudge may be cooked without stirring after it comes to a boil. Cook to 235 degrees. Pour out onto cold slab. Allow to cool until it is neither warm nor cold (about 15 to 20 minutes). Now the fudge is ready to cream. Use an ordinary 3” to 4” paint scraper, working the batch back and forth on the slab using a stirring method. It takes about 15 minutes to cream fudge. Do not stop stirring once you start. As soon as the fudge starts to thicken on the back of the scraper, add your nuts and flavoring. The colder the batch during the creaming process, the longer it takes to cream, and the smoother and creamier the fudge will be.
Let the fudge relax for 15 minutes then knead it until soft. Divide into 4 or 6 equal parts and make into logs or rolls. Wrap in wax paper and then in foil and store in cool place. Will store for months if kept air tight. Do not wrap candy in Saran Wrap or it will sweat.
*If you do not have a marble slab, pour your candy on a large buttered cookie sheet with sides. Let cool until (15-20 min), then pour into a buttered large glass platter or casserole and stir as directed with scraper.
*This recipe can be doubled if you have a large enough pan and slab.
• 5 cups sugar
• 2 Tbs. Karo syrup
• 2 cups cream
• ½ cube butter
• 4 Tbs. cocoa
• 1 tsp. vanilla

*Fudge Variations
• Vanilla fudge – leave out cocoa
• Coconut – make vanilla and add 1 cup flake coconut during the creaming (good with nuts and coconut)
• Maple Nut – add maple flavoring to vanilla fudge instead of vanilla
• Mint – add ¼ tsp. oil of mint to vanilla fudge.
• Orange – add 1 tsp. orange emulsion to vanilla fudge.
• Black Walnut – add 1 tsp. black walnut flavoring and 1 cup black walnuts to vanilla fudge.
• Candied fruit (dried) to vanilla fudge.

Truffles
• 1½ pounds melted chocolate
• ½ pint of whipping cream
Beat together with 4-5 drops of peppermint. Blend well. Put in plastic lined 8-9 inch square pan. Chill until set.

Peanut Butter Cups
• 2 cups Peanut butter
• 1 package powdered sugar
• 2 cubes margarine
• 1 package graham crackers
Blend: Crush crackers until fine and mix other ingredients. Roll into balls and put on pan covered with wax paper. Chill till hard. Dip in chocolate.

Coated Nuts
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ evaporated milk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
Mix ingredients and bring just to a boil. Stir in 4 cups of nuts. Dump on waxed paper stirring a few times while drying so the nuts stay coated.

Coconut Mounds
• 1- 14 oz. package coconut fine
• 4½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup eagle brand milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2½ nuts (optional)
• ½ cup melted butter
Mix all ingredients together and form balls. Let stand about an hour. Dip in chocolate. To make almond joys, put a whole almond on the top of the balls then dip.
*You can use toasted coconut for more flavor. To toast the coconut spread coconut out on a 13 X 9 pan and cook in a 250-275 degree oven for about 30 minutes (turning halfway) or until browned.

Almond Roca
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tbs. water
• 1 tsp. light corn syrup
• 1 cup finely chopped, toasted almonds
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar, water, corn syrup. Cook over medium heat constantly stirring. When sugar dissolves and mixture boils, raise the heat and bring candy thermometer to 290 (soft stage or as soon as it is the same color as a brown paper bag it is done). If you want nuts in it, quickly stir in ½ cup chopped almonds. Immediately pour the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet. Wait 2-3 minutes then sprinkle on the chocolate chips. In a few minutes when the chips are softened spread the chocolate evenly over the surface. Sprinkle remaining almonds over the chocolate. When chocolate hardens, crack the candy into pieces. Store covered. Makes 1½ pounds.

Penuche
• 1½ cups brown sugar
• 1½ cups white sugar
• 1 Tbs. Karo
• ¼ cube butter
• 1 cup cream
Follow directions for fudge. Penuche takes a little longer to cream than the fudge.
• This can be used for the center of your pecan log.
• This can be doubled if large enough pan and slab

Pecan Brittle
• 2 cubes butter (must be butter)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbs. Karo
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup pecans
Place in heavy sauce pan butter, sugar, Karo and water. Cook over high heat stirring all the time. Wash sides of pan with wet pastry brush.
Cool to a nice brown paper bag color (about 7 min). Remove from heat. Add vanilla and nuts. This candy is very hot, so be careful not to burn yourself with the steam. Pour onto a well-buttered cookie sheet and stretch it a little with the spoon. Let cook and break into pieces. Makes about 2 pounds.

Variations
*This can be used as your English Toffee also. Leave out nuts. Pour brittle out onto cookie sheet and let cool. Break into pieces and dip in melted chocolate and chopped nuts.
*Pecans can be substituted with walnuts, almonds, or skinless peanuts.
*Your brittle can be crushed into small pieces and poured into melted chocolate to make Heath bar clusters.

Caramelized Popcorn
• 3 cups brown sugar
• ¾ cups Karo
• 1 cube butter
Cook over medium heat and bring batch to a boil. Boil 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over popcorn. Pour caramel corn on wax paper. Spread out while cooling.
Popcorn- 8 Quarts popped corn. Make sure you shake all unpopped corn to the bottom of the pan, leaving the unpopped corn in the bottom of the pan.

Opera Cream
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cream
Stir until it dissolves and starts to boil.
Place a candy thermometer in mixture and wash down sides with a candy brush and cold water. Cook to 224 degrees. If you use canned milk instead of cream, cook to 222 degrees. Pour onto wet platter and cool- real cold. Then beat as fondant and knead the same. When soft and pliable add nuts and roll. You can add candied fruits and other flavoring.

Caramels
• 2 cups Karo syrup
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups cream
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
In heavy sauce pan, place your sugar and Karo over medium heat. Stir until sugar melts. Wash sides of pan down with wet pastry brush. Cook for 15 minutes.
Place your cream and sweetened condensed milk in double boiler and place over low heat mixing well after it warms.
After your Karo and sugar have cooked 15 minutes add 1/3 cup cream mixture to that mixture. Mix completely. Cook 5 minutes. Repeat until all your cream has been added. Be very careful when you add your cream to your Karo batch. When you stir it in, it will steam and you can get burned very easily. When the last of the cream has been added place your thermometer in and cook to desired temperature.
Cook to 230 for caramels and 234 for turtles. Add nuts if desired. Pour into well greased 11x13 cake pan. Cool 12 hours before cutting. For suckers 237 degrees.

Turtles
Place two whole pecans on a buttered cookie sheet. Make several piles of 2 pecans each. Spoon 1 Tbs. of caramel over each pile of pecans. Place the pecans far enough apart so caramel will not run into the next pile.

Pecan Log
Take large cookie sheet. Butter well, cover sheet completely with whole pecans. Pour hot caramel over pecans. Let set up. Cut caramel into four equal squares.
Remove squares from pan onto Saran Wrap with nuts next to Saran Wrap.
Take ¼ recipe of creamed penuche for each square of caramel. Stretch or roll penuche on top of caramel square. After this has been done, roll caramel into log. Wrap Saran Wrap around log then foil around that. Store in a cool place.
Do not wrap caramel in foil or waxed paper or it will stick.

Recipes taken from Create Your Own Candy Kitchen by Kay barker