Old Fashioned Hard Candy

Another successful confection from my candy-making phase is traditional hard candy.  Hard candy is a classic.  It takes few ingredients to make, and it is pretty in a candy dish or a gift jar.  This old recipe is my favorite.

2 c sugar
1 c water
3/4 c light corn syrup
Food coloring (red, green, yellow, etc.)
1/2 t oil of cinnamon, clove, peppermint, orange, anise, etc.
Confectioner’s sugar

Combine sugar, water, and corn syrup in 2-qt heavy saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved; the cook without stirring, lowering heat and cooking more slowly during the last few minutes, to the hard crack stage (300 degrees).  If sugar crystals form on the side of the pan, wipe them off.

Remove from heat; add food color and oil flavoring, stirring only enough to mix. Pour into 2 well buttered 9″ pie pans. Set one pie pan of candy over  a pot containing hot water.  As soon as the other pie can of candy is cool enough to handle, cut it with scissors into strips 1″ wide, then snip strips into pieces.  Work quickly. Drop pieces into a buttered baking sheet.  If candy cools too quickly, set it over saucepan of hot water to soften it, but if it gets sticky, return at once to work counter.  Repeat with second pan of candy.

When candy is cool, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Store in airtight containers with waxed paper between the layers. Makes about 100 pieces…1 1/4 lbs.

Photo credit: taygete05