Candy is a special treat at Christmastime and it's useful to know how to make it, for sometimes we can't find the varieties we want in the stores. Then, too, homemade candy is much better, purer and really cheaper than the kind available at the shops. A box of Christmas treats you've made yourself is a most welcome gift.
Most people like candy, and that includes "grown-ups" as well as the little folks. And why should we not enjoy good wholesome candy, for it has its own food value? It's only cheap candy that is dangerous, so when making candy always use the best materials.
TURKISH DELIGHT
Melt 1 oz. of gelatin in a cup of cold water and put this into a saucepan with one pound of fine sugar and the juice of an orange and a lemon. Boil it up three times and then simmer it about twenty minutes till sticky. Butter a soup plate and pour half the mixture into it.
Color the remainder with a few drops of coloring, pour it on to the rest and set it to stiffen.
Then warm the plate slightly to loosen it, turn it on to paper dusted with icing sugar, cut it into squares, and sugar these also. Store it in a tin.
FIVE MINUTE PEPPERMINTS
There are so many recipes for peppermints that it's difficult to choose, but here's a recipe that is reliable. It is a little harder to make these candies for the first time as there are so many things to remember, but when we learn the knack of it, they are very easy.
The materials needed are:
1 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of boiling water
1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar
6 drops of peppermint extract
and a bit of colouring paste.
First make the fondant. Put the sugar and water in a pan over the fire, stirring constantly until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Remove the spoon and do not stir again while it is boiling.
When the syrup first boils, add the cream of tartar. This cuts the grain and helps to keep it creamy. Before it boils, quickly wipe the sides of the pan with a cloth or brush dipped in hot water. Every particle of the sugar must be melted before the syrup beings to boil, and it is important that no sugar grains remain as it will make the fondant gritty.
Cover the pan, as the steam formed will help wash down the side of the pan. Let the syrup boil five minutes or until the thermometer reads 240 degrees F. Never stir or shake the syrup while boiling.
Remove from the fire, and when cool, beat until creamy. With a dropper, add 6 drops of peppermint oil flavouring and the colouring matter, which may be purchase in small tubes.
Drop in small round-shaped pieces from tip of spoon onto waxed paper or a marble slab. Do not distub until the drops are hard and look dull on the top. The colouring matter isn't necessary. They are just as good white, but more attractive if coloured pink or light green.
BARLEY SUGAR
Put into a pan and boil one pound of loaf sugar, a small teacupful and a half of water and a tiny pinch of cream of tartar.
Test whether it's ready by dipping a wooden skewer into the hot mixture, then plunging this in cold water. If the sugar is brittle, it's ready for the addition of the juice of a quarter of a lemon and a little safron coloring.
Let it boil to 300' F. by the thermometer, pour it on a sweet-oiled marble slab and cut into strips with scissors. Twist these and store them in glass bottles.
DATES WITH FONDANT
For 20 dates, we need 1/2 cup of fondant. The fondant is made as follows.
Beat the white of an egg until stiff, add 3 tablespoons of water and gradually add 5 cups of confectioners sugar (icing sugar).
When it is almost stiff, add the vanilla, and when it rolls away in the form of a ball from the sides of the dish,put it on a board powdered with confectioners sugar.
Knead it as though it were bread dough until it is well mixed, then roll the fondant into sticks about one inch wide and cut small pieces crosswise.
Place a strip in the centre of each date and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
|
