kattitudes

Pulling taffy used to be a family or party activity, but it is something that you absolutely can do by yourself. As an germ-o-phobe, I much prefer to do my own taffy pulling rather than having eleventy dozen people touching my candy, but still, I can see the fun in making candy in a group.

Even I, as a confirmed germophobe, can see the absolute fun in coordinating a taffy pull one night to have your children make a batch of homemade candy as a holiday gift for their friends or a special teacher.

The directions sound a little complex, but actually, if your kids play with their bubble gum, then they are ready to pull taffy. It is the exact same process.

Ingredients:

2 cups unsulfured molasses
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cider or white vinegar

Butter a platter or baking sheet. In a large saucepan, combine all the ingredients.

Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 250 degrees F (the hard-ball stage) on a candy thermometer, or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a ball that is hard enough to hold its shape yet is pliable.

Pour onto the platter. Using a spatula, turn the edges toward the center to speed cooling. Pull taffy.

Before you begin, grease a pair of scissors and have on hand squares of wax paper for wrapping.

Let your cooked taffy sit just until it is barely cool enough to work with (if it gets too cool, you can warm it in a 350 F oven for 3 to 4 minutes).

Coat your hands well with cornstarch or butter. Form the candy into one or more balls and start pulling.

Working fast, pull a lump of candy between the fingertips of one hand and the other until it is about 15 inches long.

Double it up and pull again. Continue pulling, as above, until the candy is porous and hard to pull.

Stretch the candy into a rope about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Cut with the greased scissors into 1-inch pieces. To prevent sticking, wrap each piece of candy individually in a square of wax paper; twist the ends to seal. Keep the wrapped candies in a tightly closed tin.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 3:14 pm and is filed under Recipes, candies, desserts, holiday cooking, kitchen gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.