We used the lollipops recipe in that Exploratorium link I post yesterday. It worked great. We skipped the cream of tartar, though. Not necessary. And we don't have lollipop molds or sticks, and I'm not patient enough to pour little circles, especially of hot hot sugar with anxious toddlers standing on chairs all around me. So we just poured all the hot sugar into a nice big sheet on a piece of greased wax paper sitting in a cookie sheet--we made a sheet of lolliglass, and then broke it to eat it.
Here's the modification we made to the main recipe that's really fun and makes for great lollies:
We used koolaid powder to both flavor and color it.
See, the recipe called for citric acid and flavorings. I didn't have citric acid or desire to buy some, but I knew that is the main ingredient in koolaid. So I grabbed one of those "single serve" packets (except it has 2-3 servings in it!) that I bought to keep in the car to fill babas of traumatized and/or carsick travellers. I poured it right into the hot sugar mix (which I took to hard crack stage but not 300 degrees--I hate that burned flavor most home made pops get--I'd rather them be a little soft than a little yucky) with a teaspoon of vanilla and stirred like crazy. And then I poured it into the prepared cookie sheet.
It ended up tasting like commercial candy (and home made lollies almost never do) --complete with artificial colorings!
1 comment:
Cool! What a great idea -- I never have enjoyed the lame candy extract flavors that most people use (I couldn't stand cinnamon lollies as a kid, and my kids don't, either). I recently found lolly molds and a lollipop tree at DI, so I've been interested in giving this kind of candymaking a try. Using Kool Aid powder is GENIUS.
Post a Comment