How to Make Homemade Candies
Homemade candies are becoming more and more popular today as gifts for any occasion. You don’t have to worry about finding Christmas or birthday gifts. If you know how to make homemade candies then you don’t have to spend a lot of time worrying what you can give. All you need is some good homemade candy recipes and simple tools, beautiful packaging and a few hours of your time. Making homemade candy is also a great way to save money during the holiday season.
Homemade candy starts with sugar and flavoring, melted to make syrup base and transformed into old-time favorites like brittle, toffee or fudge. Some simple confections may require no sugar syrup or cooking at all.
Candy Basics
Candy is a term describing a popular type of sweet confectionary treat loved by all. There are different ways to make candy but most of them begin with the same basic process, dissolving sugar in water or milk. This forms syrup which can be boiled until it caramelizes.
Prepare all your ingredients and cooking tools needed. Read the recipe and follow the instructions carefully. Sugar mixtures are best cooked on heavy bottomed stainless steel pans.
Temperature Setting
One of the most important factor affecting the consistency and texture of your candy is the temperature which the syrup is boiled. You get hard and brittle candies when cooked with a large amount of sugar at higher temperature. Soft and chewy candies are achieved when cooked at a lower temperature and with less sugar content.
Candy thermometers are helpful tools when making homemade candies. In order to get an accurate reading when making your candy, dip the bottom of the thermometers in the sugar syrup.
One of the most popular ways of testing the cooking stage of a candy is to drop a spoonful of boiling candy mixture into a glass of ice cold water. The way the sugar syrup reacts will tell you what stage it is. Cooking stages that will produce different types of homemade candies are:
- Thread-cooked at 230-233 degrees F
- Soft-ball – cooked at 234-240 degrees F
- Firm-ball-cooked at 244-248 degrees F
- Hard-ball-cooked at 250-266 degrees F
- Soft-crack-cooked at 270-290 degrees F
- Hard-crack-cooked at 295-310 degrees F
The weather is also a factor that contributes to the success of making homemade candies. The amount of humidity can affect the consistency of your candy. The best days for cooking hard-crack cooked candy are days with very little humidity so as not to absorb moisture from the air after it has cooled. Cooler days are better for making any type of candy because it speeds along the cooling process preventing formation of sugar crystals.
Packaging as gifts
Before you pack your candies, make sure it has cooled completely. It they don’t they will become a mess and will stick together.
Use your large or small coffee cans for packaging. Clean them well and line with wax paper and fill with fresh homemade candies. You may decorate as you wish.
Another great packing are tins which you may already have or can be bought at the thrift stores. Clean your cans first and line with wax paper. Adding a bow will make it more presentable.
Homemade candies say much more than store-bought ones and taste just as good or better. So, why not grab yourself some great candy recipes and start cooking. If you haven’t tried doing it before, you still have some time to practice before Christmas. Everybody will surely love these sweet treats from you!
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