Candy Canes
Serves: 5
Rowena Kautzer
1 January 1970
Based on User reviews:
46
Spice
49
Sweetness
52
Sourness
43
mins
Prep time (avg)
4.6
Difficulty
Ingredients:
Directions:
1
Before you begin this recipe, please take a class from a professional on working with sugar
2
This is a skill that professional pastry chefs develop after years of experience
3
Working with sugar will burn your fingers so know before you start that your fingers will develop burn blisters
4
Place the sugar, vinegar and water in a saucepan over high heat
5
Insert a candy thermometer and cook until the sugar reaches 320 degrees F
6
Use a pastry brush to keep the inside of the saucepan clean as the sugar cooks or the sugar may recrystallize
7
To do this, dip a clean brush in cold water and brush the inside of the pan clean
8
Pour the cooked sugar onto 3 or 4 silicone baking mats
9
If you want to color and/or flavor the sugar with food colors and/or flavored oils, this is the time to do so
10
Add a few drops of color to the sugar
11
Mix with a wooden skewer
12
To get started, push the sugar from the sides toward the center
13
This process takes a little while
14
Try to keep the sugar divided by color
15
Use the mat to push the firm sugar around the edges toward the center
16
Use a folding motion to accomplish that task
17
The next step is to pick up the sugar with your hands
18
Place each color under the heat of the sugar lamp
19
Pull the sugar until it becomes glossy and the color is evenly distributed
20
You will need to pull the colors simultaneously
21
Keep them under the sugar lamp but keep an eye on them
22
The lamp can melt the sugar so it is important keep rotating it and folding it onto itself
23
Start with 2 pieces of colored sugar
24
I used red and green
25
Pull them into a rectangular shape that is about 1 1/2-inches wide by 3-inches long and 1/2-inch thick
26
Place the pieces side-to-side and let them stick together on the long side
27
Place a piece of white sugar that is about 1/2-inch wide by 3-inches long and 1/2-inch thick in the middle
28
Close the red and green around it
29
Roll it and twist it while pulling it
30
When it gets to the desired thickness, use a scissor to cut the length and shape into a cane
31
Allow to cool completely
32
The white is inside and will become apparent when eaten
33
Jacques? tips: Vinegar keeps the sugar from crystallizing
34
You will not taste the flavor
35
It serves as an acid in this recipe
36
Sometimes candy cane recipes contain corn syrup, which makes the sugar very dry and very hot
37
Adding corn syrup makes it more difficult to work with the sugar at home
38
Remember, the sugar is at 320 degrees F, and that will burn you
39
The ideal work surface is a silpat placed over cool marble or granite
40
If you do not have marble or stone, use wood
41
It is a good idea to use gloves to help protect your hands from the heat and to prevent burning
42
I use a special sugar box that includes a special heat source, If you don?t have one, you can work in front of the oven
43
Set the oven to 300 degrees F
44
Open the oven door and place the silpat on the oven door
45
It provides a similar effect to the sugar box heater