A candy to match my scales! Only a little more crystalline!

Most of the candies I tossed with powdered sugar (This helps prevent sticking though gives them a dull looking finish). I put one without sugar on top of this plate to show how brilliant they are in look without the powdered sugar.

I haven't done a lot of candy making beyond fudge, which I do every Christmas, so this is something different but wasn't difficult at all. If one is going to try for candy making though I definitely recommend you have a Candy Thermometer. While there is the "Ball stage" method I dislike it horribly and temperature is much more exact, plus when that temperature starts rising it can go rather quick at points!

This candy was cooked to about 310 Degrees before being poured onto an aluminum foil lined pan (Which, for future, I probably will NOT do again. I'll just spray the pan with cooking spray. It'll work just fine. Or Parchment paper.)

I used a pizza cutter to cut the squares after they slightly cooled, but were still pliable to work with.

After this gets posted I'll be posting a in my scraps a bit of candy failure where I was playing with pulling hard candy and molding... Lots of work to go on that part.

Anyway, the recipe!

--- Golden Orange Hard Candy Gems ---

Working with Candy looks more difficult than it is. You'll need a nice three to four quart sauce pan, a candy thermometer, and a bit of patience,

What you'll need:
2 Cups white granulated sugar
1 cup water
3/4 cup corn syrup

Combine the above and stir as you bring them towards a simmer on high. When most of the sugar is dissolved put a lid on the pan for about two to three minutes. Do NOT step away during this time incase it comes to a boil to quickly. The purpose of the lid here is to cause condensation to form on the lid and come down to the edges of the pan. This will wash down any sugar crystals on the edge and into the mixture. If you have sugar crystals on the edge of your pan they can cause a messy, grainy, mass of your candy to form in a sort of cascade (So I'm told) so it's important to ensure you don't have any on the side of the pan. Thus why I cover... Don't walk away and if you see the mixture starting to foam and boil remove the lid. The one time I walked away from this once I came back to sugar ALL over the stove top and... well, basically that translated to this black glass on the stovetop and lots of smoke, ugh. It was a mess. Don't walk away!

Insert your candy thermometer and keep watch. At around 260 degrees add in a few drops of food coloring (Here, I used yellow) and add in about 1 to 2 tsp. of extract (Here I used orange). The reason to add at this temperature point is it gives time for the liquid to boil off, yet it's not in there so long as all the flavor will go away nor will the color be in there long enough to burn or discolor.

Once the sugar reaches 300 degrees remove from the heat. Remove your thermometer and gently pour the candy into a cooking spray sprayed metal pan (I used a good ol' sheet pan here) A smaller pan will make for a thicker candy. Be VERY careful as you are basically handling culinary napalm here. It's very sticky, very HOT stuff that can cause you serious harm if you get it on yourself or someone else. Use caution.

Once the candy cools slightly to the point it's still hot but getting firm use a pizza cutter or a knife to slice the candy into squares (Or at least mark it through) and let cool. Break apart along the lines and toss with powdered sugar and keep in an air tight container. Or, wrap in individual pieces of plastic and give out as gifts!

These are great to suck on, sweet, and some flavor. Enjoy some easy to do candy!

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My failed Candy Dragons in my scraps are here...

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5583907/