Special Edition: Homemade Candies!

I've been experimenting lately. Home candy making can't really be THAT tricky, right? I thought the same about soufflé and macarons, and in those respects my suspicions were confirmed*. I am a candy lover and that's half the battle, I thought to myself. It's all about mindset. Maybe in many areas of life, but can I just say that candy making is seriously hard?? I mean even when you do everything by the book! What's up with that.

Today I thought I'd share a couple of my homemade candy adventures, each one with a different level of success.

Bad news first:

TURKISH DELIGHT

It's so pretty, isn't it? That's what I thought too when I saw this recipe. Why yes, I would like a piece of candy that looks like a precious gem. Here's how mine looked:

Okay, not so bad... that is until you take a bite. I should have stopped while I was ahead. If I couldn't salvage the ingredients I could have at least spared myself the trouble of cutting it up into neat (?) little cubes. The trouble started when I added the cornstarch. I don't know if it was bad cornstarch or bad method but the lumps didn't come out when the recipe said they would and after desperately whisking for an extra fifteen minutes they still wouldn't go. Finally the mixture became too thick and it was time to accept defeat. I still ate a few to spite the cornstarch but it was pretty unsettling texture-wise, I have to admit. I'm not convinced I can't make it though––stay tuned for another try!

LEMONY MARSHMALLOWS

 

Not about to give up, I finally rang in a success with this marshmallow recipe found on Smitten Kitchen. My sister and I made marshmallows when we were teenagers and we loved the process and result. But I kept thinking about how sticky they ended up and wondered if there was any way to get a consistency more like the marshmallows I know.

Luckily I was at my parents' house because this was a two-KitchenAid operation.  This was the real deal.

All the anticipated stickiness and time sensitivity were part of the process but this time the recipe actually worked! And I didn’t get any marshmallow creme on my clothes either. I altered the recipe by gelling the gelatin in lemon juice instead of water. The result was super super lemony (just how I like my lemon flavored baked goods) and fluffy perfect little white clouds. They didn't even stick together when it came time to store them away! I really recommend this recipe. Now it's not often that I rate a candy five stars, but nothing can beat homemade, right? The next flavor on my mind is blackberry.

Have you ever tried to make candy at home? Do you have any tips or tricks? And remember, I am always accepting recipe recommendations! In the meantime, I'm trying to get my hands on some agar agar for fruit pâté...

*OK, maybe after a couple tries. But if you've been shying away from these you really ought to try your hand at them if for nothing else than the instant respect of all your friends and acquaintances!