Homemade Candy Recipes: 30+ recipes from chocolate to hard candy! (2024)

FAQs

What is the hard crack in candy making? ›

300° F–310° F

The hard-crack stage is the highest temperature you are likely to see specified in a candy recipe. At these temperatures, there is almost no water left in the syrup. Drop a little of the molten syrup in cold water and it will form hard, brittle threads that break when bent.

Toss in a small amount of powdered sugar to keep from sticking together.

In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture. If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.

Most candies will keep 2 to 3 weeks (if not longer) if stored tightly covered in a cool, dry place or in the refrigerator. It's best to avoid storing different types of candy together in the same container because hard candies will become soft and sticky, and soft candies will dry out.

Preventing sugar crystallization.

Cream of tartar can prevent your homemade hard candy, caramel, and toffee from forming a gritty texture due to sugar crystallization. Adding a pinch of cream of tartar to your sugar syrup will help break down the sugar molecules and stop them from crystalizing early on.

The process of turning sugar into a hard, smooth, transparent confection involves heating a sugar/corn syrup/water solution to 300 – 310° F. {150 - 155° C.}, or what is known as the hard crack stage of sugar. The use of a candy thermometer is not essential, but highly recommended and accuracy is critical.

Provides Smooth Texture: Corn syrup helps to create a smooth and glossy texture in candies, ensuring that they are not grainy or gritty.

After boiling action has ceased, add flavor and stir. USE CAUTION WHEN ADDING FLAVORING TO AVOID RISING STEAM. Carefully pour syrup into prepared molds or onto the prepared greased and foil lined cookie sheet.

Typically, a hard candy mixture includes sugar, water, and corn syrup. Once you have your basic mixture ready, and just before it reaches the hard-crack stage (about 300°F), it's time to add the citric acid.

Jolly Ranchers are also the hardest of the hard candies—they're like concentrated and pressurized diamonds of fruity sugar. The endurance factor is also very strong; you can suck on a Jolly Rancher longer than any other candy on this list. It's an all-time classic hard candy.

Should you bite hard candy? ›

Just Say No to Hard Candy

The hard texture of the candy can cause severe damage to your teeth. If you get tired of sucking on a hard candy and decide to crunch it up by biting down on it, you could crack or chip a tooth or cause damage to previous dental work, such as fillings, dental bridges, or dental crowns.

Soft candies, on the other hand, have a higher moisture content and are cooked to lower temperatures, giving them a chewy texture. The type of sugar used, the presence of other ingredients such as corn syrup or starch, and the cooking time and temperature also influence the texture of the candy.

Hard candies essentially have an indefinite shelf life, provided they are stored properly. Items like lollipops, Jolly Ranchers, and other individually wrapped candies do best without exposure to moisture.

Always make candy on a cool, dry day. Because candy is made from sugar, and it pulls in moisture from the air, rain and humidity, the cooking time can increase substantially. It also may never set up at all -- the candy will absorb water from the air and turn into syrup.

We all love to hoard candy after Halloween is over, but how long are these candies good for? Do they expire? “Yes, candy does expire, but the good news is that most types of candy are good to eat for six to 12 months,” says registered oncology dietician, Kaitlin Mckenzie.

Most people agree that toffee is cooked to soft crack stage, which is at temperature of 135°C – 140°C (275°F – 284°F), or hard crack stage which occurs at temperature of 145°C – 155°C (293°F – 311°F). More precisely, this candy is usually cooked at temperatures from 140°C – 150°C (284°F – 302°F).

The difference between a hard ball and soft crack is that at hard ball stage, the sugar forms a firm but pliable ball rather than threads. The difference between soft crack and hard crack is that at the hard crack, the threads will not bend and will simply break if you try to bend them.

Continue boiling, uncovered, not stirring the mixture but shaking the saucepan occasionally to distribute the heat as the mixture turns amber in about 9 minutes, then darker amber as it registers 305 degrees on the thermometer (hard-crack stage ), about 3 minutes longer.

A ball of toffee that feels soft and squeezable will be at 'soft crack' stage. A firmer ball that's harder to shape will be at 'hard crack' stage. Some recipes cook the sugar at a lower temperature in order to make softer toffee.