Hard candy

I finally remembered to take some pictures of something I was cooking! (Or maybe this is just the first time in awhile that I made anything.) I love the way our house smells after a batch of this candy gets poured. I used to just make cinnamon, but then I got the idea of making red, clear and green for the holidays. It looks really pretty packaged in a jar (aha, that is what I forgot to get a picture of before I delivered them), but we went with clear plastic bags for safer travels to the kids' teachers and my fellow volunteers.

To give you an idea of how much this makes, I tied up over 40 little bags like this and still have some left.

These are the little bottles of oil you are looking for. They come in a wide variety of flavors, and can be found in the candy making/cake decorating section of craft stores like Michaels and AC Moore. I have seen one dram and two dram sized bottles. one dram (teaspoon) is how much you need for one batch.

Here is what else you need:
1 cup water
3 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp food coloring (if desired)
1 tsp cinnamon (or other flavor) oil
confectioner's sugar for dusting

Here is what you do:
Line a 15x10 pan with lightly buttered foil.

Bring water, sugar, corn syrup and food coloring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. 

Once it boils, cover and cook for three minutes to dissolve sugar.

Uncover and cook, without stirring, until candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees (fahrenheit).

This batch is peppermint and has no food coloring.

Remove from heat and carefully stir in the oil. Avoid the steam and try not to inhale the vapors or get them in your eyes. pour the hot mixture into the prepared pan. Hot, hot, hot!

Now we have cinnamon

Cool for at least one hour. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Then break apart.

Toss the sugar around to keep the candy from sticking together.

Store in containers until ready to use.

Each batch makes about two pounds.

The pan will be a bit of a sticky mess, but with really cool sugar threads. Don't worry though, as it comes clean with hot water and a little soaking.