Description
Homemade Candy Canes are a fun, festive treat to make with your friends and loved ones during the holiday season. These will be sure to impress everyone! They taste just as good as store-bought ones with a beautiful glossy finish, peppermint taste, and vibrant stripes.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 teaspoon red gel food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon white gel food coloring (if using)
Instructions
1. Using two baking sheets, place a silpat mat on each. Alternatively, you can spray two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting (mine was 170F).
2. Add sugar, corn syrup and water to a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Insert a candy thermometer and boil until it reaches 265F. Do not stir.
3. Add in the cream of tartar, stirring to combine.
4. Continue to boil until the candy thermometer reaches 285F. Do not stir.
5. Using a clean whisk or heat resistant spatula, remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract.
6. Pour half of the mixture onto the silpat mat, or the baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
7. Put the remaining mixture in the oven. If your saucepan is not oven proof, pour onto the other prepared baking sheet and place in oven. The warm oven will keep the candy mixture warm enough to work with.
8. Add the red food dye (or you can start with the white), to the half of the mixture you plan to work with. Stir until combined. Use a lightly oiled bench knife to scrape the hot candy from side to side and top to bottom, folding the candy over itself. This helps to cool the candy down. Do this until the candy is cool enough to handle.
9. You can either use a pair of heat resistant gloves, or if you don’t have heat resistant gloves, put on a pair of cotton gloves, then a latex/vinyl glove over top of the cotton glove. Pick up the piece of candy, stretch it out and fold it over itself. Repeat this until the candy becomes shimmery/glassy. Form into a rough log, then place back on the baking sheet and place in the warm oven.
10. Now, repeat step 8 and 9 with the other food dye.
11. Use a lightly oiled pair of kitchen shears to snip off a 2 inch piece of candy from both the white and red log. Place the remaining logs in the oven while you work with the small pieces of red and white candy.
12. Continue to wear the gloves as the candy is still warm. Working quickly, squeeze the red and white piece together, then roll into a log, or stretch/pull the candy to your desired thickness. Gently twist the candy cane in sections to achieve the spiral stripe. Form a hook on one end of the candy cane. Set the candy cane aside to finish cooling and hardening.
13. Repeat until the entire logs are used up. You can even try making a candy cane from two pieces of red and one piece of white, or one piece of red and two pieces of white, etc. Have fun with it!
Notes
Some of my candy almost melted while it was warming in the oven. Don’t worry if this happens. It is still fine to use. Just take the candy out of the oven and allow to cool for a minute or two. It cools fairly fast. You can also alternate in keeping your oven on at the lowest setting and turning it off.
Professional candy makers have heating lamps, or heating tables, which provide the perfect subtle amount of heat to keep the candy pliable. Since not all of us have all of these tools, we have to find other ways that work. The warm oven works, but it is certainly not 100 percent perfect.
Make sure you use gel food coloring. Gel food coloring is more concentrated and colors the candy canes much better.
The hardest part, in my opinion, about making candy canes, is working quickly enough to pull and twist the candy cane into its shape. It may take a few tries of stretching and twisting the candy pieces until you get the hang of it.
The candy is very hot. Make sure you wear heat resistant gloves, or a pair of cotton gloves covered by latex gloves to protect your hands.
Cream of tartar is added to the candy canes which helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, resulting in smoother candy canes.
I used white gel food coloring in my candy canes, but it is not entirely needed. As you stretch the candy, it gets a clear, white-ish color. The white gel food coloring helps the white color stand out more.
- Prep Time: 75
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Candy, Dessert
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: German