Making
Gourmet Lollipops
By Mabel White Dot Com
Lollipops look
like big crystals, but the fact is that sugar crystals are the enemy of
successful lollipops. We’ll show you how to keep those pesky crystals at
bay.
Flavors to consider include: Cherry, Cantaloupe, Candy Apple, Cotton
Candy,
Mango, Pina Colada, and Tangerine and Watermelon. For the gourmet crowd I
like to use the cheesecake flavor oil with the fruits, brandy, triple sec,
margarita, cognac...the list is endless! If this is intimidating, start by making
simple chocolate lollipops described next! This recipe makes about 8 to 10
lollipops.
Things you
will need:
• Lollipop Molds
• Lollipop Sticks
• Lollipop Flavor Oils
• Wax Paper
• Wooden Spoon
• Cooking Spray
• Cooking pot preferably with a pour spout
• Non Stick Surface Such as a Cookie Sheet or Marble Slab
• A Pastry Brush
• Candy Thermometer
Ingredients:
1 Cup of Sugar
1/3 Cup of Corn Syrup
½ Cup of Water
¼ Teaspoon of Cream of Tartar
Food Coloring
½ Teaspoon of Flavor Oil
1 Tsp of Citric Acid
To Make:
1. Prepare
either a marble slab or an upside-down cookie sheet (air
underneath the sheet will help the candy to cool faster), by covering it
with
parchment paper and spraying it with oil. If you’re using molds, prepare
the molds with lollipop sticks, spray with oil, and place them on a cookie
sheet or marble slab.
2. In your
pan, over medium heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, water,
and cream of tartar with a wooden spoon until the sugar crystals dissolve.
3. Continue
to stir, using a pastry brush dampened with warm water to
dissolve any sugar crystals clinging to the sides of the pan, then stop
stirring as soon as the syrup starts to boil.
4. Place
the candy thermometer in the pan, being careful not to let it touch
the bottom or sides, and let the syrup boil without stirring until the
thermometer just reaches 300° F (hard-crack stage).
5. Remove
the pan from the heat immediately and let the syrup cool to about
275° F before adding flavor, color, and citric acid (adding it sooner
causes
most of the flavor to cook away).
6. Working
quickly, pour the syrup into the prepared molds and let cool for
about 10 minutes. If you’re not using molds, pour small (2-inch) circles
onto the prepared marble slab or cookie sheet and place a lollipop stick
in
each one, twisting the stick to be sure it’s covered with candy. (It helps
to
have a friend do this since you need to work quickly.)
7. Let the
lollipops cool for at least 10 minutes, until they are hard. Wrap
individually in plastic wrap or cellophane and seal with tape or twist
ties.
Store in a cool, dry place.
What Else
Can I Try?
Try
unlikely matches of color and flavor (blue orange-flavored pops, green
cherry-flavored pops, red grape-flavored pops)—and see if your friends can
guess what flavor they are! How much influence does color have on our
perception of flavor?
Making
Chocolate Lollipops and Chocolates in General This is so easy it is
sinful! You can even make chocolate dipped spoons with the melted
chocolate.
• Find decent chocolate chip or coins low in junk ingredients. White
chocolate is also fine but must be really watch in the microwave as does
the chocolate. Use the microwave at 1/2 power. You melt until JUST
melted and keep stirring you do not want to scorch the melted material.
White is much harder to deal with, but very pretty and worth the effort.
• We do not
like the chocolate in the stores designed for “dipping” because
it is cheap and tastes cheap. If we get stuck with cheap, we put a little
real chocolate chips in the melting process or bakers chocolate to up the
quality. Plain old Nestle chips are the best.
• After the chocolate is melted quickly add your flavors and colors, if
you are
using color.
• Pour right into molds and before you know it, you have candy!
Things we
like to add:
A little
rum injected with a pipette and then cover the hole with warm chocolate to
“patch it up” or a little jelly or jam, for a center. You can
embellish the lollipops with cake decorating materials.
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