HOREHOUND CANDY.
- 1¾ pounds sugar.
- ¾ pound glucose.
- ½ pint horehound tea.
Put sugar, glucose and horehound tea, (the strength of the tea will depend upon the individual taste) into a kettle, stir until it boils, wash down the sides of the kettle with a damp cloth, put in thermometer and cook to 295 to 300; when it reaches that point, remove the thermometer and get it off the fire as quickly as possible. Then pour on a greased slab, with the bars set out far enough so that when the batch has been poured out evenly, it will be about a quarter of an inch thick. As soon as it cools a little, run a long knife underneath the batch, to loosen it from the slab; then mark it into squares any size desired, and keep going over the marks with a knife until it is cold, then break up with the hands. Pack in an air-tight jar and it will keep for a long time in a cool place. This also may be wrapped in wax paper.
GLACE NUTS.
Take about one pound of granulated sugar and one small tablespoonful of glucose, pour over it just enough water to dissolve it well, stir until it commences boiling, wash down sides, cover and steam, then remove cover, and cook without the thermometer until it just starts to turn straw color. Do not allow it to discolor any, but take it off the fire just at the moment it commences turning color. If you wish, you may use the thermometer in this and cook it to about 295, but you will have no trouble in doing it without the thermometer. Have your double boiler setting on the stove with boiling water underneath it, or else have a small bowl in a pan of boiling water in order that either of them will be very warm. Then stir a few drops of lemon extract into your syrup which you have just cooked, but do it very gently, then pour the syrup into the double boiler and set it on the table and commence dipping. Have handy your nuts, dates with seeds removed, figs cut in small pieces, any kind of candied fruit, especially candied cherries, as they are very pretty prepared in this manner, and proceed to dip them in this syrup in exactly the same manner that we directed you to dip bon-bons, only in dipping these fruits and nuts in this syrup, you must be very careful and not disturb the syrup more than is absolutely necessary. Just drop your nut in, and quickly lift it out and lay on a piece of tin if you have it, or the bottom of a tin pan will do, as they do not stick a particle to tin and will harden in a very few seconds. Malaga grapes are also very nice dipped in this manner. Marshmallows cut in two and dipped are also very fine. Candied cherries are really the prettiest fruit that you can dip in this manner, as they show up very nicely in decorating a box. As soon as you see your syrup commencing to get cloudy looking, you must stop dipping, and as quickly as possible, scrape the remaining syrup out into a kettle, and it may be used for making table syrup but must not be used for this work again. It will be necessary for you to cook more sugar in the same manner as you did before, if you are not through dipping.
GRILLED NUTS
Take one pound of granulated sugar with enough water to dissolve it, and cook with the thermometer, in the same manner as other candies, to about 275, then set off the stove, and pour into it as many filberts or hazelnuts as this will cover, and stir them well until they sugar, and become very white, which will be in a few moments. Have your nuts previously roasted a little and the skins rubbed off. Do this by putting them in a pan in the oven, watch them closely, and as soon as they are nearly brown enough, take them out, and as they brown considerably after taken out of the oven, you will find, when cooled, they will be about right; but if you had allowed them to get good and brown in the oven, they would be roasted too much when cold. These are very fine eating, especially for a luncheon or tea party and also look very pretty if used in decorating your boxes. If some of them should stick together when sugaring, break them apart before serving.