[CANDY MAKING 853]
Molasses Taffy No. 2.—Four cups of sugar, two of molasses, half a cup of vinegar. Boil till it hardens in cold water, then add a tablespoonful of soda dissolved in a little water. Pour into buttered dishes and pull when sufficiently cool to handle.
Butter Scotch.—One cup of each of sugar and molasses, half a cup of vinegar, one tablespoonful of butter and a quarter teaspoonful of soda.
Nougat.—Nuts intended for nougat should be blanched, skinned and dried. Melt in a porcelain lined vessel, one pound of fine white sugar with two tablespoonfuls of water, stirring continually with a wooden spoon. Heat the nuts in the oven, after chopping them, add to the syrup, and stir for five minutes. Remove from the fire and add a little grated lemon rind. Oil a flat pan; place it in a warm place on the range and pour the candy into it. When brown, turn out of the mould, cut in cubes and wrap in oiled paper.
Nut Bars.—Chop any kind of nutmeats you prefer, or a mixture of nuts, moderately fine. Butter a shallow pan and spread the nuts evenly over the bottom. Boil one pound of granulated sugar with half a cup of water and a pinch of cream of tartar till thick, but not too brittle. Pour over the nuts and set aside to cool. When it begins to harden mark into bars with a sharp knife. Let stand several days, when it becomes soft and delicious.
Nut Loaf.—Chop nutmeats into small pieces and work into fondant. Make into a roll, and after standing a day or two, cut into slices. Chopped dates, figs and raisins may be used in the same way.
Peanut Candy.—Carefully remove the shells and brown skins from roasted peanuts. Put them an inch thick in a buttered pan. Boil a pound of crushed loaf sugar with three gills of water and a salt spoon of cream of tartar (to prevent graining) dissolved in water, to the caramel stage. The instant the sugar reaches that point, shown by its beginning to brown, it must be removed from the fire and the pan set in cold water to check the boiling; then pour over the nuts.
Pop Corn Candy.—Boil two cups of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of butter and a cup of water until it threads. Stir in four quarts of nice popped corn, rejecting all hard kernels, take from the fire and stir till cool. Make into balls.
Popcorn Baskets.—Prepare the corn as above, instead of making into balls, butter the bottoms of tumblers and press the candy around them to form little baskets, in which ice cream may be served or which may be filled with candies.
Sour Drops.—Strain the juice of three or four large lemons into a bowl, and stir in powdered loaf sugar till it is quite thick. Put into a pan and let boil five minutes, stirring constantly. Drop from the end of a spoon upon writing paper, and when dry keep in tin cannisters. Tartaric acid is generally used by commercial candy makers, but is much more injurious to health.