It seems like it was just yesterday Gram was in her brilliant Orange kitchen cooking up yummy candies, pies, and cookies for the Christmas Season. Each family member had their favorites, mine was honey taffy. To this day it causes my mouth to water with just the very thought of it. Gram had beautiful long slender fingers, and can remember how her hands, those beautiful hands, would work and pull the taffy to a tasters perfection. It was like an artist with their sweeping strokes creating a master piece, with every pull of the hot taffy Gram was making a mouth watering delight and a dentists' nightmare! Gram had candy thermometers but she relied on the good ole' water test too. I think back and I feel she just knew by sight when the taffy had cooked to perfection.
So all last week I got a hankering for the melt in your watering mouth Christmas goody and finally Friday I had to succumb to my cravings: I made it! Since Gram was a master cook it always intimidated me to try something as hard as candies, not only are they hard but if you mess up and fail the ingredients can become quite costly with mistakes. Despite my misgivings I pushed on and by 10:00 p.m. that evening I had over 100 pieces of this yummy treat...no mistakes...perfect just as if Grandma had guided every stretch and pull; as if she stood next to me as I stirred the pot and whispered it is ready. I did this all without a candy thermometer, using strictly the water test.
I am sure you can imagine how proud I am to have had success on the first try! So here is my Grandma's Honey Taffy recipe. Enjoy and don't be intimidated, if I can do it you can too!
Stir Together:
2 cups sugar
2 cups honey
2 cups cream
Cook on medium heat. Stir occasionally. Boil to soft crack. Cool mixture in a separate buttered pan (We use a cookie sheet that has edges). Butter hands and stretch until mixture becomes stiff to pull. Stretch into a long rope and cut as desired. Wrap in wax paper.
4 comments:
This looks so fun! But I am curious what the water test is. And what does it mean to boil to a crack?
This question is a great one and when you have been in the kitchens of great cooks that understand terms like "hard crack" or "soft crack" they show you what the candy syrup should look like at this stage...so for someone like me I have seen and been around this. For you or others that may not have been it is hard to show and explain....so I did some searching on the web and found a fabulous description of the water test and excellent explanation of the "crack" terms with corresponding pictures, which I think will help you!
Go to:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html
Let me know if you need anything else on this topic or let me know if you like this website! Good luck!
P.S. Holly you left out that you add in soda to the recipe at the end once it has cooked. That is an essential element for it makes it kind of foamy and taste different. I believe it is 1/2 tsp. for 1 cup sugar, cream and honey
and 1 tsp for 2 cup sugar, cream and honey!
Kristie
Did Gram do that? I don't remember that at all and the taffy I made on Friday tastes just like hers and it wasn't on her recipe either...are you teasing me???
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