I was recently inspired by these Invisible Pops by Martha Stewart- she always has so many fun ideas for Halloween! But I took these Lollipops a step toward the scary for an epic halloween party I catered making them the shape of microscope slides with a drop of red food coloring standing in for blood- spooky delish!
In making candy always start by making patience your friend. Often you will find that the first batch will be a toss and that’s okay, don’t be hard on yourself! You are finding your footing and timing within the recipe. There is such a small margin for error with candy so don’t be disheartened. Rinse out your pot and throw in those three ingredients and try, try again! The results are worth it!
(to clean hard crack stage candy from a pot, fill with hot water throw in any spoons or instruments into the pot and bring to a boil, the candy will come off like a dream!)
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup clear corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- Candy Thermometer
Directions
- Line three baking sheets with parchment paper, not wax paper as it will melt the wax into your candy. If you are lucky enough to have some silicone candy mats use those!
- Prepare and set aside an ice-water bath.
- Bring sugar, corn syrup, and water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then stop stirring but occasionally wash down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water to prevent crystals from forming. Boil until right before the candy turns golden which is right under 300 – the hard crack stage. I was doing about 298 on a candy thermometer we want the candy to be clear and not golden to get that glass effect.
- Immediately set pan into ice-water bath to stop the cooking, let sit about 30 seconds swirling.
- Working fast in groups of three if you are doing this solo. Use a teaspoon to drop the hot sugar mixture on the parchment paper spreading and stretching the candy into a rectangle shape. After each batch of three is poured press in lollipop sticks; I used trimmed bamboo screwers. Once all 12 have been poured, quickly before the candy sets up, take a knife and trim any slides that aren’t the desired shape. If you wait until it is hardened you risk cracking the pop.
- Once the slides are dried use a wooden skewer, dipping the flat end into red food coloring and rub a circle onto the slide, be careful not to add too much as it will run. As my mother always says in cooking, “You can always add more but can’t ever add less.” Such wise words!
Happy Halloween!
Marcella Rose's 