Attemting Taffy;

There are times when a person, such as myself, has a "sudden urge" to do something's. These urges can vary from wanting to do a summursault off the couch to spitting out of a window from a extremely tall building. When such an urge happens I usually give in to it- This particular urge was the urge to make TAFFY! This was NOT an easy task!

                     Attempt #1: To hard (burnt the taffy)

                     Attempt #2: To soft (was not cooked long enough)
                     Attempt #3: Just right! (we gave in and bought a candy thermometer)
For those of you that have never made taffy before, I have some tips for you;

   Recipe:  3/4 cup of water

                  2 cups of sugar

                  1 tsp. of salt

                  1 1/4 cup of corn syrup

                  2 1/2 Tbl. of butter

                  as much flavor and coloring as you want. ( we used about a cap full of vanilla without coloring.)

Alright now for the instructions-

(put the thermometer in)

  first you want to add the water, sugar, salt, and corn syrup all together in a saucepan on low heat. Stir it with a wooden spoon until it doesn't feel so granulated/ the sugar is pretty much dissolved. Then turn the stove on high and watch the taffy carefully (we didn't the first time) it should look like this-

p.s. don't stir the taffy at this time

Once the thermometer reaches about 260 or the firm ball stage(or soft ball depending on how soft you want the taffy) keep a bowl of cold water close by so that when it gets to that stage, drop a little bit into the bowl, if you can form a ball with you fingers then it is done. then hurry and take it off the heat and add the butter, flavor, and coloring. Once this is accomplished poor it onto a generously buttered baking sheet ( we poured it on two sheets so that it cooled faster)

Then let it cool down enough to handle (it will still be quite warm) It will look something like this-

Then the fun part! STRETCH IT!! before you attempt this know two things:

1. 
   
   Make sure you have LOTS of butter on your hands
2. 
   
   have tons and tons of FUN!

                  

Now I must warn you: once your taffy starts getting to sticky it will look like this-

It becomes stringy and seperates this means you need to put more butter on your hands.

The more you stretch it and the more you butter up your hands the more air gets to the taffy, which makes it oh so yummy!

Then you can cut it into pieces.. make sure to butter the knife or scissors

 

TADA! that is it!! now you can wrap them in wax paper and you are finished! Then all you have to do is wrap it up in some wax paper! We had SO much fun making this taffy the third time. The reason we had success was because we used a thermometer. We tried it twice without one and it was just not working out. If you are willing to try it without one, you are a brave soul and good luck! Happy Taffy making!

OH! and tell me how your taffy turns out and tips you have to making taffy!