Homemade Albino Candy Canes

Good morning, friends! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and you're looking forward to a blessed Christmas. One of my favorite Christmas treats is Candy Canes. The problem is, I have a sensitivity to Red 40, the red coloring used in almost every Christmasy candy, that makes my skin break out in a rash. I searched the world over, but I had a very hard time finding good candy canes without the Red 40. So I decided to be brave and try to make some homemade.

I looked up several different recipes online, (Since I never go by a single recipe...too risky.) and gathered my ingredients and tools. Turns out, it's pretty simple to do. The most complicated thing was a candy thermometer, and I found one of those even in our tiny town of 2200 people.

The trick was, I wanted to use my essential oils instead of artificial flavoring. It took a little experimentation, but I finally got it down, so I thought I'd share. Homemade candy is very yummy. Especially when it's still warm. Needless to say, this may become a tradition!

Homemade Albino Candy Canes

Ingredients:
1 c. Sugar
1 c. Corn Syrup
1 c. water
12-14 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil (Make sure it is a quality brand that is safe to eat. I use Young Living. They have a Vitality line that is especially for cooking and eating.) You can also use Peppermint extract. But you'll have to look up the measurement for that. :)
Powdered Sugar

Tools to have handy:
Candy Thermometer
Kitchen Shears
Parchment Paper
Food grade disposable gloves or thermal gloves

First, prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper and sprinkling with a little powdered sugar. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.

Mix water, sugar and syrup in a saucepan. Heat on Med. high stirring constantly until it really starts to boil. Put in a candy thermometer and wait for it to reach 285 degrees f. Grab a Christmas book and read a few pages because this will probably take 15 to 20 minutes. But stay close by to make sure it doesn't burn.

Once it reaches the soft Crack temp of 285, remove from heat. When the bubbles die down, add peppermint oil and mix well.

Pour the hot liquid out into the prepared cookie sheet. Spray a metal spatula with oil and spread, turn, fold, etc until it cools enough to handle with food grade plastic gloves. (I didn't have thermal ones, so I used several pairs of disposable ones.) pull and twist the candy until it starts getting hard to pull. Roll and stretch it in your hands to make a rope. I recommend you twist them. It makes them look more like candy canes.Then use kitchen shears to cut to desired length and form into canes. Set them on parchment paper to cool. Once they're hard, store in airtight containers or wrap in plastic wrap.

What's your favorite homemade treat for Christmas?

*****

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Or check it out in Audiobook form!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/narrationbygeorge5