Peppermint Salt Water Taffy

Well, here's another recipe not found in the cookbook, but it was fun so I am including it in my blog. I spent Saturday afternoon at the used cookbook store in Kensington and I came home with an old Time Life Candy Making book. The saltwater taffy recipe caught my eye so I decided to try my hand at it. The taffy begins by boiling all of the ingredients (sugar, corn syrup, corn starch, salt, and water) until the mixture reaches 266 degrees. At this point, I stirred in 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint oil (peppermint is my favorite saltwater taffy flavor!). I let the mixture cool on a sheet pan for ten minutes before adding green food coloring and beginning to move stir the hot sugar. After another ten minutes the mixture was cool enough to handle by hand and then I began to pull the taffy. After getting an intense upper arm-workout, the taffy began to turn opaque, lighter in color, and almost satin-like (10 minutes). I broke the taffy into three chunks and pulled each chunk into a long rope. With buttered hands and scissors I cut each rope into bite-size pieces and wrapped them in individual sheets of wax paper. This recipe was really fun but probably a lot easier with two people (I am already volunteering Ryan for round 2). The taffy tastes delicious, although it is a little harder than store-bought versions (after a little chewing, it tastes just like the stuff you find at the boardwalk!). I think I'll do some research to see how I can improve the texture, but overall it was fun to make and I have enough taffy to tide me over until my next trip to the candy store.

On deck: Apricot, Almond, and Chocolate Spiraled Coffee Cake