Lemon Drops

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon oil of lemon
2 drops yellow food coloring

Coat well 10 toy muffin-cup pans (6 cups to a pan) or 60 tiny fancy metal molds with vegetable oil. OR: You may drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls onto oiled cookie sheets to make patties. Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium-size heavy saucepan. Heat quickly to boiling, stirring constantly. Wrap a fork with damp paper toweling; wipe sugar crystals from side of pan as mixture cooks. Reduce heat to medium and cook, without stirring, to 300�F on a candy thermometer. (A teaspoonful of syrup will separate into threads that are hard and brittle when dropped in cold water.)

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in oil of lemon and yellow food coloring until mixture stops bubbling. Pour syrup by spoonfuls into oiled molds. (If syrup becomes too hard, return saucepan to very low heat, just until mixture thins, but not long enough for syrup to darken.) Cool candies in molds at least one hour. To remove candies: Insert the pointed tip of a small paring knife around edge of molds and press to loosen. Store in layers, separated by aluminum foil, in a tight-fitting container.

Orange Drops - Follow above directions for Lemon Drops, increasing the yellow food coloring to 1/4 tsp and adding 2 drops red food coloring and substituting 1/2 tsp oil of orange* for the 1/2 tsp oil of lemon. *Oil of lemon and oil of orange are products that can be purchased in any drug store. You can also substitute 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract or orange extract for the oils, if you wish.