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.
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