Taffy Time!

Recipe: Honey Taffy
Source: The Essential Mormon Cookbook
Ingredients: Already in your Kitchen
Yummy in the Tummy Scale: 9

Let me start by sharing a lesson I re-learned with this recipe.  Listen to your mother, because she is almost always right.  Gah... did I just say that?  Yes... yes, I did.  I seemed to forget that lesson along the way, but I learned it quickly once more after making this recipe.  I asked my parents (who now live on the other side of the wall from me (love it... honestly!) to come over for dinner so my mom could then help me make the taffy.  My mother is an amazing cook, but had never made taffy before.  Just the thought of having her in the kitchen with me made me feel better, as I was prepared for a somewhat daunting, yet hopefully rewarding task.

The ingredients are so simple, I thought really... how hard could this be?  We started around 8:00 p.m., and my mom said "Don't you think it is kind of late to start this?  You know we are going to be up until midnight finishing."  Huh???  Midnight?  I immediately "pfffftttt'd" her and told her I thought it would take no longer than an hour.

Let me just say I ended up those words, along with some taffy.

I got my heavy duty pot out, poured all of the ingredients in, set the heat on low, attached my candy thermometer and stirred.  Eventually, the above happened.  It started to bubble slightly.  It took over a half hour to get to just this point.

I turned the heat up to medium-low, but no higher, as I didn't want it to burn.  Then, things started to happen... about an HOUR later.  Yes, you read that right... over an hour and a half of watching this get to the right temp.  As it got darker, it started to smell very strong, like it was burning.  It wasn't though, so don't be alarmed if this happens.

Once the temperature was right and the candy mixture was at hard-ball stage (all in thanks to my mom for being able to check that, because I sure as heck didn't know what to look for)... I did a happy dance, shed a few tears, and prayed to the taffy Gods for this to all work out.

Once it got just cool enough to touch, we started pulling, and pulling, and burning our hands in the process to get it back to the color it was when it first began cooking.  It was work.  And, my hands paid for it for the next few days.

My mouth though, was very thankful.  As soon as I took a bite and let the unique, sweet, taffy melt in my mouth, all of the pain of waiting and working was soon forgotten.  It was SO worth it, and SO time to go to bed, as it was 11:30 at night.  Technically, my mom wasn't quite right as she was a half hour off... but she was pretty darned close!

The taffy was wrapped up and left on the counter.  A few days later it still has a great consistency.  I would have given this a 10 because I love it but it is very sweet... too sweet for some, hence the 9.  This candy will show up in my house around the holidays for sure, if not before that!

Honey Taffy

Ingredients:

2 c. honey

1 c. sugar

1 c. heavy cream

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Cook over low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Continue cooking, stirring as little as possible.  When mixture reaches hard ball stage (260 degrees), remove from heat and pour onto a shallow, buttered 9x13 inch pan.

Turn edges in with a spatula to prevent candy from hardening.  When just cool enough to handle, divide into 6 lengths and pull candy using buttered fingertips.  Continue pulling until light and fluffy.  Twist into ropes of desired thickness.  With kitchen shears, cut into pieces of desired size.  Wrap each piece with wax paper.  Makes two pounds of candy.

Notes:

The next time I make this, I am going to cook over medium low instead of low to try and speed up the process.  I would also divide less than 6 strips... probably three.  You don't want the candy that you haven't pulled yet to harden while you are working.