Our basic hard candy recipe is a tried and true stove top recipe that makes it fun and easy to make lollipops and hard candies at home! Ever dreamed of making cotton candy-flavored lollipops? Or maybe you like plain old fruit flavors, like strawberry or lime, with our LorAnn Flavoring Oils you can be Willy Wonka and make any flavor you can imagine!
Don't forget, to make hard candy, you'll need special heat safe molds. You'll want to use our hard candy molds for this project, a special line of molds made from plastic that's designed to hold up to the high heat temperatures of hot sugar.
Lightly spray a cookie sheet or the cavities of a hard candy mold with cooking spray.
In a small saucepan combine sugar, water, and corn syrup.
Place on the stovetop over high heat. Cover tightly with a lid and do not stir.
When steam starts to come out from under the lid, uncover, and insert your candy thermometer, making sure not to touch the bottom of the pan. Leave the thermometer in place, and cook the sugar syrup until it reaches 260 degrees F.
Add a few drops of food coloring (do not stir) and continue cooking until the temperature reaches 300 degrees F.
Remove from heat and let cool until the thermometer reads 260 degrees.
Add flavoring oil and cover the saucepan with a lid for 3 minutes. Remove lid and stir gently to blend in flavoring.
Pour into prepared mold or pan, and let harden at room temperature for about 20 to 25 minutes. Do not put hard candy in the refrigerator or your candies will get sticky.
Recipe Note
* Make sure your candy thermometer is reading accurately. You can check your candy thermometer's accuracy by placing it in a pot of water and bringing it to a boil. The thermometer should read 212° F (100° C.) at boiling point.
if the temperature reading is higher or lower, take that difference into account when you're checking the temperature of your sugar syrup.
** Cinnamon, Clove, and Peppermint flavoring oils are particularly potent. You may wish to reduce the amount used for these flavors.
