Dye-free Candy Canes Recipe

Dye-free Candy Canes

Ingredients:

3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Cover a cookie sheet with light layer of oil, if you have a splat mat oil that. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring continuously, until the sugar dissolves. Insert a candy thermometer and continue cooking without stirring until the candy reaches 285 (soft-crack stage).  Remove from the heat and stir in the mint extract. Pour the candy out onto the splat mat or cookie sheet.  once it forms a skin use a heat proof spatula (covered in oil),to begin spreading the candy out and pushing it back together, working it across the sheet and allowing it to cool. As soon as the candy is cool enough to handle (but still quite hot), begin to pull it. Cover your hands in oil. To pull: take the candy in both hands and pull the hands in opposite directions, stretching the candy into a long rope. Bring the ends of the strands together and twist the candy into a rope, then pull the rope out into a long strand. Continue to twist and pull the candy until it has a satin-like finish and becomes pearly white.  Once the candy is still pliable but barely warm, pull it into a strand about the thickness you want your candy cane to be. Use oiled kitchen shears to cut them to approximately 8” lengths. Immediately form the hook at the top of the cane, and place it on a baking sheet to set at room temperature.  The candy canes will get very hard at room temperature, but if left out for long periods of time they will get soft and sticky, so be sure to wrap them in cellophane once they are set.