In 1908, George Smith put hard candy on sticks and named them lollipops after his favorite race horse, Lolly Pop. Today you can buy lollipops in a variety of shapes, sizes and flavors. But these delicious treats are so easy to make that there's no need to buy them.
Instructions
1. Turn a sheet pan upside down and cover it with foil. Set the lollipop molds on top of the foil and spray them with cooking spray. Secure the mold tabs with clips and insert the lollipop sticks into the mold tabs.
2. Make a hard candy mixture by mixing one cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of white corn syrup and ? cup of water in a saucepan.
3. Heat the mixture on high to a temperature of 280 degrees F, stirring continuously. Reduce the heat to medium high and heat until the temperature reaches 300 degrees F, continuing to stir. Remove from heat and wait until the mixture stops bubbling, around 265 degrees F.
4. Add ? tsp. of flavoring and ? to 1 tsp. of food coloring to the hard candy mixture once it reaches 265 degrees F. For fruit flavors, dissolve 1/8 tsp. citric acid in 1 tsp. warm water and add it to the mixture. Be careful not to over stir the mixture.
5. Pour the candy mixture into the molds, making sure that the mixture isn't bubbling. If you want to add candy pieces to the lollipop, do it while the mixture is still hot.
6. Allow the molds to set for 10 minutes before removing the clips and molds.
Tags: candy mixture, hard candy, hard candy mixture, mold tabs, reaches degrees