Our Traditional Hard Candy Recipe, A Favorite At Christmastime

This year, I have really been trying to hand make goodies, not just for gifts for others, but for my kids as well. Homemade hard candy is something we’d sneak out of a dish, at Christmas, while the entire family socialized at my grandmother’s house. I can’t tell you how much of this I’ve eaten in my life.

Cherry, Watermelon, Root Beer, Orange… you name it. The flavor possibilities are endless.

I made some for my kids to enjoy this week, and as root beer anything is their favorite, that’s what we went with.
Note, that this recipe calls for the optional food coloring, but I don’t like to add food coloring to things if I don’t absolutely have/want to. The coloring you see in this candy is only from the flavor oil I added.

Also note, this is a very basic recipe, and I’m ‘pretty sure’ this isn’t unique to our family…although I tell my kids it is.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1/3 Cup Water
1/2 – 1 Tsp flavor (Use oil and NOT extract)
1-2 Drops food coloring (optional)
1 Cup Powdered Sugar

Directions:
1. Grease large baking pan and set aside. ( I lined mine with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray)
2. Mix the sugar, corn syrup and water in a large saucepan over medium heat.
3. Heat ingredients, staring constantly, until candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat.
4. Stirn in flavor and food coloring if you’re adding.
5. Immediately pour hot candy mix in pan. Allow it to cool completely. It will set in 15-20 minutes.
6. Once it’s hard, break apart into pieces and shake in a bag with powdered sugar.
*Note: I break into big chunks and then put in a gallon ziplock and use my kitchen mallet to gently break. This saves glass like pieces of candy from getting all over your kitchen.