Old-Fashioned Homemade Hard Candy

Excellent recipe, and very easy to make! Instead of cutting into strips, I let the candy harden completely, then broke it into pieces by hitting it with a mallet. My husband loves this! Strawberry oil flavoring is my favorite. Go to a local baker's store, and you can find ~50 different choices of oils to make this candy with. Don't be afraid to experiment! Thanks for sharing this recipe!

I brought this to work for a 'treat day' and have spent the whole day blushing from the compliments! I used about a tablespoon of lemon extract and two drops of yellow food coloring, and spread it out on that new Reynolds 'release' foil, then cut it in squares when it was taffy consistency with a pizza cutter, broke them apart when they were cooled and dipped each in powdered sugar before putting them in the storage container. PERFECT!

We made this when I was a kid too!!! It was our special family tradition and we first learned it when my grandmother participated in baking for a church bazaar. One year, when I was ten and we were pretty poor, this was the only gift we gave to those beyond our immediate family. It was well appreciated by friends, teachers, and acquaintances. We made different colors and flavors - Peppermint was pink; raspberry red; spearmint green; wintergreen blue; lemon yellow etc. We placed them in small decorative jars and tied a ribbon around the neck of the jar. Very fun! It's been many years since we made this recipe. Grandma says this one is an exact match with hers, except with hers you used 1 whole cup of Karo instead of 3/4 cup.

Our church circle made these years ago. Things I learned from them: 1)Remember - always use Cane Sugar - Beet sugar is a tiny bit different and doesn't harden the same way. 2) We put 1/2" of confectioner's sugar onto luncheon trays, made troughs with a dowel, connected the troughs in a continuous line, and poured the candy in an "S" in the troughs. When cool enough to handle, cut and toss in more confectioners sugar.

This recipe was exactly what I was looking for! I use a variety of candy oils/flavorings for an assortment of flavors and colors. Since I found this recipe, this WILL be a new Christmas tradition!

This is an EASY & EXCELLENT recipe! As a first-timer at making hard candy, I burnt the first batch. My second batch came out perfect and was alot of fun to make. Knowing that I would probably mess it up- I halved the recipe. This may be a good tip for other first-timers as you need to work very quickly!

Taste wise this is the best! I made candy for the first time tonight....I only came into 1 problem...All thw powder sugar stuck to the candy and is really white on most of it! Is this normal? But other than that my house smell's GREAT and the CANDY IS GREAT! OPINONS PLEASE ON WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE POWDERED SUGAR....Vicki

ME & MY MOM MAKE THIS CANDY EVERY YEAR MY SON GOES NUTS NOW IF I DONT MAKE IT FOR HIM EVERY YEAR HOWEVER THERE ARE TO THINGS DIFFERENT WE DO #1 WE POUR OURS EITHER ON A MARBLE PIECE OR IN LIKE A FLAT COOKIE SHEET AND BUST IT UP W/A HAMMER AFTER HARDENING (WE MAKE DOUBLE &TRIPLE BATCHES OF ABOUT 15-20 DIFFERNT FLAVORINGS EVERY YEAR AND WE JUST MATCH THE FOOD COLORING TO WHICHEVER FLAVOR WE MAKE ONLY WHEN IT COMES TO FLAVORING IT (EXCEPT FOR THE STONG FLAVORS LIKE CLOVES,CINNOMON,PEPPERMINT)YOU NEED TO USE 2 OF THE TINY BOTTLES OF FLAVORING PER RECIPE TO REALLY MAKE IT GOOD--HOWEVER MAKE STRONGER FLAVORS LAST CUZ U'LL DEFINITLY BE OPENING DOORS AND OR WINDOWS AND RUNNIN FOR THE HILLS IT'S SO STONG(LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE .....TRUST ME!!!)

Wonderful recipe! I color some green and some red at Xmas. It is a greatly appreciated Xmas gift.

This recipe was so easy to follow. I was very nervous about candy making because I was told it was very touchy...but it wasn't bad at all! But it did take FOREVER to get the candy up to 220 degrees, so I pulled up a chair and "watched a pot boil". I couldn't figure out how to cut the candy while it was still hot. But where I come from, people pour the candy into a cookie sheet and smash it with a hammer, so no one noticed. Be careful, because between 250 and 300 degrees, the sugar heats up very quickly. Also I had another recipe from the flavoring insert, and it said to put the coloring in at 250 degrees, and NOT with the flavoring. Other than that, no alterations were made to this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent & easy recipe. Cutting with a pizza cutter is the best - no handling hot candy. I've added this to our Christmas traditions!

Made these canides the other day and they turned out wonderful! Only changes I made was the extract. Instead of using extract I used one dram of LorAnne flavored oil. I made cinnamon, butterscotch, and watermellon. The watermellon was less than pleasing because it turned out too sweet and tasted to much like artificial flavoring. I recommend to anyone that if you do make watermellon to add LorAnn tart & sour enhancer. Tastes very similar to jolly ranchers when the enhancer is added. Great recipe thanks for sharing!

Great recipe! My first time making this, I didn't have any flavoring oils, so I used 1 tsp. mint extract. It came out very good, without the in-your-face mintiness that you sometimes get with the store-bought stuff. The second time, I used 1 tsp rootbeer oil (double what the recipe called for), and it turned out a little bland for my taste. Next time I do rootbeer, I will double the amount to 2 tsps. I made other changes to the recipe to fit with the equipment that I have on hand in my kitchen... I used spray oil on a sheet of wax paper laid on a cookie sheet, and have had no issues with sticking (the paper peels right off). Instead of cutting the candy using kitchen shears, i prefer the rustic, jagged pieces left over after smashing the solidified sheet of candy with a blunt end of a knife. Lastly, instead of a candy thermometer, I used a binder clip to hold the probe end of an oven-safe probe thermometer in the saucepan. I was able to set the alarm to go off at 285 F, giving me plenty of time to prep the cookie sheet before the candy hit 300 degrees F. Don't be afraid to improvise! :)

Excellent recipe and easy to make! I will keep this one for future use.

Great hard candy recipe. I have also placed Popsicle sticks on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed and then poured the candy mixture into circles over the end of each stick. Individual suckers work well for children.

This was fun to try, but didn't turn out great for us. Powdered sugar ended up coating the candy and making it whitish, and our thermometer was off making it hard. Check your thermometer before starting and see at what temp it shows boiling and then adjust recipe.

This came out great, just made it today. I used peppermint and raspberry flavoring (green and red for Christmas), and I waited for it to harden and used a meat mallet to break it up into pieces. I lined the pans with foil and cooking spray so no mess to clean up and no sticking

excellent

I never knew I could make hard candy. I have tried several times in the past and had nothing but a stack of pots that needed de-sugaring. I found this recipe and decided to try one more time. It looks and tastes like I have been making candy for years. I used one dram of Cinnamon oil and red food coloring. It looks and tastes just like the old Jolly Rancher cinnamon sticks. Remember those? A bonus is the cinnamon oil makes your house smell awesome, just don't stand over it when you pour it in.... lesson learned.

My mom and I made this and this is the recipe she used. I was so happy to find it. She used the powdered sugar the first year, but then we used the countertop covered with well buttered tin foil. She snipped it apart with scissors and I do the same.

I haven't made this recipe since i was little. I just made it today and My Family really loves it!

It took me a few tries to get this one right, but I don't have a candy thermometer, so I was guessing the temperature (and undercooked a few times). If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can dip a fork into the candy mixture, and then dip the fork into cool water. If the candy hardens on the tines, then it's the right temperature. I also had a dilemma of flavoring oils vs. flavor extract. I learned that, if you can, oils are better (stronger flavor that holds up to boiling better), but you CAN use extract, but it takes about 4x as much. Also, another reviewer suggested using a pizza cutter to cut these: Definitely do that! So much better than trying to work quickly with scissors and hot sugar!

I have been looking for a hard candy recipe for quite a while like I had when I was growing up. Ii have never made it before and I was surprised at how easy it was! My first batch turned out perfectly! I do think it needs a little more of the extract but that is a personal choice. Thank you so much for such a easy recipe!

I use a recipe just like this one every year.I pour my candy on a butted cake pan and use a pizza cutter to make long strips in it as it cools.Then when strips cool I go back in the kitchen and lift them out of pan and brake each row.using my hands or the heavy end of a butter knife.

I LOVE this recipe... I don't like the candy personally, but my family LOVES it.

Perfect. I used cinnamon oil & my candy is great. Didn'tsee the point of confectioners' sugar.

I used to make this when I was a kid and sell it on the school bus. Lost the recipe years ago and was very thrilled to find it here again. I made this for Christmas, Red-Cinnamon and Green-Peppermint and gave them out for gifts. The only thing I did differently was I poured them out on a cookie sheet and cut into squares just before hardening and didn't use as much powdered sugar. Thanks for sharing this! :)

THIS IS PRETTY AND IT TASTE GOOD. I DID USE A WHOLE CUP OF CORN SYRUP.

Very easy to make, and tasted great. I would have added more peppermint, though.

This Recipe worked really good but it didn't give any sort of time frame on how long it took to cool. It didn't take long to boil though. Overall this recipe worked great! I made Cinnamon, Raspberry and Lemon. On Cinnamon and other Strong flavors I recommend that you only use 1/4 of a teaspoon instead of half. And for the less strong flavors like the Lemon and the Raspberry you should use 2 teaspoons for full flavor and also add some sour flavor enhancer to make the candy sour. And instead of cutting it with shears i just let it harden and beat it with a meat mallet.

good, but did not snip apart as directed

This recipe turned out excellent. So very easy to make.

Wow!!! That is all I can say! I've never made candy before, and I was really stressing because I wanted to make a birthday cake for my son. The idea I had was for something with a window, but I couldn't find an easy recipe. I live in a high altitude area, and saw a comment about not letting it get to the hard-crack stage. I couldn't find it again and so I just went with the soft-crack stage and it turned out wonderful! My kids are loving it, and it made some great windows (I didn't add color). I will be making this again!

again recipe from when I too was young. Good advice is to cover your hand with butter which will help while cutting the strips into pieces. We usaully used a small bowl and put butter in it and would just grab a small amount and cover palms and then went to work on cutting pieces. This was a great thing to do as a family.

Cooks right, but needs half a bottle of extract to get anywhere, might need an entire bottle to taste right.

So much easier than I thought it would be to make! We've already made 3 flavors today and loved every one!

I love the taste and how easy it is to make!!!!!

Did not have my grandmothers old recipe so i thought i would try this recipe. Glad I did, This recipe is perfect> Although i don't like to review a recipe with our following the exact directions, I did use a bottle of Flavored oil (1 Dram) instead of flavoring extract. 1 Bottle is the perfect amount if you decide to use the oil. Also, I use less powdered sugar only because I like the bright colors for the candy. For Christmas I also used green and red sprinkles and the small decorating balls right after I poured the candy into the cookie sheet. It does not melt, but actually settles into the candy to give it a unique look. See the pics posted. I did a batch of Spearmint with no color. After it went in the pan, I put some drops of red and green food coloring and swirled with a toothpick. Lots of compliments. Thanks again for posting.

I poured it onto cookie sheet that was covered lightly with powdered sugar. when it got hard I took a kitchen hammer and broke it up. no sticking and no greasy candy.

After having an epic failure with anoth recipe, I decided to try this one. HUGE success...until I received an emergency phone call in the middle of the setting process. Thankfully, your instructions on how to soften the candy so it could be worked, worked. Thank you! I had to hide the candy from my husband because he couldn't stop eating it! His only comment was that it needed more of the flavoring. Next time, I am going to increase the peppermint by half and see if that satisfies him. :)

I have never made hard candy before and was a little nervous. I did as one of the reviews I read said to do....add 1 Tbsp of extract (cherry), and I ended up adding 4 drops of coloring. I buttered the pan before starting to avoid any sugar crystalizing and used the Reynolds wrap no stick version and nothing stuck! I did use pizza cutter, nice recommendation. The flavor was still very light even with the increase to 1 Tbsp but it may vary from brands. I enjoyed making this recipe and look forward to making it again with many other flavors to give as gifts for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!

Made 1 batch and not enough flavor with extract. Made a 2nd batch and doubled the peppermint extract. Then made another batch with cinnamon oil. Everyone loved it! Brought them back to child hood! Pretty awesome! Will be making it again

Starting using this recipe 3 years ago, it has quickly become a Christmas tradition! I have made many different flavours too !

This is a really good recipe. Is tastes great and my only problem was the color, because I had limited dyes. You will definitely need a thermometer for it, though, because it takes a while to boil, and you won’t really be able to know when it’s at 300 F. It tasted excellent

I love this candy , We used to make it before my mom passed away.

We added 1tsp of flavor and let’s it harden so we can have chunks. Beware with cinnamon oil. 1 tsp. Is smells spicy. Make sure you open a window and or turn on the vent.

The flavor is great, even without the oil. If you use peppermint extract it make a soft sweet candy. I did agree with Leslie Marie that you should break the candy. Five Stars!!!!!

I have made 7 batches of this for Christmas this year. I tried Peppermint, Root beer, Cinnamon and raspberry. I put 1 tablespoon in each and they are perfect. I found that the 1/2 teaspoon called for was not enough. I have already shared with friends and family and they loved it. My husband said it is the best peppermint candy he has had and he is not a fan of peppermint. My favorite is by far the root beer. Thanks for the recipe as it is easy to make.

Tasted just like grandma's did

1st time with hard tack candy~ ACED IT!! Thanks for the recipe!

Easy to make but I guess I need either a different flavor or different amount. It was pretty flavorless.

Very simple and easy to make! My husband and father in law have asked me to make multiple flavours:)

Very easy recipe with very good results. I followed the recipe exactly ,except for using strawberry extract instead of mint. Everybody who's tasted this has loved it.