#tea candy

This candy can be used for several purposes depending on what oil and teas you use.

Things You Need:

1 cup sugar (sweetness/sweeten up)

½ cup super strong tea, I mean strong, okay? Load that sucker up! (varies based on tea)

1/3 cup light corn syrup

Oil of some kind- coconut works great (depends on oil) (Can use Pam, veggie oil. Parchment paper works, too.)

Candy thermometer. Super important, you can pick one up at a dollar store.

Swipe oil over a cookie sheet, or you can use parchment paper and forego the oil.

Mix all in a sauce pan on medium-high heat. Pop in a candy thermometer.

Stir, with, you know, something heat-resistant. I don’t want to hear any crap about, “Wahh, my spatula melted!”

Keep stirring until candy reaches about 290-300F. Seriously, pay closer attention here than you do your fanfics, okay? It’s important.

The moment that thermometer reads between that, you pour that shit onto your cookie sheet/pan, whatever.

Allow to cool. (I usually stick it in the freezer for five minutes so it hardens and cracks. Pretend it’s the bodies of your enemies.)

Ready? Smack it with a hammer!!! It’s crack candy that tastes like tea!

Equipment:

Lollipop molds

Lollipop sticks

Small saucepan

Candy thermometer

Non-stick cooking spray

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons glucose

8 tablespoons brewed tea

Lemon rinds

Mint leaves

Directions:

Combine the sugar, honey, glucose and brewed tea in a small saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer and cook on high heat. While cooking the candy syrup, occasionally wash down the pan sides using a clean brush dipped in water to prevent crystallization.

Without stirring, cook until mixture reaches 310 degrees or hard crack on the candy thermometer.

Spray lollipop molds lightly with non-stick cooking spray.

Place lemon rinds and mint leaves in each section. Place lollipop sticks into mold.

Remove the pot from the heat and dip it into an ice bath for 15 seconds to stop the cooking. Remove the pot from the ice bath.

To avoid air bubbles, swirl hot candy syrup in both directions, being careful not to over mix.

Equipment

Large heavy saucepan

Metal spoon

Candy thermometer (essential!!)

Baking tray

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar

100 ml glucose syrup (115g) or light corn syrup

1/3 cup tea essence (recipe below)

This quantity makes a small batch, about 270g of candy. The recipe can easily be doubled or even quadrupled. NB : bigger batches will take longer to cook, a quadruple batch takes close to an hour to get to 164ºC (as opposed to 20 minutes for a small batch).

First of all, make the tea essence:

Tea Essence

Put ~1/8 cup loose tea leaves, or 6 tea bags into a heatproof bowl or mug. I used regular black tea, but use whatever your favourite is!

Pour boiling water over - you need about 1/3 cup of liquid for the candy, so add at least 2/3 cup of boiling water (as the tea leaves will sop up a fair bit of the water). Let this mixture sit for at least 10 minutes. You can also boil it in the microwave for a few minutes to further concentrate the tea flavour. The stronger the better! Strain the tea leaves out just before you use it.

Method

Place all ingredients (sugar, glucose syrup, tea essence) in the saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring, until all the sugar crystals are dissolved. Put the candy thermometer into the pan, so the base is sitting in the syrup.   

Bring the syrup to the boil. This is a Thou Shalt Never Leave the Kitchenrecipe ... you can do other stuff while the syrup boils (you know the dishes need washing), but do not leave it! The syrup should just be bubbling along nicely on medium heat. You don't need to stir it.

Use the pastry brush dipped in water to wash any stray crystals off the sides of the saucepan back into the mixture.   

While the syrup boils, prepare the pan - you can line it with foil if you like (not essential). The main thing to do is grease the tin with a plain vegetable oil like canola or sunflower oil. You can also use mini muffin tins, candy forms, a gem scone tray, or other metal pans as the mood takes you.   

Keep a close eye on the temperature! The magic number is 164ºC (330ºF). This will give you a hard crack candy, without burning the sugar. I found that while a plain syrup set well at 168º, when I added the tea essence at the start of cooking (rather than at the end, as per the original recipe I tried) 168º was too hot and burnt the candy.   From the start of cooking to reaching the end point of 164º takes me about 20 minutes (using a gas stove on medium heat). A quadruple batch will take close on an hour.   

When the syrup reaches 164ºC, turn off the heat and gently pour the mixture into your prepared pan.

After about 5 minutes, score the candy with a sharp knife. The window of opportunity for scoring the candy is only about 5 minutes, before 10 minutes have passed. Use a pot holder to hold the tin, and be careful - the candy is still very hot! You don't need to cut all the way through to the tin, just press down to make grooves.   

Leave the candy to cool completely, at least an hour. Then tip it out of the pan and break it up into cute little cushions. It should snap satisfyingly along the lines you scored.   

Place in an attractive container, and either give as a gift (this batch is for my brother-in-law) or have as a treat in the pantry. They are very hard candies, like lollipops, good for sucking on.

Clean up is easy if you just let everything soak in hot water for a while, the hard candy will just dissolve away.