Make Black Licorice with Grandchildren

I mentioned in my posting about Lewis Day (creating your own family holiday) that our son and his wife left pieces of homemade licorice around the house.

I had to exert TONS of self-control with the candy they left us and eat only one or two pieces at a time because it was so yummy.

I HAD to get the recipe and make it!

As I wrapped up the candy that I made, I didn’t have any self-control.

At the end, I almost felt like I was sugared out.

I’ve decided I have lots of self-control when there isn’t any tempting thing to eat in the house.  When it’s right in front of me and I’m working with it (wrapping the pieces of licorice in pieces of wax paper), I’m a goner.

I ought to join Licorice Anonymous . . .

Here’s the recipe.

Licorice Caramels

1 cup butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon black paste food coloring
1 teaspoon anise flavoring oil

Line a 9×13 inch pan with foil.  Butter the foil and set aside.

Slowly melt butter in a large, heavy pan.  Use a fork to swirl butter up the sides of the pan to prevent sugar crystals.  When melted, add the rest of the ingredients — except the black paste food coloring and the flavoring.

Turn heat to medium-high and cook stirring constantly with a flat bottom wooden spoon.  Do not cook on high heat.  It will scortch!)

Cook to 234 degreed on candy thermometer (soft ball stage).  Remove from heat and add coloring and flavoring.  Mix well so there are no light colored streaks in the caramel.

Pour into prepared pan and let sit in a cool place overnight.  Turn out on a cutting board and remove foil.  Cut into squares and wrap in waxed paper.

Now that you’ve read the recipe, let me give you a couple of hints — based on my experience.  First, about the coloring.  When I went to the store, the clerk told me about a powdered coloring.  “It will last 30 years and won’t go bad,” she said.  I thought that sounded like a great deal.  The food coloring from my cake decorating days that sat in my cupboard was 30 years old.  That’s why I went to get new coloring. . .

However, the coloring wasn’t a dark black.  It was more a greenish steel gray.  The candy tastes yummy but looks rather odd.  I recommend that you try the gel coloring instead.

Second.  My daughter-in-law said that her sister just sprayed a cake pan with Pam instead of lining the pan with foil.  (At least that is what my memory told me.)  Even though I sprayed the pan it was rather hard to get the licorice out.  (And then there was the flavoring from the spray.  I had to wipe the oil off so it wouldn’t over power the yummy licorice flavoring.)  So, next time, I’m going to use buttered foil in the pan.

Third.  When the recipe said to put in a cool place overnight, I thought, “Put it in the fridge.”  The fridge is a cool place, right?  Well, I think it is almost too cool.  The licorice was really hard to cut.  And that leads me to my fourth suggestion.

Fourth.  Test out your candy thermometer BEFORE you make the candy.  It had been a long time since I used my thermometer.  Heck, I don’t even know if I really even used it at all!  As I was cooking the candy, it started looking like candy at the hard ball stage instead of the soft ball stage.  But the thermometer didn’t say 234 degrees.  So, I’m thinking that part of the reason the candy was so hard to cut was because it was cooked too long.

You might want to make a practice batch before you invite your grandchildren over to make it with you.  That way, you’ll work out the kinks beforehand.  Then, you’ll have a much happier time with your grandchildren!

Candy making is a great skill to add to your grandchildren’s culinary repertoire.  Happy cooking!