Making Pull Taffy (and other things)

I temporarily lost my camera, so I've resorted to taking pictures on my phone... That's why the quality sucks...

Today, Tricity and I finally got around to making old fashioned pull taffy. I never made candy before, so I was worried I would burn it, or it would turn rock hard, or I was sure that SOMETHING would go wrong, but luckily, it was a success!

I used the following recipe. I chose not to add flavors or coloring because for one, I didn't have any, and two, I wanted to make it as old fashioned as I could, seeing as how I'm sure they didn't use that stuff back in the day. I did, however, use some vanilla to flavor it. Here is the recipe:

3/4 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Measure 2 cups sugar, l 1/4 cups corn syrup, 3/4 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt into a saucepan and blend well with a wooden spoon. (I didn't have one so I used whatever I had on hand.) Place over low heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring continuously. Increase the heat and keep stirring.

Bring the syrup to a boil and don't stop stirring. Use a candy thermometer, and when the thermometer registers 265 degrees, remove candy from heat. If you don't have a candy thermometer, then there is a simple test you can do to see if it is done. Fill up a cup or coffee mug with ice water. Drop a spoon of syrup into it, and if it hardens, it is ready to remove from the heat.

Once you have removed the taffy mix from the heat, add 2 tablespoons butter and stir very gently. Take a flat pan and butter it. It's best not to use oil or grease, because it won't taste as good. Pour the mixture onto the pan, and let it cool until it's just cool enough to handle. Be careful not to burn yourself.

When the taffy has cooled enough to handle, it’s time to start pulling. This is also the time to add your flavoring. Pause briefly between pulling to add a drop or two of vanilla to the mixture, folding the mixture over on the flavor. Keep pulling and folding the taffy until it turns white. Use scissors to cut it however you want to. You can roll it into tubes and cut it like tootsie rolls, flatten it and cut it into squares, or however you want to do it. Wrap it up with wax paper, plastic wrap, or candy wrappers, and it's ready to go.

Here's the pictures from our experience: First of all, I got a drop of the hot syrup on my hand during the mixing process, and got a nasty burn. It's a blister now, but not too bad of one... It's my own fault. I got goofy with stirring...
That was the taffy all cooked, and poured into a pizza pan. Once it cooled, I started to stretch it. It took a lot of butter to coat our hands so it wouldn't keep sticking, and to put on the pan to keep the taffy from sticking to it as well, when we put it down to give our hands a break.
The more I stretched it, the more air bubbles got into it (which is what you're supposed to do) and the more white it became. It still had a little bit of cream color to it, though, from the vanilla I put into it.

This was Tric pulling the taffy. I think it took more time to butter her hands than it did for her to pull it (or in her case, mash it around because it was too hard for her to pull apart). All in all, I think she took under a minute before she said she was done. lolThis was the end result. I flattened the taffy and cut it up into little squares. Then I put some plastic down and layered the squares so they wouldn't touch, because they were still pretty sticky. I put them in the fridge, and hopefully they harden up a little, because I don't have candy wrappers to keep them from sticking together.
After we were done, it was time for me to finish up supper. I put a Boston butt roast in the crock pot earlier in the day and let it cook for hours and hours until the meat was falling apart. Then, because we're still city slickers and don't have access to a fresh garden of veggies, I opened up cans of carrots, corn, green beans, peas, and potatoes, and threw them in with a little more salt and pepper. DEEEE-LICIOUS!Then it was time for me to go to bed... lol (This was just the sleeping mask I bought the other day, but I don't really use it. It was one of those 'gotta have it' things.) But seriously, it was time for me to get some sleep for work.Tricity decided at the last minute that she would try putting a sock on my foot while I was in bed, so I had to take a picture of the lovely job she did. lol That was pretty much the end of my day..