Grandmas Taffy Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Butter 1 or 2 large jelly roll pans (something flat, but with sides) and set aside. Soften the gelatin in the cold water in a small bowl. Set aside.
• 2. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, stir sugar, milk, syrup, butter and paraffin together over medium high heat until it boils.
• 3. Add the softened gelatin, and continue to cook, stirring constantly, to the hard ball test in a small cup of cold water. (250°to 255°F)
• 4. Stir in nutmeats or flavorings and pour onto buttered pans to cool. Cool until you are able to hold your hand on the bottom of the pan.
• 5. Wash hands and butter them a little. Take a glob of the candy from the pan and pull it until stiff and white and glossy. (Keep hands buttered if it is sticky--Not too much butter) This is when it comes in handy to have several people to pull the taffy. Give each child their own small glob to pull (making sure it is cool enough for little buttered hands), and have the adults work in pairs to pull larger batches. Work hand over hand, pulling and stretching between partners until taffy becomes very hard to pull and white.
• 6. When the taffy has been pulled sufficiently,pull and form it into ropes about 3/4 to 1 inch diameter and lay them back on the buttered pans to cool completely. Try to keep them from touching each other by laying them out in a coiled or snake like pattern.
• 7. Let cool completely and crack into bite sized pieces with meat pounder, mallet, the back of a heavy knife, etc. Just hit it and it should crack easily. Wrap pieces in waxed paper and store in airtight container where it is cool and dry.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Add the butter, salt, corn syrup and water; mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to mix in butter. Heat to 275 degrees F (134 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped from a spoon forms hard but pliable threads.
• Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla, flavored extract and food coloring. Pour into a greased 8x8 inch baking dish. When cooled enough to handle, remove candy from the pan, and pull until it loses its shine and becomes stiff. Pull into ropes, and use scissors to cut into 1 inch pieces. Wrap each piece in waxed paper.

Steps:

• Sort through popcorn, discarding unpopped kernels.
• Combine evaporated milk, sugar, corn syrup, margarine, and salt in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; stir constantly until caramel reaches 246 degrees F (119 degrees C) on a candy thermometer, about 5 minutes.
• Pour some popcorn into a very large bowl. Pour in some of the caramel; stir until evenly coated. Add remaining popcorn and caramel in batches, stirring well after each addition.
• Scoop some of the popcorn mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap. Gather and twist the plastic wrap to gently shape into a ball. Place popcorn ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; repeat with remaining mixture. Let cool until set, about 15 minutes.