I mentioned a few days ago a new-to-me food blog I like a bunch, Kitchen Historic. Some friends I don’t see much of were coming over, so I wanted something super simple we could make, so that we could mostly just talk. This candy recipe is easy, and messy in a fun way, so it worked well for us!

Reaaaal easy ingredient list!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 cups sugar
• powdered sugar for rolling

Combine the sugar and apple cider in a medium pot and put on the stove over medium heat.

Cook to hard crack stage, 300-310 degrees.

(That’s the thermometer, if you can’t tell.)

If you don’t have a candy thermometer, that means if you drop a tiny bit of it into cold water, the sugar should become hard and crack, and be difficult to mold with your fingers if you take it out of the water.

Getting there…

Stir, increasing frequently as it gets hotter. When it reaches 300 degrees, remove from the heat.

Sprinkle powdered sugar over a baking sheet. Wait for the caramel to cool just enough that you can touch it without burning yourself, then take spoonfuls of it and roll it out in the powdered sugar like playdough worms, then twist the worms to give them texture. Ours weren’t coming out looking as classy as the ones on Kitchen Historic, so we made some fun shapes!

Yay for candy, and for friends!

Apple Sugar

From Kitchen Historic.

• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 cups sugar
• powdered sugar for rolling

Combine the sugar and apple cider in a medium pot and put on the stove over medium heat. Cook to hard crack stage, 300-310 degrees, stirring occasionally at first, frequently by the end.

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool until cool enough to handle. Sprinkle powdered sugar on a pan with walls while you wait.

Drop spoonfuls of the warm sugar mixture onto the powdered sugar and roll out into sticks. Gently twist the sticks, then set aside and roll out remaining caramel.