Create unique flavors and colors with homemade hard candy. This recipe makes it simple to make your own candy for holidays, gifts or a bit of everyday indulgence.
Hard Candy
Updated Sep. 09, 2024
Just how do you make hard candy? Here’s a hard candy recipe that will give you all the tips, tricks and variations to make homemade sweets. There’s an old-fashioned appeal in making your own candy, not to mention, the sky’s the limit when it comes to flavor and color.
And bonus, if it’s stored properly, it can last for weeks! Once you learn how to make hard candy, you might want to try our chewy caramel candy recipe too.
Ingredients for Hard Candy
- Confectioners’ sugar: Using confectioners’ sugar to coat the candy helps prevent sticking.
- Sugar and light corn syrup: These two sweeteners are melted together until they hit the ideal hard-crack temperature.
- Flavoring extract: This recipe calls for anise, lemon or orange extract, but you can use your favorite flavoring, along with a complementary food coloring, if you like.
- Red, yellow or orange food coloring (optional): The liquid food coloring is not a recipe requirement, and if you’d prefer not to use it, don’t worry, the taste of your candy won’t be affected.
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the baking sheet
Fill a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with confectioners’ sugar to a depth of 1/2 inch. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, drag it through the sugar to make a continuous curved-line indentation in the sugar. This will serve as a “mold” for your candy. Set the pan aside.
Step 2: Melt the sugar
In a large, heavy-duty saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water, then bring them to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cover and continue cooking for three minutes without stirring, to dissolve any sugar crystals.
Step 3: Continue cooking the candy
Uncover the pan and raise the heat to medium-high. Continue boiling the syrup without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 300°F (the hard-crack stage). Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the flavor extract and the food coloring (if desired).
Step 4: Pour the candy into your “mold”
Carefully pour the mixture into a glass measuring cup with a spout. Working quickly, pour the syrup into the indentation in the prepared pan. Cover the candy with more confectioners’ sugar. When the candy is just cool enough to handle, cut it into pieces with scissors.
Hard Candy Variations
- Experiment with flavors and colors: There are lots of different extracts and colors to use, and also flavoring oils that work well too, from fruits to peppermint and cinnamon.
- Make lollipops:Â You can make lollipops with molds to give your candy a specific shape.
- Score or crack it: Another way to shape candy is to lay aluminum foil on a baking sheet and dust it with confectioners’ sugar. Pour the candy onto the foil and dust with more sugar. Either wait until it’s completely cool and shatter it into random pieces, or wait until it starts to cool and use a knife or pizza cutter to score the candy into even pieces. When it’s completely cool, crack it along the lines.
- Wrap it up: Wrap candy pieces in cellophane for individual hard candies.
How to Store Hard Candy
The most important factor in storing homemade hard candy is keeping moisture at bay. As soon as it’s completely cool, move it into an airtight container.
Can you make hard candy ahead of time?
Absolutely. If it’s stored properly, hard candy can be kept for weeks.
Hard Candy Tips
How can I keep hard candy from getting sticky?
It’s important to cook hard candy all the way to 300° to make sure it hits the right stage. Powdered sugar helps keep candy from sticking together, as does storing it separated with waxed or parchment paper. Keep candy in a cool, dry place in an airtight container. You can also add a silica packet or two to the bottom of the container to help absorb any excess moisture. Avoid making candy when your kitchen is hot and humid.
Why is my hard candy grainy?
If sugar crystals are reintroduced to the melted syrup, it can become grainy. The reason you cover the pot and boil for three minutes is so the steam from the liquid can wash down the sides of the pan. If you still notice any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan, you can wipe them down with a wet pastry brush.
What’s the best way to determine if my candy thermometer is accurate?
A candy thermometer is one of the most important candy-making tools. Before starting a candy project, test your thermometer in boiling water. It should say 212°. If it is higher or lower, add or subtract those degrees when cooking your candy.
Hard Candy
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Yield
3/4 pound
Ingredients
- 5 to 6 cups confectioners' sugar
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 to 2 teaspoons anise, lemon or orange extract
- Red, yellow or orange liquid food coloring, optional
Directions
- Fill a 15x10x1-in. pan with confectioners' sugar to a depth of 1/2 in. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, make a continuous curved-line indentation in the sugar; set pan aside.
- In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cover and continue cooking for 3 minutes to dissolve any sugar crystals.
- Uncover and cook on medium-high heat, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard-crack stage). Remove from the heat; stir in extract and food coloring if desired.
- Carefully pour into a glass measuring cup. Working quickly, pour into prepared indentation in pan. Cover candy with confectioners' sugar. When candy is cool enough to handle, cut into pieces with a scissors. Store in a covered container.
Nutrition Facts
1 ounce-weight: 383 calories, 0 fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 26mg sodium, 99g carbohydrate (89g sugars, 0 fiber), 0 protein.
Every evening for a week in December, my husband and I mix up several batches of this soothing candy. When we finish, we have all our favorite flavors and a rainbow of colors. The pieces look lovely in a clear candy dish or jar.
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