Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable (72 page)

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

General Description:

This Filipino confection is as pure and creamy sweet as the milk it’s made of
. Pastillas de leche are a simple candy made from boiling milk and sugar together into a soft paste, which is then formed into individual pieces and rolled in more sugar. These snowy white candies are traditionally wrapped in cellophane and white paper.

History:

Pastillas de leche seem to be a version of
dulce de leche
since both terms mean “milk candy” in Filipino and Spanish, and both are made of milk and sugar.
But dulce de leche is cooked until it caramelizes and turns brown, and pastillas de leche are cooked slowly at a low temperature so they remain white.

Serving Suggestions:

The simplicity of this recipe makes it a wonderful candy to whip up anytime. Try using organic milk from a local creamery. The candy will taste of fresh, wholesome milk.

Candy-Making Notes:

These easy candies can be rolled into balls or cut into cylinders.

Recipe:

1.
Combine milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture becomes a thick paste.

2.
Stir in powdered milk and lemon rind.

3.
Remove from heat.

4.
Roll into ½-inch balls. Roll balls in the extra sugar.

Yield:

About 50 candies

Storage:

These candies are traditionally wrapped in white wax paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

General Description:

Renowned for its tooth-sticking chewiness and its association with the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, taffy is a soft sugar candy available in a variety of fruit flavors
. It is typically tinted with pastel colors, cut into bite-size pieces, and wrapped in wax paper. Taffy gets its incredible chewy consistency and stiff, sticky texture from the taffy-making process.
Molasses taffy
was its predecessor.

History:

Taffy originated in Britain and was brought to America in the 1800s. The term
saltwater taffy
was coined in a candy shop on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1889. Saltwater taffy does not actually contain ocean water, and the taffy itself was not invented at the boardwalk, but the name has forever linked this candy with summer vacations by the sea.

Serving Suggestions:

Taffy is a summertime treat. It can be flavored and colored to your preference: Try flavored oils such as peppermint instead of vanilla extract. Twist different colored ropes together to form multicolored taffy.

Candy-Making Notes:

Pull the taffy mixture as much as possible; you may want to enlist helpers.

Recipe:

1.
Coat a marble slab or baking sheet with cooking spray. Lightly spray a pair of kitchen shears. Cut wax paper into 3-inch squares so that you’ll be ready to wrap pieces of taffy in step 9.

2.
Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add corn syrup, water, butter, and salt and stir to combine.

3.
Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.