Day 5 Of Twelve Days Of Christmas Candy", Chocolate Saltwater Taffy

photo courtesy of blogger "Kingdom Jewels"

Day 5 of "Twelve Days of Christmas Candy" Chocolate Saltwater Taffy

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Saltwater taffy has a distinctive salty flavor, but it got its name when a famous taffy shop on Atlantic City's boardwalk was flooded with ocean water. This recipe, although time consuming and a bit messy, is a lot of fun if you enjoy getting your hands dirty. You'll need a pastry brush, a candy thermometer, and unsalted butter for greasing the pan and a cutting board.

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Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light Karo

2/3 cup water

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

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Directions:

1. Butter an 8x8-inch (20x20-cm) square pan.

2. Fill a small bowl with cold water and wet a pastry brush. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, cornstarch, butter, chocolate and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until a candy thermometer registers 256ºF. While cooking the mixture, brush down the insides of the pan with the wet pastry brush every few seconds to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour mixture into buttered pan. Be careful, mixture is hot and can burn your skin easily. Butter a large cutting board.

3. When cool enough to handle, butter your hands and pull taffy until it is light in colour and has a satiny gloss. This is a messy process but have fun with it. You'll need to pull taffy for about 10 minutes. Roll the taffy into a long rope about ½-inch in diameter and put it on the buttered board. Butter a pair of scissors and cut the rope into 1-inch pieces. Don't worry if the pieces are uneven. Let the pieces sit for about 30 minutes. Individually wrap each candy in a buttered piece of wax paper larger than the candy and twist the ends. Makes about 36 candies.

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