Candy Canes

This is a little late, but I wanted to do a recap of how our candy cane experience went this year. Making candy canes is our new family tradition, passed on from great grandparents on the Stephens (Scott's Mom) side of the family. I guess the great grandparents were candy makers in England. Scott's grandma is the "candy cane lady" in Layton, and his mom is the "candy cane lady" of Fruit Heights. So I am slowly learning and perfecting my ability to make candy canes (it doesn't help when you only do it for one month a year). I love this tradition because we really get to know people (it takes a big group), and not many people know how to make candy canes. You have to cook, cool on a stone, stretch on a hook, twist, cut, and shape them. This year was quite an experience. Our candy thermometer was not great but we endured for many batches. Our candy canes would turn out too hard or too soft (one degree makes a big difference) and it would be hard to make them look pretty. Finally we decided to get a different thermometer and things went much better. We invited over about 10 different family at different times, so we really got to know our neighbors much better. It was a lot of fun. I am feeling much better about my candy cane making ability (since we figured out the right temperature) and am excited about making more next year. I stole these pictures from Becky's blog since I didn't take any pictures myself.

Here are some friends pulling the candy on the hook. Thanks for being such good sports, even with babies crying!

Then twisting and rolling the candy:

Taste testing of course:

The finished product (this was not the prettiest batch -due to the thermometer, but I thought they did a good job):