So I’m not allowed to eat today prior to a colonoscopy tomorrow, but apparently the category of “clear liquids” includes jello & hard candy so long as they haven’t got any red or blue dyes in them. And I thought I had lemon drops somewhere (I may, but if so I have no idea where I stashed them…) and because I had to take a pre-procedure COVID test this morning, nobody in the house is allowed to go anywhere until afterwards. So! The internet is full of lemon drop recipes…
Sadly, my kitchen did not contain lemon extract or citric acid. So, well, almond extract sounds good, and I had some vanilla-infused sugar which I had barely used in years, so might as well enjoy it…
A quick survey of lemon drop recipes suggests that the important bits are 2 parts sugar to one part water, plus a teaspoon of cream of tartar per cup of water to keep it from crystalizing. I think next time I’d try without that bit, since it also imparts a kind of strong sour taste that I’m sure would be fine with lemon, but is a little weird here.
Anyway, 1/2 a cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of water, and 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar later, we boil to the hard crack stage (290-300 degrees F)
Stir, heat, keep stirring, regret the existence of summer, stir some more…
Meanwhile, make sure you have your flavoring ready & somewhere to put the candy once it’s cooked that will not result in BOILING SUGAR getting anywhere you don’t want it. (If you don’t have a silicon baking sheet, foil works fine too)
When your boiling sugar water gets up to temp, add your flavoring (“a dash” is fine, who can measure at this point?), mix it in, and then pour it carefully our of the pan onto your surface.
Lick off your spatula, mentally curse your child for leaving out the peanutbutter which is now Taunting you with its Calories, wait for it to cool.
At this point Fancy People will do things with rolls and scissors and powdered sugar, but I just started peeling bits up from the edges when it got cool enough to handle and turned them into blobs.
Eat, try not to make yourself sick, roll in powdered sugar if you want them to keep without sticking together.
