Recipe courtesy of Jacques Torres

Lollipops

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  • Level: Advanced
  • Total: 30 min
  • Prep: 20 min
  • Cook: 10 min
  • Yield: 12 lollipops, depending on the

Ingredients

Directions

Special equipment:
Lollipop sticks
  1. Before you begin this recipe, please take a class from a professional on working with sugar. This is a skill that professional pastry chefs develop after years of experience. Working with sugar will burn your fingers so know before you start that your fingers will develop burn blisters. Place the sugar, vinegar and water in a saucepan over high heat. Insert a candy thermometer and cook until the sugar reaches 320 degrees F. Use a pastry brush to keep the inside of the saucepan clean as the sugar cooks or the sugar may recrystallize. To do this, dip a clean brush in cold water and brush the inside of the pan clean. Pour the cooked sugar onto 3 or 4 silicone baking mats. If you want to color and/or flavor the sugar with food colors and/or flavored oils, this is the time to do so. Add a few drops of color to the sugar. Mix with a wooden skewer. To get started, push the sugar from the sides toward the center. This process takes a little while. Try to keep the sugar divided by color. Use the mat to push the firm sugar around the edges toward the center. Use a folding motion to accomplish that task. The next step is to pick up the sugar with your hands. Place each color under the heat of the sugar lamp. Pull the sugar until it becomes glossy and the color is evenly distributed. You will need to pull the colors simultaneously. Keep them under the sugar lamp but keep an eye on them. The lamp can melt the sugar so it is important keep rotating it and folding it onto itself.
  2. Cut sugar of different flavors. Pull into long ropes. Put together side-to-side. Roll into a big cigar. Pull the sugar to make it a little thinner. When thin, start to roll into a spiral. You can twist the sugar to give it another look. Trim off the end. Insert the stick. Set aside and let it cool. Use any colors, any flavors, and any size. Wrap in plastic and tie with a bow to preserve them.