With the kids at home these holidays, the days might seem long and hard trying to keep them constantly amused. Why not make them a bit sweeter by getting all involved in making my homemade deliciously enticing taffy.

Taffy is a chewy colored candy and one of my favorite things to do when I was growing up was go into quaint little candy shops in London and look at the different jars filled with taffy in every hue. So on that note you can’t go wrong in getting helpers for this sweet project, roll up those sleeves and get messy with some sweet taffy!

Ingredients

2 ½ cups of sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup light corn syrup

1 1/3 cups of water

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of butter (plus extra for hands when moulding the taffy)

one 21 oz packet of Tang of a flavor of your choice.

½ teaspoon of vanilla

Method

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Then add corn syrup, water, butter and salt and stir well until butter is melted.

Bring to a boil over medium heat and stop stirring. If you have a candy thermometer this step would be more precise, cook mixture until candy thermometer read 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Otherwise watch until it is cooked.

Immediately remove from heat. Carefully stir in vanilla and drink mix. Stir well. Pour mixture onto buttered baking pan. Allow to cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.

Then comes the fun bit, get the kids to butter their hands and pull the taffy into toffee size shapes, wrap with parchment paper and drop into your candy bowl to be enjoyed later.

Have a fantastic taffy making time!

By Mayuri Jayasinghe