Part Two of a Twofer: Candy - Cracker Jack

Candy candy candy.  As much as I love you, I am never confident.  If you'll remember the last time I got to this section, the results were poor.  That just didn't work out well.  I had high(er) hopes for this cracker jack recipe.  Who doesn't like caramel corn?  I'll tell you who.  People who say kair-a-mel.  They don't like caramel corn.  They're just cynical, angry people.  Let's not give them any more of our thought, 'cause even candy that doesn't turn out right is still good and sweet and we don't need to be brought down by those weirdos.

Cracker Jack memories.  The first distinct memory I have of Cracker Jack (capital C and J, here), was when I was probably seven.  We lived in Fargo, and I walked with a friend to a convenience store and was really excited to use some of my own money to buy come Cracker Jack.  Something tells me my mom didn't know about this.  I was buying my own candy, and there was going to be a toy!  I know I'd had it before or I wouldn't have been so excited.  The candy itself must have been good (how could it not be?), but I remember being disappointed by the toy, whatever it was.  Whatever it was I pulled out of that box, it must not have been as good as a previous prize.  One upon a time, it seems like the prizes were pretty good.  Check it out.  I'd be willing to bet that whatever I got back in the early 80s was probably better than what is in boxes of Cracker Jack today.

Well, being as that I was seven, I was probably not capable as being as unhappy as this guy was.  Though I will agree, a pencil topper and a "fun fact", would make me pretty sad.  At least, if I make my own cracker jack (small c and j), I could put my own prizes in.

Preparation

Cracker jack is pretty easy to make, it seems.  Make candy, mix with popcorn.  While you read the rest of this post, I suggest you listen to Popcorn by Hot Butter.  Here, I'll help you out.

This will totally help soften the news that all you get in boxes of Cracker Jack these days are poor imitations of prizes.  Anyway, here we go.  To the recipe!

After you make your candy, head on over to Northern Woodwork Company for some Fine Cabinets

Mmmmmolasses.

Hey, remember when the Great Molasses Flood killed 21 people?  We'll do our best not to do a reenactment.  That said, I love the taste of molasses.

I first made the popcorn.  No microwave popcorn here.  Yuck.  Want good popcorn?  Follow this recipe, as long as you're using decent kernels it's foolproof.  I set it aside and focused on the candy, and did my best to not get nervous about failure.  It shouldn't be difficult though:  

1. Add stuff 
2. Mix 
3. Heat 
4. Watch the temperature
5. ???  
6. Profit!

The key thing is to get the temperature of the candy right.  That was the problem the first time I made English toffee.  I've got a candy thermometer, and it says that soft ball temperature is at 240 degrees.  Unfortunately, the bulb of that thermometer is too high off the bottom of the pot I was using for this recipe, so I used our digital thermometer instead.  No problem.

Add stuff

Mix

Heat

Getting there...

On the nosey!

Then add the baking soda.  Why's that in there?  Beats the heckoutta me, but directions are directions.

WHOA!  Take it off the heat!  Take it off the heat!  I forgot about the vinegar in there.

Narrowly averting a giant mess, the candy settled down and I prepared to mix the candy and popcorn together.  

Aaaand, scene!

Tasting and Reaction

Again, I don't have any commentary from that day, but I don't think there really needs to be much.  Sugar, molasses, and crunchy popcorn, what could be bad?  Rather than answer the question, I'll show you.

Hmmm... that's not right

Even after stirring and stirring, and cooking and cooking, there was a lot of unmelted sugar.  I'm afraid I don't remember much about the cracker jack aside from the fact that the candy must not have gotten to a high enough temperature.  This seems to be verified by this recipe, which recommends cooking the candy between 250 and 300 degrees depending on how crunchy you want the final product.  But all that said, what I made didn't last long.  Maybe it has something to do with my unending sweet tooth.  It actually probably has everything to do with that.  So in as much as what I made probably didn't last the night, I guess I'd call it a success.  But it's not such a stretch to think that if I covered just about anything with sugar and molasses that it wouldn't last long in this house.

If anybody has any experience making candy or caramel (pronounced car-muhl) corn, I'd love to hear your thoughts or even to have you try it cooked to a better temperature.

Next time (and it won't be remotely as long as this last gap, I promise):  Vegetables