Boiled Sweets & Hard Candy

From hard candies and lollipops to chewy taffies and shaped fondants, this delightful book brings the tastes of childhood to the present day, with 20 fool-proof recipes for sweet-shop classics. It explains how sugar can be worked in various ways to achieve different effects – for hard, soft or chewy bites. Impress your friends with home-made Sour Drops, Candy Canes, Rhubarb and Custards, Barley Sugar Sticks, Jewelled Lollipops, Pineapple Chews or Maple Cream Candy. There are plenty of sugar-working techniques included, such as making sugar syrup, using a sugar thermometer, working fondant, and pulling and stretching taffy. Vibrant photography shows difficult stages of preparation and includes a gorgeous picture of each finished sweet, making this recipe collection a delight for the eye as well as the tastebuds. The recipes are written clearly and simply, and there are plenty of helpful tips and variations, which make this pretty gift book a real treasure. The author, Claire Ptak, is an American who worked as a pastry chef for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley before moving to London. Claire is also a food stylist who has styled numerous cookbooks, magazines and large advertising campaigns. This book is a smaller edition of Claire’s original book Home-Made Sweet Shop.