This will be the most active page here through Christmas. Feel free to try any of these recipes out yourself, but please make sure you read any of the links within the recipes - if you are not familiar with candymaking, there are several important things you should keep in mind that are linked from various points in the recipes.
One VERY important point to ALWAY REMEMBER:
Sugar syrup at 240° fahrenheit is more insidious, and can burn you
worse, that hot oil at a similar temperature. The syrup will stick
to you skin, and will NOT rub off. Boiling
sugar syrup rarely splatters, but always be careful with it - if it gets
on your skin it WILL stick and it WILL burn. The best thing you can
do is to instantly get your hand into cold water, then remove the cooled
candy from your skin and treat the burn. (juice squeezed from an Aloe plant leaf works great)
If you try to brush or rub the syrup off, it will probably spread
out but remain on your skin, enlarging the burn. Again, simple common sense
will keep you from having any trouble with this. Don't stir too vigorously,
don't touch the syrup on the spoon or thermometer until you KNOW it is cooled,
and be careful when adding ingredients to already cooked syrup, so that you
do not splatter. (usually by that point, the syrup is fairly thick, and it will
rarely splatter much unless you drop something quite large into it)