Willy Wonka Series; Stickjaw
STICKJAW FOR TALKATIVE PARENTS.
– Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Rummaging through old candy recipe books, I came across an old stickjaw recipe. Seems it really is a real candy, also known as coconut taffy, although it’s a hard candy rather than a sticky one. I did these in the shape of teeth for amusement sake, but I also make sticks of them as well. Much easier to suck on!
I normally share what I make, often just sampling, and giving the rest away, otherwise I’d be looking like Humpty Dumpty right now. But this. This I kept for myself. It’s the coconut. Same goes for coconut chocolate. Normally I have restraint when a chocolate bar is put in front of me. But not with anything coconut. Blink and it’ll be gone.
This recipe actually took me three goes to get it right, although the recipe wasn’t at fault. I didn’t understand until I googled hard candy making after the second flunk. Apparently if you make it when it’s humid, calling for rain, temperature higher than 20C (check, check, check) you’ll come across a few hiccups. I left it for the next day, and low and behold, success.
These are also awesome to make to freak people out (as teeth that is). Trialled and success. Just leave a set lying around and it’ll stop them dead in their tracks.
Willy Wonka Series; Stickjaw
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup glucose
- 2 drops of Wilton’s white white icing colour (not essential, but it makes it whiter)
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Stir in all ingredients on the stove, minus the coconut, until sugar is dissolved.
- Let it come to a boil, don’t stir, just wet down the sides of the pan from time to time to keep sugar splatter from burning.
- When it gets to 310F/ 155C, pull it off the stove straight away, stir in the coconut and pour it into silicone molds.
- If you want them to be chewy, put it off the stove at 260-270F/130C.
- When they’s hardened up in their molds, dust them with icing sugar to keep from sticking together. We used Fred Frozen Smiles Ice Cube Tray that I purchased on Amazon a while ago.
Notes
recipe adapted from The Candy Maker’s Guide; A Collection of Choice Recipes for Sugar Boiling, by Fletcher Manufacturing Company, published 1896 (can be found on Gutenberg website)
