Fabric Box day

Don't you just love fabric box in the mail day?  You get that big box and you just can't wait to open it and see all the goodies inside.  It's so great.
Here is a little eye candy for you:

 

And now here is some real candy!

Isn't it pretty?  My son had to make a handmade treat for a classmate as part of an English project.  His time period was 1860's-1880's.  During and after the Civil War.  I was trying to help him come up with something to make and we finally decided hard candy would be good.  The soldiers carried it in their pockets during the war and ate it for something sweet.  I think peppermint was the most popular at the time but my son doesn't like peppermint, so he made butter.

It turned out fairly well and it was easy to make.  The only hard part was holding the thermometer in the candy mixture until it reached 310 degrees.  My son made me do that part.

For anyone interested, here is the recipe.  He used butter extract and yellow food coloring and it turned out very buttery and was really good.

Ingredients     

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

•                         
  3 3/4 cups white sugar
•                         
  1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
• 1 cup water

•                        
  1 tablespoon orange, or other flavored extract
• 1/2 teaspoon food coloring (optional)
•                        
  1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting                                                 

         Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the white sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads.
2. Remove from heat and stir in flavored extract and food coloring, if desired. Pour onto a greased cookie sheet, and dust the top with confectioners' sugar. Let cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.