Homemade Suckers

We love homemade suckers in my home. I've been making suckers since...well to be honest I can't remember when I started making them. My mom always made them growing up and I'm not sure when she started teaching me how. I've been making these healthier suckers for about three years now.

There are so many fun things that you can do with homemade suckers. You can do half flavors like shown in the picture below. This one is half strawberry and half pina colada, my personal favorite.

You can add jelly beans, gummy bears, and gum to them either in the middle or just sticking out. My mom was very creative with the suckers we grew up with. We always made them for our Valentine's to take to school. Now you can't do that because they're not wrapped but I still make them for my kids to take to neighbor friends. Depending on the molds you have, you really can make them for every holiday.

So now that you know some of the possibilities of suckers, let me share with you how I've changed my mom's recipe and made it a little healthier. First of all I use evaporated cane juice, then I use Agave, that's it! If you search it on the internet you'll find lots of places that say you can't make hard candy using Agave. Well I'm here to tell you, you can! See my pictures. I've also made suckers with just Agave and no evaporated cane juice. The pina colada half from the sucker in the picture was made with just Agave and water. So have fun with it, experiment at home, and have your kids help you with the molds and sticks.

Homemade Agave Suckers

Ingredients

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice

3 tablespoons agave

1/4 cup water

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon flavoring

food coloring (optional)

Directions

In a medium sauce pan on stove top combine evaporated cane juice, agave, and water over medium high heat. Once combined, cover and bring to boil for one minute. Then uncover and place candy thermometer on the side of pan and cook until the temperature almost reaches 300*F, or until drops of the syrup form hard balls in cold water. Remove promptly, the temperature will continue to raise after taking it off the stove and you don't want it to burn. Stir until the large bubbles have gone down, let sit for 30 seconds. Next stand back and add food coloring, flavoring, and stir. Be careful when adding flavoring it will cause steam to raise! Make sure that the flavoring and coloring are well incorporated. Do not add to molds until the candy liquid starts to thicken slightly. Once the candy liquid is slightly thick pour into slightly greased molds and let cool completely before serving. If adding gummy bears or other types of healthier candy (see future posts) wait to add them until the candy liquid has cooled down even more in the molds or the candy will melt.

Tips:

-If you are using an oil based flavoring you don't need to add that much, only 1/4 teaspoon. The flavoring should tell you if it is oil based or not. If it isn't an oil based flavoring then add 1/2 teaspoon.

-Because Agave is not clear some of the flavors you don't have to add coloring to. I never add coloring to my root beer, because the candy liquid is already brown.

-If you've ever made suckers before you will have a hard time waiting for the liquid to thicken. Be patient!!! Just trust me, I've been making these for years now and I've messed up a lot. Agave takes longer to cool down than corn syrup does.

-Make sure you have your mold ready with the sticks in them before starting to make the suckers.

-Agave can burn very easily, so Watch the temperature closely!

-This recipe only makes about 6 large suckers and about 10 small suckers. It can be doubled very easily. I like to make several different flavors and not have suckers coming out of my ears.