Cinnamon Taffy

brought by Kristen Marshall

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 TBS butter or margarine

1/4 tsp cinnamon extract or few drops of oil (i used oil and found that /14 tsp of the oil was still not strong enough for my liking and oil is much stronger than extract)

Few drops red food coloring (optional - but I find it helps things psychologically taste more the way they should! :) )

Butter a baking pan, or prepare a cookie sheet with a siltpat and set aside. Butter the sides of a heavy 2 quart sauce pan. In the sauce pan combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat to boiling stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. This should take about 10 minutes. Avoid splashing mixture on sides of pan. Carefully slip candy thermometer to side of pan. cook mixture over medium heat, without stirring, till thermometer register 265 (but I find that temp too high and I like my taffy softer so you may want to choose a lower degree closer to a firm ball stage). Reaching hard ball stage should take about 40 minutes. Remove sauce pan from heat; remove thermometer from sauce pan. Stir in 2 TBS butter. Stir in flavoring and food coloring. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Cool till taffy mixture can be handled easily. Butter both hands, then twist and pull candy till it turns creamy color and is stiffer and more difficult to pull. divide into fourths and twist and pull each piece into a long strand about 1/2 inch think.  With buttered scissors, snip each strand of taffy into bite-size pieces. Wrap each piece in wax paper or plastic wrap.