Breaking In Candy Is Magic

To them, the specialty equipment—beyond scales and thermometers—that Curl advises us to buyout: “food-safe acrylic bars” to make our own “candy frames” (she allows that we may use 9-by-13 pans instead). But glucose syrup (which helps to prevent sugar from recrystallizing and is essential to many of Curl’s recipes) felt pretty unreal to me: a clear, sticky goo “made from starches, most commonly corn, potato, or wheat.” It is also costly: a 2.2-pound tub set me back more than $20.

A little goes a long way, but the vanilla bean powder called for in two of the confections I made ran nearly $18 for two ounces, the smallest quantity I could find to pick up. I shied away from the hard candies—they intimidate me most of all—and gummies, and stuck with the things I like best and that didn’t seem too scary to take on. I invited my friend Bird, who is less leery of, and more experienced in, candy-making to join me in my kitchen, more as supervisor than sous chef.

CHOCOLATE MAGIC DUST Curl calls Magic Dust her “favorite ingredient of all time,” and deploys it in recipes ranging from sauces to cakes. There are a few different dusts, but I opted for Chocolate Magic Dust, a mixture of granulated sugar, cocoa powder (I could not find the Felchlin name Curl recommends, and used the trusty Dutch cocoa I always have on hand), kosher salt, vanilla bean powder, and cinnamon.

It made for what was unquestionably the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. MAPLE + CRACKED BLACK PEPPER CARAMELS This was my first time making caramel, and the sight of a mess of glucose syrup doused with granulated sugar melting on my stove top was disturbing: a roiling, primordial ooze, a potentially pernicious panful of sugar shock waiting to happen. But the results were persuasive: The caramel was beautiful in color, pleasing in texture, and as tasty as a whole bunch of sugar mixed with vanilla and butter and pepper ought to be.

Bird and I agreed that instructions could have been clearer: I’d want to know to leave the heat on under the glucose/sugar mixture and allow it to continue cooking before moving on to heating the cream mixture. To my palate, the maple syrup was overpowered by all the other sugar; its savor did not announce itself.

I cut the caramel into 1-inch-square candies, per Curl’s instructions, but I didn’t have the patience to wrap each piece individually in sheets of cellophane. VANILLA BEAN MARSHMALLOWS I can’t imagine undertaking marshmallows alone in my kitchen: Having a friend around to supervise was invaluable for this recipe, which requires three different vessels for preparing, produces tremendous heat and steam, and demands frequent temperature-taking. I made the marshmallows to complement the Chocolate Magic Dust in hot chocolate, and they did the job brilliantly: They are light and airy and exquisitely fluffy.

This is the kind of thing I’d make once a year—as long as Bird is still willing to assist—to give as winter holiday gifts with little parcels of the Chocolate Magic Dust. I’d reduce the quantity of vanilla bean powder ever so slightly: It’s as potent as it is pricey.

I doubt I’ll ever use more than a few recipes from Candy Is Magic, but that’s true of many cookbooks, including ones I love. But I suspect that people who already love making candy (and are already equipped with the gear needed to do it) will get the most from this book, from Curl’s creative savor combinations and her playful but not kitschy sensibility.