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Snow Candy a la Little House in the Big Woods

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When one of the girls we were with at the cabin started talking about snow candy from Little House in the Big Woods, I was tickled.  I remembered that same passage from when I read those books many, many, many years ago and was thrilled to help her make some.

But we were without the actual book, so we experimented. Now, having looked up the passage - and recipe - I know what we did wrong, but we had fun. And the kids got a kick out of it.  Here's the real deal...

"Laura and Mary each had a pan, and Pa and Ma showed them how to pour the dark syrup in little streams onto the snow." - Little House in the Big Woods


1 cup molasses
1 cup brown sugar
Fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice)

Boil the molasses and sugar together in the large pot until the mixture reaches the "hard crack" stage on a candy thermometer, or until a spoonful dropped into cold water forms a hard ball and cracks. Remove the syrup from the heat.

Scoop fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice) into the shallow pan. Dip up a spoonful of syrup and dribble it onto the snow in "circles, and curlicues, and squiggledy things" as Laura and Mary did. It will harden and become candy. Lift the candy off the snow and onto a clean towel to dry.
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