Homemade Tootsie Rolls

I've been a bit nostalgic lately. I'm not sure why, but it has been a real treat taking a trip down memory lane. Speaking of treats! Remember when you were ten years old and the best part of a parade was pushing your way into the street to grab the candy that was launched from a random float? You didn't care what business they were pushing, all that mattered was that they were throwing candy. And not just any candy... they were throwing TOOTSIE ROLLS. These chewy, chocolate bites were the candy gold that we sought after. Forget the rootbeer barrels and lollypops, we were after tootsie rolls.

In fact, I met up with my girlfriend Kari for a parade a few weeks ago. She's a riot. She's the five to my six. And she loves the Hawkeyes, so of course we're best buds.

But back to the parade. We actually enjoy watching the parade now and love to make comments on the creativity (or lack there of) with each passing float. And as the candy is thrown out, we make sure to grab it for the kids next to us. Except tootsie rolls. Kari pockets these. She's sweet as can be, but don't mess with her tootsie rolls.

So I decided after buying my candy thermometer it was time to use it again. So what better excuse than making homemade tootsie rolls?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 2 TBSP shortening
• 4 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 TBSP evaporated milk (I used heavy cream, it was all I had)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

• In a bowl, combine sugar, corn syrup, shortening, and cocoa. Mix well and pour into a saucepan.
• Bring to a boil and then simmer until temperature reaches 275 degrees (use your candy thermometer!)
• Allow to cool for about ten minutes; add evaporated milk and vanilla.
• Use an electric mixer to beat until very thick.
• Scrape candy onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and allow to cool.
• When cool, mold pieces into desired shape!

Aren't those adorable?! Although I have to admit, they were more tricky than making caramels. And I believe I let it reach 275 degrees for a bit too long before cooling because I scorched some of the candy in the bottom of my saucepan. A few of the first ones I rolled into tootsies were a little crunchy because they had a mix of some scorched candy included. After discarding all of the hard/scorched portion, I rolled the rest. And THOSE turned out awesome! The texture was a little more sticky than a regular tootsie roll, but that may have had something to do with me using cream instead of evaporated milk. I would say the flavor was pretty darn close though!

Overall I would call them a success. I definitely plan on trying these again!