Divinity Candy – ANYONE Can Make It

For as long as I can remember, from the time I was a very little girl…I remember Christmas being a time of lots of candy and cookie making, especially Divinity and Fudge.

But goodness … it doesn’t have to be Christmas time to make divinity or fudge!

Mom just had a knack for making Divinity…but white was just too bland for her.  She’d make lots of white but then she always had to make extra and tint it pink or green or blue.  Mom was all about color  🙂

I didn’t make a lot of divinity during our early years of marriage because that was mom’s thing at Christmas and she loved making it and giving it away.  But when her health began to fail, I took on the chore of making tons and tons of divinity and fudge each year and giving it away.

Several years ago, when Kim was in sales, she wanted to give homemade candy and cookies to her biggest clients… Well I told her to gather how many she needed and let me know … Kim called me and it turned out she needed SEVENTEEN BOXES of homemade cookies and candies!!!  But I wanted Kim to look good on the gifts, so I said “Yes, I’ll be glad to do that for you”  FOR ONE SOLID WEEK….I was white from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet…with flour and sugar and this and that…but we got’er done.  And it was all delicious!!

I’ve been seeing quite a few posts on facebook of people asking if anyone knows how to make real divinity….where it really ‘sets’ and makes candy.  So I thought I’d do this recipe for everybody today.  This is soooooooooooooooo easy….a child could do it if it didn’t involve a hot stove.

So here we go….this is what you need and this is how you need to MIX it so it will set into perfect divinity….every single time.

Divinity

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans and or cherries (optional)…I usually leave them out of most of my candy

In a saucepan…combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt.  Start out with a simmer and progress to a boil and cook…stirring often….until when you pull your spoon up out of the mixture…a hair like string of the sugary mixture will fly from your spoon…THEN dip spoon once again and drop 1 ‘drop’ of the hot mixture in a cup of water….IF IT MAKES A HARD BALL IN THE WATER…that part is ready…and that’s your secret….it MUST make the hard ball…for the divinity to set properly.

Just before I start the simmering….I beat the egg whites to form stiff peaks…add vanilla to egg white and beat again a bit…Your sugar mixture should be simmering during this time…so let it go ahead and go to a boil now and keep stirring it until you can form that little ball in the water.

When your sugar mixture is ready…slowly start stirring it into the egg whites…beating at high speed with the electric mixer as you pour. Now this mixture is scalding hot…so be careful!!!  When the candy will hold it’s shape…after about 4-5 minutes….add the nuts and cherries if you want them and quickly drop candy by the teaspoon full onto waxed paper…or I use very lightly… VERY LIGHTLY buttered foil paper.  Swirl the top of each candy as you drop it from the spoon.    Set aside…

This is sooooooooooooo easy.  The real trick is just getting the sugar mixture to the right stage so when you drop that drop into the water it forms a ball….

Then go hand it out to all your neighbors and friends at church and your kids school and when they say “YOU can make DIVINITY?”…Just say “Ooooooooooooooooohhh it was nothing….”  🙂

Hope you enjoy this recipe from the kitchen in the canyon..It’s definitely a Christmas favorite with us….peace and love…

You might also want to give our Old Timey Homemade Fudge recipe a try!