Crafty Thursdays: Bloody Broken Glass Candy

Kerry Hammond is here for Crafty Thursdays to help us make candy - bloody glass candy. Just in time for Valentine's Day (I'm being just a wee bit facetious). This craft is super tasty but not for the faint of heart. It's perfect for a murder mystery book club meeting like the Crime & Beyond Book Club in Denver. 

I recently made this candy for a party for my mystery book club. Not only does it look cool, it’s really easy to make (and quick). Make sure you have the proper tools, though. My first batch didn’t work because I didn’t get the mixture hot enough. So I have added in some of my own tips that I learned the hard way.

Ingredients

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

2 Tbsp water

Red Food Coloring

Supplies

Thermometer (one that measures at least 310 degrees-candy thermometers do this)

Parchment Paper

Disposable Latex Kitchen Gloves

Cookie Sheets

Saucepan

Spoon

Step One

Add sugar, corn syrup and water to your sauce pan and set it on high heat. Stir the mixture just until the sugar is dissolved and then do not stir anymore. Bring to constant boil.

Step Two

White mixture is boiling, line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

Step Three

Using your thermometer to monitor the temperature (and a pot holder, your hand will get hot as you hold the thermometer above your candy mixture) heat the mixture to between 300 & 310 degrees Fahrenheit. It will look slightly golden at this point and will take around 10 minutes or so. Once it’s there, turn it off quickly, if you cook it too long, the sugar starts to caramelize and it will be browner than you want (you can see the slight yellow tint to mine).

Step Four

Immediately pour a line down the center of each of your parchment lined cookie sheets. Tip the cookie sheets back and forth to spread the liquid to the thickness you want. I had to have my husband help with one of them because the above ingredients make enough for two sheets worth, and it cools quickly.

Step Five

Once the liquid is cool (it’s very fast – maybe 10 minutes). Break the hard candy into small glass shards. 

Step Five: Optional

Instead of breaking the candy into glass shards, you can also make bloody glass microscope slides (remember those from science class in school?). I haven’t tried this, but you would need to heat a knife and use the hot edge to cut the candy into small rectangles, reheating the knife frequently so it cuts through with minimal breakage of the candy.

Step Six

Wearing your kitchen gloves (the red food dye is hard to wash off if you don’t) sprinkle the red food coloring over the glass shards and rub it in with your finger. You can put on as much or as little as you want, depends on how bloody you want the glass. For glass slides, put a dab of food coloring in the center to look like blood.

Glass shards can be served on a plate. You can serve the slides on a plate also, or check out Amazon’s slide storage boxes.

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