Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Divinity

When I was a kid, my family used to have candy making days around the holidays. We'd go over to my Grandma's house, or an aunt's house, divvy up the roles and duties, and make big batches of fudge, divinity, sugar cookies, rice crispy treats...all the yummy sugary things. And then everyone would split them and take them home.  Well, after all the fun I had with my friend Amy and our gumbo-making adventure, we decided that WE would have a candy-making day!

We decided on divinity, and pralines.  Today's post will talk about the divinity, and the praline post will go up later this week! (edited: It's up now, here's a link!)

Now, I have my Grandmother's recipe for divinity, but Amy was wanting to try a recipe from Sucre in New Orleans that looked super-yummy.  (For those who want it, I've shared my grandmother's recipe at the bottom of this post.)  The main difference between the recipe we tested is...Jello. My grandma always made "Jello divinity".  Called such because... you guessed it... it has Jello in the recipe.  Since divinity base is just vanilla flavored, using Jello is an easy way to add flavor--my Grandma always used cherry Jello.  Divinity is one of those finicky candies that really needs to be made on a day with very low humidity (preferably <50%).  Adding gelatin helps ensure that the candy sets up properly, and helps it to dry faster.  

To be honest, I'd never had NON-cherry flavored divinity. So I was interested in testing out Amy's recipe.  And we were completely delighted with the results.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
3 egg whites, room temp (tip:  I made scrambled eggs for breakfast that morning, so I used the 3 egg yolks in that--no waste!)
1 packet Knox unflavored gelatin (we added this to the original recipe, to expedite drying)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup candy cane bits (I used crushed Starbrite mints)
16 oz bag dark chocolate (63% or higher) for melting 
Optional toppings: pecan halves, crushed peppermints
also need - parchment paper

DIRECTIONS:
First, I cannot reiterate this enough--you need a LOW HUMIDITY DAY. Below 50% is ideal.  My weather app said we had 60% on the day we did this and that worked out okay.  But part of the divinity process is letting it dry out--and if the air is too humid, that won't happen, and you'll have a sticky mess on your hands.

In a large non-reactive pot (stainless steel, glass, enamel, ceramic), combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Then heat to 250*F.  Don't stir until 2/3 of the mixture has melted and become transparent.  Once you hit this point, you can put your egg whites in a stand mixture and beat them until stiff peaks form.  (Timing can be tricky, so it helps to have a second person to manage this.)  Use a candy thermometer to keep constant watch on your sugar/mix temp (or a probe-type thermometer affixed so it's not touching the bottom or sides of the pan).

Once you're at 250*F, add the gelatin to the egg whites, and then slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the egg whites while beating at a low speed (another reason a stand mixer is a must for this).  The syrup will "cook" the egg whites in the process.  Keep the syrup in the center of the bowl--if you get syrup on the bowl it will form crystals instead of combining with the divinity.  Increase the mixer speed to high once all the syrup has been added.and continue to whip until the mixture cools and looks slightly glossy.  

Then fold in the vanilla and the candy cane bits, and then you can either put it into a piping bag (FYI, this stuff is SUPER STICKY, like making marshmallows), or just drop it by spoonfuls onto the parchment paper.  If you're feeling fancy, drop some extra bits of candy cane onto the top, or top with some pecan halves.

Now...chill out.  Or go make pralines.  Because it's gonna be about 3 hours before these guys are dry enough to do anything with.

BUT...once they're dry, you can get ready to dip them!  Put the chocolate bits into a microwave safe bowl, nuke for 1 minute, stir, and then nuke for another 30 seconds or so, and stir again.  Use a small spatula (or your fingers) to dip the bottoms of the divinity one at a time into the chocolate, and then use the spatula to lift them out and place back on the parchment paper.  

Let set until chocolate is fully hardened. (They'll cool faster if it's cool in your kitchen. We generally keep our house around 68*F in the winter, but on this particular day, we did a self-cleaning cycle on our oven, so the kitchen was at about 74 degrees...I had to open a window to get the temperature to drop so that the chocolate would finally harden.)

We had some extra chocolate left over at the end, so we also tried dipping a few of the pralines, and made some pecan clusters.

Once fully dry, store in an airtight container.  This recipe made a BUNCH, so I divvied most of them up as gifts for my coworkers.

~~~

Grandma's Divinity

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup karo syrup

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

2 egg whites, room temp

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 small package of Cherry Jello

1. In 2-quart saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Stirring constantly, bring to boil over medium heat. Without stirring, cook over low heat (small to medium bubbles breaking across surface of liquid) until temperature on candy thermometer reaches 260°F or small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water forms a hard ball which doesn’t flatten until pressed, about 40 minutes.
2. In large bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Beating at high speed, gradually add hot syrup in a thin, steady stream. DO NOT SCRAPE SIDE OF SAUCEPAN. Continue beating at high speed until mixture begins to lose its gloss, about 3 minutes.
3. Reduce speed to low. Beat in vanilla. Continue beating at low speed until mixture holds a peak and does not spread when dropped from a spoon, about 8 minutes. (If mixture becomes too stiff for mixer, beat with wooden spoon.) Immediately stir in nuts.
4. Working quickly, drop mixture by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper* Let stand until set. Store in tightly-covered container.