Dot Candy from Yesteryear
I used to love this Dot Candy as a child and have to say I never thought about how they might be made. I just liked peeling them off of the paper with my teeth and popping them into my mouth – even when a little paper came up with the candy. Note that the recipe was written for the UK audience and calls for weights– and know that icing sugar is powdered sugar and although American egg white powdered might not come in a similar “sachet”, it is easy enough to weigh out 8-grams (or .28 ounces). If you can find confectioners’ sugar without any cornstarch added (most has it added to retard caking), that would be ideal. As author Annie Rigg describes, precision is key here to get the look you are after. Also check out the Candy & Lollipop Dippers, also from her book, Sweet Things.
Excerpted with permission from Sweet Things
The variations on these little dots of sweetness are endless – they can be made in all the colours of the rainbow and in as many flavours as you can imagine. I prefer to use natural flavours for my candy making, but you can use whatever tickles your fancy – bubblegum, lemonade, cherry …
Try colour co-ordinating your Dot Candy to a party theme and packaging each sheet of dots in pretty cellophane bags with labels and ribbons. Birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s – there isn’t an occasion that wouldn’t benefit from these little gems.
- 1 sachet (8g) egg-white powder
- 250–275g icing sugar
- natural flavouring such as lemon, orange, rose or violet
- 4 different food-colouring pastes
- plain A4 paper and a marker pen
- freezer or greaseproof paper sheets
- disposable piping bags
- If you are going for neat strips of candy dots, you will need to start by making paper templates. Take a sheet of A4 paper and a marker pen. On the A4 paper make 2 grids of dots with the marker pen. Each grid should be 4 rows across and 15 down in neat lines, with each dot about 1.5cm from the next. Photocopy this sheet 6 times.
- Lay the templates out on a large table or work surface. Tape a sheet of freezer (or greaseproof) paper, shiny side down, on to each template sheet so that it is completely covered and so that you can see the dots though the paper. You are now ready to start.
- Tip the egg-white powder into a bowl, add 50ml cold water and most of the icing sugar and beat until thick and smooth. The mixture should drop off the spoon into a smooth mound that holds its shape without peaking – add more water or sugar by the teaspoonful in order to get the correct consistency.
- Add your chosen flavouring – you will only need a few drops – and mix well. Divide the mixture between 4 bowls and add a tiny dot of different food colouring to each bowl, mixing well until combined. Spoon the mixtures into separate piping bags and twist the tops to prevent any mixture spilling out. Using one colour at a time, snip the end of the piping bag into a fine nozzle and pipe a row of dots on each grid using the template as a guide. Repeat with the remaining colours.
- Leave the Dot Candy to dry overnight in a cool, dry place and then cut into strips and package the strips into clear cellophane party bags to serve. Dot Candy will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight box or jar.
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