So, you are a candy lover and have planned to treat your kids in their summer vacations with hand made candies. It is simply great. Making your own candy is not at all a tedious process. You just need the necessary equipment and some tips and you are done. It is fun too. Get your kids involved in your candy making and who knows you come out with candies even more delicious then the ones available in stores. Just as you read over the recipe, ingredients and procedure before you take up a new dish, you need to be familiar with all of the above for making candy at home.

First of all you need to keep the necessary candy making equipment handy because you may need them anytime. Some of the basics are candy cups, candy thermometer, candy molds, dipping tools, candy colors, spatula, choppers (for chocolates) and candy scoops. Before you begin you have to understand the recipe totally because you would not like to be stuck at the first step a he time when you need to be a step five. Take your time and be thorough with the recipe.

If it is candy its got to be sweet so sugar and chocolate are the first ingredients. Apart from sugar there are various other sweeteners as well like granulated sugar, brown sugar, superfine sugar, powdered sugar, corn syrup, invert sugar, honey and molasses. Chocolates are the next candy ingredient and they have their own varieties like cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, semi sweet chocolate, sweet dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, couverture chocolate, gianduja chocolate, candy coating chocolate. All these types are readily available in the market and are sure to add taste in your candies. Nuts are responsible for adding that special ‘crunch’ in your candies but it should be known well enough as to how to prepare nuts for adding them in your confectionery. Hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachio, walnuts are the most commonly used nuts in candy recipes.

Obviously you are not going to add the nuts as a whole in your small candies. Chopping is required so that they do not take the full space in your candy cups and it makes it easier to chew. Use a food processor if the recipe requires finely chopped nuts otherwise a large knife. Cream is another essential ingredient. There are various types of creams in the market. Normally, the various creams are categorized by keeping in mind their fat content like half and half, light cream, whipping cream, heavy cream, manufacturing cream and aerosol cream.

Always take care of the temperature at which the sugar or the chocolate needs to be boiled. Over heating can result in a mess and also making your candy taste bitter. Go through the recipe thoroughly. The one stop formula for delicious chocolate is tempering it. This will make your chocolate look smooth and shiny just like the professional chocolates. Plus, working with the chocolate will be easy enough as tempering tends to force the chocolate to behave properly. So, start right away keeping in mind the above mentioned tips and basics and get ready to watch your kids smile at the very sight of the beautiful candies you just came up with.