Saturday, January 17, 2015

Corn Syrup and Soreness

Please forgive the not so great picture. It's the best I could do.

Ugg! I hurt so bad that I'm not sure this whole "exercise" thing is worth it. All I want to do is curl up in a ball and moan in my soreness. Sigh. Thank you Cassey Ho. I will be healthier, stronger, and more beautiful because of you. With all of this exercise, it makes me want to pretend to want sugar. (Okay, I'll admit it. This might be the only time I don't want sugar. Why do I blog after I exercise, again? That's right, because it's the only time I have between the babe going to bed for the night and the hubs getting home from work. Sugar.) 

So, yesterday I told you that I made my own corn syrup because I needed it to make Christmas presents. I was surprised that it was possible. I was looking at my recipe, special thanks to Mr. Alton Brown for that one, and realized that even though I had just returned from the grocery store, still did not have all the ingredients. Now, I have made it a personal quest to keep my family from corn syrup. It's just so bad for you, but the recipe called for it, and I didn't have it, and well, what was I supposed to do? Hello, Internet. 

Turns out you can make corn syrup, and I'm not talking about the simple syrup recipes that people talk about making as a substitute. No! I had Christmas presents to make, and I needed REAL corn syrup. 

It was really easy, but here is a note anyway: Keep cooking and stirring until completely smooth. Mine, although still clumpy, worked like a charm, but on occasion left chunks of corn syrup in my fudge. (BTW, I made fudge for Christmas. Lots and lots of fudge. I made 10 pounds of fudge. It took forever.) 


Corn Syrup 

The original recipe is from Cooks.com. I changed it a bit. 

2/3 cup cold water 
2 TBSP corn starch 
2 cups sugar 
splash of vanilla extract 

1. Mix the cold water and cornstarch in a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. 

2. Once the mix has become clear, add the sugar and boil until smooth, still stirring. Basically you are super melting the sugar. 

3. The mix should be getting pretty thick, like the corn syrup you can buy at the store. When it does, stir in the vanilla extract, and stir to combine. 

4. Jar it up, and refrigerate until cold before using. 

If for some reason yours ends up chunky like mine, cook longer next time, and reheat this batch before using just enough to get it all melty again.

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