Make Jawbreakers

Since their birth in penny candy shops in the late 1800s, jawbreakers (also known as gobstoppers) have been satisfying sweet teeth for over a century.[1] Candy lovers can enjoy a single of these exceptionally hard candies for hours, letting each layer of the sugary treat dissolve to reveal a new flavor and color. If you've already proven yourself as a champion jawbreaker connoisseur and you're looking for a new challenge, try making your own — with just a few ingredients, you can make jawbreakers to your heart's content!

Ingredients

  • 3 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • Small muffin tins or oven-safe molds
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Liquid hard candy flavorings of your choice

Steps

Making Basic Jawbreakers

  1. Mix the sugar and water in a pot.
    • Stir until the sugar is uniformly moist.
    • If you can, use filtered water for your jawbreakers. While unfiltered tap water will work fine, the tap water in some areas has a subtle aftertaste that can very slightly affect the flavor of the final product.
  2. Heat over a stove burner set to "high."
    • As the ingredients heat, they will start to boil and blend together into a syrupy solution. Stir frequently — the sugar can easily burn if it's allowed to stick to the bottom of the pot.[2]
  3. Cook sugar to the "hard-crack" stage.
    • As you boil the syrupy mixture, the water evaporates, making a thicker and thicker syrup. Your goal is to heat the mixture until almost all of the water is gone — this is called the "hard-crack" stage.
    • There are several ways to determine when you've reached the hard-crack stage:
      • Use a candy thermometer — the syrup should be at 300-310o F (149-154o C)
      • Use a cold water test — carefully drop a small dollop of the syrup into a bowl of cold water. Let it cool for a few moments, then take it out and examine it. The syrup should have formed hard, brittle threads that crack when bent (hence "hard-crack.") If it's still soft, it needs to cook longer.[3]
  4. Remove from heat.
    • Don't let your syrup cook past the hard-crack stage — this will cause it to start caramelizing. Though the rich, complex flavor of caramel is great for some recipes, it's not typically used for jawbreakers.[3]
  5. Stir in flavor and coloring.
    • Add between 2/3 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon of liquid flavoring and stir thoroughly to combine. The more flavoring you add, the stronger your candy's flavor will be.
    • You may also add a few drops of food coloring at this point if desired. However, this will not affect the taste of the candy.
  6. Pour the liquid into each of your molds or muffin tins.
    • Though there's no "right" way to make jawbreakers, pouring your liquid more thickly will usually give a harder texture. Thin candies will be more brittle, making them easier to bite into.
  7. Cool the jawbreakers in the refrigerator.
    • Depending on the thickness of your candies, it can take anywhere from half an hour to two hours or longer for them to cool completely.[2] Be patient — the cooler they get, the closer they'll get to the rock-hard jawbreaker texture.
  8. When the candy has completely cooled, remove and serve.
    • To get the candies out, twist each muffin tin or candy mold like you'd twist an ice tray to release its contents.[2] Enjoy!

Getting Creative With Your Jawbreaker Recipe

  1. Try making layered jawbreakers.
    • Today, many jawbreakers (like, for instance, Everlasting Gobstoppers) are multilayered — if you cut the candy in half, you'll be able to see the rings made by the different layers. With a little extra work, you can get a similar effect in your homemade jawbreakers.
    • To do this, start by making a batch of jawbreakers according to the step above. Next, prepare a second recipe's worth of syrup, but give it a different color and flavor than you used for your first batch.
    • When the syrup is cold enough to handle, roll your cold jawbreakers in it, giving each an even coat. Put the coated jawbreakers on a piece of parchment paper and put them in the fridge to cool.
  2. Add popping candy for an interesting twist.
    • To give your jawbreakers a little extra "bite," try stirring a generous pinch of popping candy (like Pop Rocks, etc.) into your syrup as you add the flavoring and color. When the jawbreakers are finished, the popping candy will provide a satisfying fizz as you enjoy them.
  3. Make your own custom liquid candy flavorings.
    • It's worth noting that, if you're willing to experiment, you don't need to use commercial liquid candy flavorings. There are a number of ways to make your own flavorings for use in jawbreakers and other candies — nearly any sort of dense, strongly-flavored oil, syrup or liquid can potentially work.
    • One cheap, easy way to make your own flavoring is to add just enough water to an individual packet of Kool-Aid powder to produce a liquid. Stir this into your mixture earlier in the cooking process than you normally would to allow the extra water to boil off.
    • Another trick that works well for fruit flavors is to add a splash of fruit juice (plus a little grated zest if you have it) — as above, give the extra liquid a chance to boil off if you use this method.
  4. Add sticks to make lollipops.
    • The jawbreaker recipe above is very similar to that used for a wide variety of other hard candies. In fact, if you just dip a popsicle stick in each jawbreaker as it hardens, you'll have a set of lollipops once they cool — try it!
    • Keeping the sticks upright while the candy cools can be a challenge, so try carefully laying them on their sides. When the candies cool, just turn them 90 degrees to get your lollipops.
  5. Experiment with different-shaped molds.
    • The shapes of your jawbreakers are only limited by the molds you have handy — try using differently-shaped molds to make exciting new designs!
    • Getting perfectly round jawbreakers like you'd see in a store can be quite tricky. Even round molds can leave a noticeable seam around the edge of the jawbreaker. Professional candy makers use a process called "panning" which involves rolling the jawbreakers in round vats of ingredients for long periods of time to produce their round shape.[4] Though this is beyond the reach of most amateurs, if you're serious about making jawbreakers, you may want to invest in specialized panning equipment.

Tips

  • If you're giving your jawbreakers to someone else, experiment with different ways of packaging them as gifts. You can also make jawbreakers in particular colors for holidays or other special occasions.
  • Eat jawbreakers in moderation — because of their hardness, their high sugar content, and the time they take to dissolve, they can be especially hard on the teeth, even compared to other candies.[5]
  • Liquid hard candy flavorings are usually sold in specialty grocers' as small bottles of brightly-colored liquid. However, if you can't find them locally, they are also available for order at online retailers like Amazon, etc.

Warnings

  • Don't microwave jawbreakers, whether you made them yourself or not. Commercial layered jawbreakers can be especially dangerous, as the layers can heat at different rates, which can sometimes lead to a small explosion of scalding syrup.[6]
  • Sugar is bad for you and your teeth, do not eat to many jawbreakers, and brush your teeth after you have one. [7]

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://www.oldtimecandy.com/walk-the-candy-aisle/jawbreakers
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://www.vendingmachinesunlimited.com/blog/homemade-jawbreakers/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html
  4. ↑ http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Jawbreaker.html
  5. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20961388
  6. ↑ http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2004/10/mythbusters_exploding_jawbreak.html
  7. ↑ http://time.com/3380563/sugar-tooth-decay/

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