There are plenty of all kinds of sweets on store shelves. But often they are oversaturated with "chemistry", flavor enhancers, which leads to allergic reactions and nervous breakdowns in children. And the cockerels, which were treated to your grandmothers in childhood, on the contrary, brought exceptionally joyful emotions. And the homemade recipe is simple.
You will need:
- 3 tbsp. l. sugar sand;
- 1 tbsp. l. water;
- ½ tsp apple cider or grape vinegar;
- 1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
- food colorings;
- metal molds;
- wooden sticks.
Some "cock" tricks
The above "procurement" of sugar and water is given as an example, the proportions of 3 to 1 are preserved, and the volumes are chosen by yourself, depending on the planned number of cockerels. Three tablespoons of granulated sugar will make about five ready-made "characters" who will delight the children and will not harm their health.
A few points to keep in mind. To make the "birds" different colors, you can use food coloring or natural juices. Accordingly, you will have to be patient and have a certain skill: the process will be divided into cooking several portions of different colors. You can save time by purchasing a sweet powder: its elements are already multi-colored.
Molds must be metal: plastic can melt. For the same reason, it is best not to use lollipop sticks or juices. It is better to stock up on wooden ones, you can use toothpicks or skewers for meat.
Instructions
Lubricate molds with the contours of cockerels and other animals, flower images and any other blanks with vegetable oil so that the lollipop does not stick to the walls and bottom. Whatever happens at the exit, these are "cockerels", because this is the image that was originally laid for these sweets!
Enclose in advance in stick molds. Pour sugar into a ladle or small saucepan, add water and vinegar, mix. Instead of water, you can use juice of the desired color, or add food colors at this stage. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Reduce the intensity of the fire, cook without stirring, so as not to "contaminate" the mass with air bubbles. You can add cinnamon or vanilla. If you overdid it and the sugar has time to crystallize, you can fix things by adding a little vinegar and heating the candy mass again.
The process will take about 10 minutes, the readiness of the semi-finished product can be checked by throwing a drop of mass into the water: when it begins to solidify quickly, rounding into a ball, it is already ready, you can pour it into molds and wait for solidification.
If there are no molds
There are special molds for cockerels with pre-provided holes for sticks. If they are not found, cookie molds are also suitable, but sticks will have to be inserted outside the box or work hard to remove the mass from the mold in a semi-ready state (and it freezes quickly!) And contrive to stick a "skewer" into the barrel of the blanks. It is easier to insert it in advance, before pouring the mass.
There were no molds at hand? Not a problem! Then you need to get a piece of parchment paper (option: baking foil), slightly cool it in the refrigerator, placing it on a baking sheet (cutting board). This is done so that the mass does not spread.
Pour the prepared mass in portions onto paper, put a stick in each. You can show your artistic ingenuity and give these "puddles" a shape that even remotely resembles the images of cockerels or other feathered animals.
Finally, an ordinary spoon can also play the role of a mold: metal or wooden. The rest of the procedure is standard.
