Love for lollipops begins in childhood: multi-colored fruit rounds "monpasier", sour "barbarisks", bright cockerels on sticks, cool mint candies, transparent "golden" - all of them once caused great joy. As I grew older, the pleasure received from the candy melting in my mouth began to be forgotten, and it did not bring much joy - it was just tasty and sweet.
In order to surprise and please your loved ones and friends with an exquisite dessert that has a recognizable appearance of a sweet favorite from childhood, it is worth spending a little time making elegant and original candies from … red wine. The treat is intended only for adults, it is recommended to keep it out of the reach of children.
Ready-made wine candies can be of two types: with a slightly stringy, caramel structure, or hard and crunchy. Making caramel candies involves using glucose syrup or honey, and those who do not like the honey flavor and aroma can replace it with invert syrup. Crisp candies do not require sticky ingredients and are made with wine, sugar, salt and starch.
The recipe is very simple: 300 ml of sweet red wine (with a strength not exceeding 18%) is boiled over low heat in a small saucepan until a third of the initial volume of liquid remains. After that, 150 g of granulated sugar, salt on the tip of a knife, 3 tablespoons of starch are added to the still hot wine.
To prepare lollipops with a caramel structure, add 3 tablespoons of syrup or honey, 150 g of sugar and a pinch of salt to the evaporated wine. Starch should not be included in the composition of these sweets.
The hot liquid is thoroughly mixed until all the ingredients are completely dissolved, after which they begin to heat up over low heat to 140 degrees. If it is not possible to use a kitchen thermometer to determine the desired temperature, then you can focus on the appearance of bubbles - as soon as the mixture begins to boil, it is removed from the heat and stirred until smooth. It is very important not to overexpose the composition on fire - caramel can turn out with a clear burnt taste.
The liquid is poured into pre-prepared forms - you can use ice molds. If the molds are made not of silicone, but of any other material, then it is recommended to pre-lubricate them with vegetable oil - this measure will facilitate the subsequent removal of frozen candies.
To make lollipops, use wooden barbecue skewers with cut, pointed tips. The stick is immersed in a candy mass, turned several times around its axis and left to solidify.
Candy freezes quite quickly, but in order to fully reveal the taste of wine, it is recommended to leave them in molds for at least a day. Ready-made lollipops can be wrapped in beautiful paper and tied with an elegant ribbon.
