Ginger Lemon Lozenges

We are coming in to cold season in our part of the world. 

I came across a recipe for homemade lozenges on the Redpath Sugar website and recruited Kenzie to help me give them a try. 

We changed them a bit to add waaaaay more lemon and they turned out fantastic.

Can I just add -- once again using a candy thermometer was almost the end of me. The recipe says to bring the lozenges to "hard crack" stage, which is 300 degrees. I used 2 candy thermometers to see if that would help.....NOPE.

The thermometers only read 250 but I could see the sugar was brown and had I left it longer, it would have burned. Aaaaaarrrrrggg!!

These worked out, no thanks to the thermometers, but only because I knew what color the syrup had to be. 

I need to find a reliable candy thermometer. If that is even possible... I'm pretty sure that there is some kind of conspiracy happening in the candy thermometer world......

Ginger Lemon Lozenges

(Adapted from Redpath Sugar)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup finely chopped ginger

juice & zest of 1 lemon

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp honey

Icing sugar

Directions

Place water, ginger, and lemon juice & zest into a medium pan. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat, cover, and let steep for 30  minutes.

Strain the mixture so you end up with 1 cup of liquid. (The liquid will be cloudy)

Pour the liquid back into the pan. Add in the sugar and honey. Stir briefly.

Bring liquid to a boil. Using a candy thermometer, bring syrup to 300 degrees (or "hard crack" stage) WITHOUT stirring.

While this is coming up to temperature - dump icing sugar onto a cookie tray and spread out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Using your finger or a small mold, press indents into the icing sugar.

When the syrup reaches the proper temperature (color will be a deep amber-ish brown color). Carefully pour the syrup into a glass measuring dish with a spout for pouring. 

Carefully pour syrup into the indents in the icing sugar.

Let cool for about 10 minutes, until they can firm up, and then toss them in the icing sugar to coat. 

Kenzie made a heart shape one by pressing her fingers into icing sugar, side by side. 

You want the lozenges to be fairly small - I would say no bigger than the tip of your finger. 

Because of the boiling sugar, I would say this is definitely not a recipe you want the kids to help with BUT...they can still help by pressing their fingers or other molds into the icing sugar to shape the lozenges. 

*Note* Make sure your pan is deep enough when boiling the sugar. The syrup will boil up and you DO NOT want it going over the sides of the pan. 

I hope you have better luck with candy thermometers than I seem to. Just keep an eye on the color of the syrup - when it appears to get a deep amber/brown color it is ready. 

 

For links to tons more tasty & crafty sites, be sure to visit - Feeding Big, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Memories By The Mile, and Chef In Training.