Taffy Pulling

"Spring Break" was more of a Winter Break as there was cold wind and snow outside. So we had to come up with some alternate indoor activities for the week while all the kids were home--all day, every day. The weather actually proved to be quite useful in motivating us to clean the house. We got many organizing projects done at the beginning of the week. Then the cousins came to visit the end of the week and on Friday, we made taffy and spent 30 minutes pulling and shaping it. Here is the recipe we used from the Lion House Book:

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup white corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons glycerine
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
Mix sugar, water, corn syrup, salt, and glycerine in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook to a temperature of 258 degrees F. Remove from heat and let stand for two to three minutes. Then add vanilla and butter and stir vigorously until butter is melted.
Pour into buttered cookie sheet. Cool until lukewarm taffy can be handled comfortably.
Wash and dry your hands thoroughly. Then take a small piece of taffy and stretch and fold, stretch and fold, stretch and fold, until taffy turns white and pliable. Form your initial on a square of wax paper. (Long strips of taffy may also be cut into 1-inch pieces and wrapped in pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap.)
We had a fun time and the candy tasted great, though it was sticky enough to pull one child's filling right out. After that, we decided to just suck on it instead of chewing.