Tootsie Roll Midgees*

By RJamoralin

By Todd Wilbur

How would you react if your dentist suddenly whipped out a giant Tootsie Roll for you to bite down on so that he could make a mold of your teeth? Ask patients of a dentist in Philadelphia who does just that. This is just one of the many facts that you learn researching the history of the Tootsie Roll, Which, by the way, was named after the inventors five-year-old daughter. Leo Herschfield created the chewy chocolate candy in his small store in New York in 1896. In those days, the candy was hand rolled and delivered to customers by hore-drawn carriage. Over one hundred years later, more than forty-nine million Tootsie Rolls in a variety of sizes are produced each day from operations all over the world. Even though this clone recipe duplicates the tiny bite-size versions of the candy, you're free to make yours any size you like. The technique here is a tweaking of the previous secret formula that was featured in Low-Fat Top Secret Recipes, and it includes several upgrades. I found that more cocoa, plus the addition of salt and butter to the mix improve the flavor quite a bit. I also found that brining your sweet bubbling mixture to the firm ball stage 250 degrees F - yes, you're going to need a candy thermometer for this, and then stretching and pulling the candy like taffy fun! As it cools, will give you a finished product more like the real deal.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup butter (salted)
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed skim milk
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Details

Servings 75
Cooking time 90mins
Adapted from topsecretrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and set it over medium/low heat.

2. As ingredients begin to warm, whisk well to combine. Add a candy thermometer to the pan and closely monitor the temperature. You want the candy to reach 250 degrees F (known as the firm ball stage).

3. As candy is cooking, rub a light coating of butter on a baking sheet. If you have a silicon non-stick pad, that also works well. Lay the pad down onto a baking sheet and rub a coating of butter on it.

4. When the candy reaches 250 degrees, pour it onto the buttered surface. Allow it to cool for 7 to 10 minutes. As the candy cools enough to be handled, fold the edges over onto the center. Eventually you will be able to pick up the ball of candy, and, with buttered hands, twist and pull the candy for a good 10 minutes or until it begins to turn lighter in color. Let the candy rest for an hour or so, then pull and twist it again for 5 minutes. This process will work air into the candy so that it develops the consistency of the real thing.

5. When the candy has become an even lighter shade of brown, divide it into three or four chunks and roll those into ropes that are about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Wrap these pieces in wax paper that has been cut into 2x3-inch rectangles, and twist the ends to seal.