How Sweet It Is

Eating candy is closely associated with fantasy to me. I attribute this to early trick-or-treat days, when I would dress up like a witch or goblin or, best of all, a fairy with a delicate ballerina gauze skirt and a wand, and go door to door collecting wrapped candies and apples in my paper bag.

“Ooh,” people would say, “A witch! Let me give you some candy corn.” Or, “My, my! A beautiful fairy. Have some Hershey’s kisses.”

I’m not a candy eater on most days. In fact, I usually prefer something salty to something sweet, and by and large consider my occasional snack of sardines or kippers more of a treat than the sweetest candy. Except when I go to the movies or to church.

Movies are my own version of trick-or-treating. They are a world where I exchange my regular garb for that of another world. And it is there that I eat candy nonstop. My favorite movie candy is the chewy kind. I like things I can quietly sink my teeth into.

Mostly I crave good old-fashioned caramels. They capture my love of tiny pieces of candy--lots of little pieces, each one giving a little push to the teeth. I like their hard crusts and soft interiors, meant for sucking. I’m always in line at the movie candy counter.

The third time I saw the movie “Thelma and Louise,” something snapped. Perhaps it was because I took my mother and her cousin to see it, and they hated it as much as I loved it. But I think it was the price of the candy. In order to appease them for dragging them there, I had to treat.

My $20 bill evaporated so quickly I didn’t have time to notice I couldn’t afford my own candy until everyone else was satisfied, clutching their boxes and bags of goodies, complaining they weren’t as full as they used to be.

I survived only because of the Brach’s cinnamons I keep in my purse for church (ostensibly in case I cough, but really to suck on and roll around in my mouth when I feel sleepy or weepy). I buy them by the pound and keep them in my purse at all times.

In “Thelma and Louise,” the cinnamon drops saved me. I unwrapped the paper around them as quietly as I do in church and let them take minutes to melt in my mouth, for I only had three--enough to do the job, but not an excess.

And so I went home determined to make my own candy and save money. Never again would I be so humiliated. I would take my own.

The dark corn syrup adds a great deal to this treat. It gives a rich color and a molasses flavor, but its major contributions are to the body and texture. It creates a chewiness without making the candy sticky and provides a rich mouth-feel. It also provides a luster to the finished product.

CARAMELS

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup dark corn syrup

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring sugar, butter and corn syrup to boil in saucepan, stirring. Boil 4 minutes without stirring. Remove pan from heat and add sweetened condensed milk. Mix well.

Return pan to heat and cook at medium-low boil 30 minutes, or until mixture reaches 238 degrees on candy thermometer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into buttered 9-inch square pan.

Cool in pan 2 hours. Remove from pan and cut with very sharp serrated knife into 1-inch pieces. Wrap each piece in wax paper. Makes about 40 caramels.