Are you a fan of soft, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth cotton candy? For me, that hot, melting taste of spun sugar is linked with summer fairs and festivals, and it holds a strong nostalgic sweetness. With just a little practice, and a little skill, you can make a fancied-up version of this treat at home, as Andrea from Cooking Books shows us.
Andrea got this recipe from Gesine Bullock-Prado's new book, Sugar Baby (Stewart, Tabori & Chang: $17.61, Amazon). Bullock-Prado's book is a delightful romp through sugarcraft of all sorts — from macarons and marshmallows to stovetop spun sugar, like this cotton candy.
Andrea attempts it bravely, spinning hot strands of sugar into a golden cloud of cotton candy. No, it isn't as soft and fluffy as the version spun out by commercial machines at the fair, but it is still delicious and very fun to eat.
See more about her process and get the recipe:
• Get the recipe: Homemade Cotton Candy at Cooking Books
Have you ever tried making cotton candy or spun sugar at home? How'd it go? We think little sticks of this stuff would make lovely party favors or after-dinner treats.
Related: How To Spin Sugar For Delightful Desserts
(Images: Andrea of Cooking Books)
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I've never made cotton candy at home but I have spun sugar. While it might be delicious to eat and pretty to look at I can't accept the above as cotton candy whatsoever! The main premise of cotton candy is that it is soft and fluffy...like a cotton ball. Not brittle and crystalline like spun sugar is. Real cotton candy has that lovely airy, flossy texture when you pull it apart. This stuff seems like there would be lots of needles and shards of the stuff going everywhere when you try to eat it. It probably is an amusing treat but perhaps find a different name for it.
Although, I do think, yes, spun sugar is pretty fun to make. Just be sure to have a big bowl of ice water nearby whenever working with hot sugar.
Love this! I am thinking about these for my wedding...so much classier than cotton candy, and so much fresher than cake.
Has anyone taken a bite of one of these? Is it ok, or impossible?
Chenell, I wouldn't do it for your wedding because they have to be eaten pretty much right away or they'll become too brittle and kind of sharp if it's dry out, or soggy if it's humid. They have no shelf life.
That looks like a bug on there
Ha, Tiffany, that's exactly what my husband said when we made them. It's not, though. I promise.
If you make this don't expect to get anything remotely like 'cotton candy' or candy floss. Nothing wrong with it at all, and being lightly caramelised it's tastier than that nasty pink stuff. But it is *not* 'cotton candy' and neither is it a version thereof as the article suggests.
I'm thinking about giving my candy floss maker away, actually! I got it years ago, with the idea of making candy floss to promote fair trade. The Head Teacher was keen to try some so I promised to give him my first bag full. Unfortunately, back then, the only fairtrade sugars available were all unprocessed, raw sugars and I was meant to use refined sugar when using the machine. I kept the thing spinning for ages until I had to admit defeat. All my effort had resulted in producing a tiny ball of brown fuzz, that looked more like a Liliputian chest-wig than a tasty treat. Still I bagged it, labelled it and delivered it to the HT as promised and then set about explaining to the pupils why there would not be candy floss after all.
I found the machine this week, lurking in the back of a cupboard and, since fair trade sugars now include the refined stuff, I thought I'd have another go. Well, once again I failed to produce anything like those tantilizing, sugary bouffants pictured on the box but at least it looked a damn sight more appetizing this time!
I have a great childhood memory of a neighbor with a cotton candy machine. Like magic, it spun out sweet goodness.
More recently, my son, at age 4, wanted to refreshed old stale cotton candy, and the disbelief in his eyes as it melted in the water was priceless.