Hardtack...the other kind

(Just-smashed hardtack)

I was reading bakingsheet the other day, and saw Nic had a post about crackers and Swedish hardtack.

I thought, 'oh, wow...I haven't had hardtack in years. Decades, even. I should grab the recipe.'.

Then I read on, and discovered that Swedish hardtack was completely different than the hardtack I'd grown up with!


See, when I was little, some friend of my grandparents would give them a tin filled with a hard, clear candy, coated in powdered sugar, for Christmas. The candy would often come in different colors and flavors; cinnamon being the one I remember most.

Naturally, I went looking for a recipe, and came up with the following:

Old Fashioned Hardtack Candy
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2 C. sugar
3/4 C. corn syrup
1 C. water
Mix and cook to 270 degrees F. or hard brittle stage with threads as it falls in cool water. Remove from the heat and add food coloring as desired and 1/2 tsp. flavoring (cinnamon, peppermint, etc.). Pour into a buttered dish and cool. Break into pieces and roll in powdered sugar. - Cherie Harmon

Which I made Tuesday night. This is what it looks like.


(Dusted with powdered sugar)


I really don't know why, but I find myself cooking out of season a lot. During the winter months, I'll decide I want to make ice cream, or do a lot of grilling.
Now that the temperatures are steadily in the upper eighties (with matching humidity...ugh), I'm dusting off one of our fondue pots, making candy, and planning a lot of meals requiring much stove-front time. Eh, I gotta be me, I suppose.