HOMEMADE LICORICE

September 23rd is National Checkers Day, and I started thinking about checkers. Black and red pieces, and how could I incorporate that into my recipe for the day.  The black. The red.  LICORICE. It was a no brainer.  

I love licorice.  I guess the real question is Twizzlers or Red Vines?  But thats store bought waxy licorice, I really enjoy the old fashioned candy store homemade licorice.

I am not a huge fan of the dark anise flavored ones, but It depends on how strong the flavor is. I do like the fruity flavors..  One time we were driving through Idaho (Before we relocated out here), and stopped off in this little town outside of Bear Lake.  We got a package of Huckleberry Licorice and we devoured it.

SO I went on the trusty Google and found a few recipes for Licorice, they are all pretty much the same, the basic gist is water, sugar, more sugar and anise extract. I have posted the one that looked the most traditional.  DO you know how hard it was sifting through the riffraff of licorice recipes? Gluten free, keto, all natural(pick your own licorice root, distill and 5 days and collect steam droplets with a fairy knife blah blah blah).  This recipe I am sharing below was the most straight forward and basic of recipes without all that extra steps and stuff.  Then depending on what you want to make, you can switch out the type of flour, the color of corn syrup, substitute honey for molasses, fruity extract for the anise.  This recipe is a good basic go to recipe to start with.

dark traditional licorice from food52.com :YOU WILL NEED:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
  
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
  
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
  
• 2 tablespoons molasses (use blackstrap for the strongest flavor)
  
• Pinch of kosher salt
  
• 6 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon black food coloring gel 
  
• 3/4 tablespoon anise extract (use 1 tablespoon for a stronger flavor)

1. Line a 9 x by 5 x by 3-inch bread loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving excess to form handles for easy removal.
2. Grease the parchment paper with extra butter.
3. Clip a (calibrated) candy thermometer to the side of a heavy 2-quart saucepan, being sure that the gauge is not resting directly on the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the butter, sugar, corn syrup, condensed milk, molasses, and salt. Turn the heat to medium and bring to a gentle boil. Stir the mixture frequently to prevent scorching in the corners.
5. Once the mixture reaches 240° F, remove it from the heat, and immediately stir in the flour and black food gel. Once they're fully incorporated, stir in the anise extract.
6. Pour the mixture into the buttered loaf pan and let it set in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. Remove from the pan, and either dice it into squares or slice it into ropes and twist.

Thats your basic licorice recipe.  You can use honey instead of molasses, regular corn syrup and white flour, and fruit extracts instead of anise for fruity flavored licorice.

Make a pan and see what happens!!