TC's Succulent Suckers -Trent

1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp. highly concentrated hard candy flavoring
20 sucker sticks
20 sucker molds

Start off by putting the water, sugar, and corn syrup (in that order) carefully in a small pot over a medium-high flame. Be careful not to get any sugar on the sides of the pan. DO NOT STIR. In a few minutes it will begin to boil fast with small bubbles, and will soon work its way down to slower, bigger bubbles. DO NOT STIR. If it starts to stink like you burned it (that would be the sugar), DO NOT get disappointed or STIR. I promise it will turn out beautifully if you follow my every instruction.

Meanwhile, if you have the 20 metal individual molds, set out a large piece of tinfoil and assemble your sucker molds in a large circle to make pouring simple. Then, spray with a non-stick cooking spray on every side of the the inside of the mold, including the foil. It MUST be flavorless- I have made them using garlic cooking spray and they tasted like strawberry-garlic bread. If you have the plastic tray molds, lay them on the counter next to the stove and spray every nook and cranny, then insert the sticks.

After 10-15 minutes or so, and once the big slow bubbles form, perform a test (like the toothpick in the cake test.... except its nothing like that test). (DO NOT STIR) and extract a small portion of the mix, then pour it into the water. Stir the candy (in the water) around for a few seconds until it hardens. Taste test. If it is chewy, then obviously it is not done. DO NOT STIR! You may have to do this many times before the candy becomes hard. Once the candy starts to crunch instead of getting stuck in your teeth, then it is done.

Once it is done, remove from heat and add the flavoring and food coloring of your choice (usually the color will coordinate with the flavor; red with cherry, green with apple, yellow with piña colada, etc. Who wants purple watermelon sucker? I mean, honestly?). Finally, its time to cure that coloring and flavoring is mixed evenly. Gently pour the sucker mix into prepared molds until each is filled to the top. Allow about 5-10 minutes to harden, remove the suckers from their molds, and yes, you can eat them now! (If they did not turn out right then you probably don't belong in the kitchen.)