As we head towards winter, more people start to think about parties, treats, gifts and, well, candy. Halloween is the season opener for candy, and candy making is something that many people find notoriously difficult. We’d like to help change that.

Candy making is all about seed crystal control and sugar concentration. We’ve covered those two topics in detail in another blog post, but today we’ll go over some of the basics of candy temperatures, which is the way that we measure sugar concentration. As a vehicle for that learning, we’ll be going over Italian meringues, which you can make into crispy-chewy or crunchy-dry cookie candies that are great for Halloween parties, or any time throughout the holidays. So grab your Thermapen^® and get ready to get your sugar on!

Meringue basics

Meringues are fluffy concoctions made of egg whites and sugar. The type of meringue and its uses are divided by how the egg whites are combined and then further by the proportion of sugar to egg. Classic, basic meringue is the French variety. Egg whites are whipped until frothy, then sugar is added and the whites are further whipped to stiff peaks. The meringue can be used to top pies, etc. It should be cooked before eating, as it is made of raw eggs. This meringue will expand some during cooking as the air bubbles expand from the heat. It is exceptionally light and melts delicately on the tongue.

Swiss meringue is made by beating sugar and egg whites together in a double boiler until the mixture thickens and reaches 100°F (38°C). Then it is taken off of heat and beaten until glossy and stiff. The partial precooking makes this meringue more stable than the French type, and it has a thick, marshmallowy texture. This is often used for icings. It will expand less when cooked because the proteins will already be holding the air more tightly in place.

Italian meringue is the final type and is made by beating the egg whites until stiff and then adding a hot sugar syrup that has been cooked to the soft-ball stage while beating furhter. The hot syrup cooks the egg whites as you beat them together and the result is a very stable, velvety-sticky meringue that can be used for icings or for aerating mousses—or it can be baked on its own for the candy-cookies we’re making here.

Each of these types can be divided into soft and hard meringues. Soft meringues have less sugar than eggs, and hard meringues have more sugar than egg—often as much as twice as much sugar by weight. Soft meringues are less sturdy and more delicate. Hard meringues create much more substantial clouds. These cookies employ a hard meringue.

How to make meringues work

The whipping of eggs is dependent on keeping the whipping bowl free from all oil or grease. It is best to wash your bowl immediately before whipping, to make sure no oil has been smudged on the bowl. Also, it’s best when separating the whites from the yolks to separate them into a small bowl, adding each one to the mixing bowl as you separate them. If any yolk gets in with the whites, your whites will not whip.

Another important tip for whipping egg whites for meringues is to acidulate the egg whites. Adding a little acid to the egg whites start to denature the proteins while the eggs are whipping. Denaturing them chemically in this way makes meringues that are more firm and also less likely to leak out syrup when they are cooking. As a rule of thumb, use cream of tartar in a ratio of 1/16^th tsp per egg white.

Candy temperatures and stages

Candy stages are a direct measure of sugar concentration in a syrup. You see, water boils at one elevation-dependent temperature when it’s pure. If you add solutes to it, like sugar, the boiling temperature goes up proportionally to the amount in the solution. By measuring the temperature of the boiling solution we therefore measure the sugar concentration. For this to be a success, an accurate thermometer is needed, and nothing beats the Thermapen for both accuracy and speed! (Read more about why the Thermapen is the best candy thermometer around.)

Softball stage corresponds to a concentration of 85% sugar and boils in the range of 235–240°F (113–116°C). That’s the temperature range we’ll shoot for in the syrup for these candies.

Of course, all that concentration-at-boiling-point-calculation talk is rooted at sea level. Up here where ThermoWorks HQ is located, we boil water about 8°F (4°C) cooler than at sea level. That means that water starts leaving concentration sooner, and that means we get more concentrated syrup at lower temperatures. All candy recipes must make boiling point adjustments for elevation. An elevation adjustment of 2°F (1.1°C) reduction in syrup temperature must be made for each 1,000 ft above sea level you are cooking candy, or you will overcook your sugar. (Or undercook it, in the case of our Death Valley readers.)

Note: since we’re talking about concentrations here, if you overshoot your temperature by a few degrees, you can add a quarter cup of water to your syrup and re-boil it. Just watch the temperature carefully the second time as you’ll probably get to your temp rather quickly.