Tootsie Rolls

My kids joke with me and tell me my kitchen is my laboratory.  Today, I decided to experiment once again.  I found two fun recipes for making tootsie rolls.  They were different enough that I thought it was worth an experiment.

Tootsie Rolls 1
1 cup honey	½ cup baking cocoa
1 cup dry milk powder	1 tsp vanilla
Cook the honey until it reaches a temperature between 250° F–255° F.  You will need to use a candy thermometer to test the temperature.  If you get it too hot, the candy will not be chewy.  It will be hard.  Once the honey reaches the right temperature, remove it from the heat.  Mix the dry milk powder and the baking cocoa together.  Add this mixture to the hot honey along with the vanilla.  Stir until well combined.  Pour out onto a greased surface and allow to cool for about 15 minutes or until it is cool enough to handle.  Knead just a bit.  Roll into long, thin snakes and then cut into individual size candies.  Wrap in pieces of waxed paper.  Makes about 50 small chews. Tootsie Rolls 2 2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened 1 tsp vanilla ½ cup baking cocoa ¾ cup dry milk powder 3 cups powdered sugar                                ½ cup light corn syrup Combine the dry ingredients in a ziplock bag.  Mix the wet ingredients together and then add to the bag.  Knead until it is all well combined.  (This takes a few minutes.  I ended up dumping it out on the counter to finish the job.)  Roll into long, thin snakes and then cut into individual size candies.  Wrap in pieces of waxed paper.  Both are good, but we decided the texture of the first recipe is a little smoother - more like you would expect with a tootsie roll.  Plus, the ingredients make it just a little more healthy - if you can consider candy healthy.  I can see some benefits to the second recipe though.  It could be fun to do with a scout troop or on a camping trip since there is no cooking involved and there is very little mess.  The best thing is they are both made from fully storable ingredients and I now know how we can make sure chocolate is available during a time that we were having to eat just our food storage! Plus I'm going to use the candy to make Groudhog Day cupcakes for tonight.  I'll post a picture soon.