Southwestern Recipes
Coconut Candy
Yield: four 6 inch rectangles
Ingredients
- 30 vanilla wafers
- 5 cups coconut, shredded
- 4 tablespoons water
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups water
- 1 stick cinnamon
- Red food coloring
Instructions
- Grease an 8 inch square pan and line it with the wafers.
- In a blender, grind the shredded coconut with 4 tablespoons water into a fine paste.
- In a large pot, combine sugar, 2 cups of the water and the cinnamon stick. Cook over low heat, stirring gently, until sugar dissolves. Cover and cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes to wash down sugar crystals from the sides of the pan. Uncover; continue cooking to the soft ball stage (234 degrees F) or until syrup forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from cold water.
- Remove from the heat and mix in the ground coconut.
- Transfer to a large mixing bowl and beat at medium speed of an electric mixer until the mixture forms a paste.
- Divide in half. Add a few drops of red food coloring to one portion and leave the other white.
- Fill the pan half full with the white coconut mixture and then top with the pink coconut mixture.
- Let cool in a dry covered container for 1 day. Slice into approximately 6 x 2 inch shapes.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a dry container until ready to eat.
Notes
This will keep up to 4 weeks.