How Do You Make A Hard Candy Shell?

[?] Subscribe To This Site

How Do You Make A Hard Candy Shell?

by DEANIE
(MPLS MINN)

I want to make an inch square chocolate covered by a colored hard candy shell like M&M's or Jordan Almonds. Does anyone know how to do this?

Hi Deanie,

I've done my best to find the answer to this question, but I honestly can't locate a recipe to make a colored candy shell like M&M's. I'm sure there has to be one out there, unless M&M is keeping it a deep, dark, secret.

The best suggestion I could find was rather ingenious. One person recommended using that "Magic Shell" ice cream topping over your candy and popping it in the refrigerator to set.

It makes a shell coating, but it isn't exactly what you are referring to, I know. If you want to give it a try, you can probably locate it at the grocery store in the aisle with the ice cream toppings.

Sorry I couldn't find what you needed.

HELP! If anyone has a recipe for this hard candy shell coating, please share it here!

Comments for
How Do You Make A Hard Candy Shell?

Click here to add your own comments

Mar 31, 2008

Chocolate Candy
by: Chocolate Candy

Hey! I love chocolates very much and I am eagerly waiting to taste the chocolate covered by a colored hard candy shell.

Sep 07, 2008

M & M candy shell
by: mrwonka

i read on answers.com that that candy shell is corn syrup and sugar. doesnt really help us amatuer candy makers but its a step in the right direction

Sep 07, 2008

Hard Candy Shell Hopefuls
by: Angie

Thanks for the input Mr. Wonka! :-)

I'm wondering if you heated the correct proportions of corn syrup and sugar at a high enough temperature to reach the 'hard crack' stage then dipped your prepared chocolates in it if it would do the trick.

I have made hard tack back in my younger days. It does set very quickly, so it just might work. You can add food coloring to the candy syrup after you remove it from the heat (flavoring, too) if you like.

Anybody want to try it and let us know the results? :)

Nov 28, 2008

hard candy shell
by: maggie

On the hard candy shell after you cook it transfer it to a double boiler on low heat the hot water keeps it from setting up and you can work with it easier I make lots of hard tack for xmas learned this by trial & error using molds

Dec 05, 2008

Covering Chocolate with Hard Tack?
by: Angie

Thanks, Maggie, for your tip. It's always great to hear from the voice of experience!

I'm wondering if you ever tried dipping chocolate in the hard tack to make it a shell coating?

There has got to be some type of recipe for this, I'm sure. There's been others asking for a recipe for an M&M like coating on chocolate and I've just not been able to locate one.

Who's going to come to the rescue?

Dec 19, 2008

Hard candy coating
by: Dawn

I was watching the food network 'Unwraped' and theh way they do that hard candy coating is by layers in a tumbler. I am not sure that us amature candy makers would be able to really duplicate the results even if we were sure of a formulation. Maybe in a rock tumbler. I believe the formula is sugar and cornsyrup, flavor and color.

Sorry for our bad news if anyone figures it out though i would live to try it.

Apr 19, 2009

recipe for hard candy shell
by: Anonymous

I found one for Jordans almonds - I don't see why it wouldn't work for chocolate. I was wondering if the chocolate shoult perhaps be frozen before dipping it in the hot melted candy to coat it?

Here is the url:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Jordan-Almonds-Sugar-Coated-Almonds-269269

Jun 26, 2009

How can you make M&Ms?
by: Anonymous

I have been looking for a website on how to make M&Ms. Can you melt Jawbreakers? If you could melt Jawbreakers, and then add food coloring, they would be good to use for candy shells for chocolate. I wanted to make different kinds of M&Ms. But Jawbreakers might be too hard to melt, anyway.

Nov 14, 2009

How to make a sugar hard shell coating
by: Anonymous

The secret is sugar. Just plain old white melted sugar. When you make it, it must be an extremely thin coating. You must make the shell in halves, fill it with chocolate and place both halves together with a thin layer of melted chocolate, then coat in sugar a second time, but make sure the sugar is partially cooled before coating it a second time or you will melt the chocolate :D

Jan 01, 2010

Idea
by: Slim

maby after you get the candy shell to the hard crack stage you could coat your candy by makeing indentions in something like aluminum foil. fill it half full of the coating put the candy in and cover it up with more coating. its just an idea but it might work.

Jan 01, 2010

Jan 05, 2010

Jordan Almonds shell
by: Janelle

2 1/2 pounds whole blanched almonds
1 pound confectioners sugar
3 egg whites
food coloring if desired

if you just want the hard candy coating then just dont use the almonds and use whatever u want!!

in stand mixer use paddle attachment and beat sugar and egg whites together untill thick. add food coloring if desired!!

if using almonds toast them first in the oven at 350 for 5-10 min.

place almonds(or candy) on silicone baking sheets cover with the candy coating and let them sit to dry

makes about 4 cups of almonds

Jan 05, 2010

Dec 14, 2010

found a recipe for hard candy shells
by: Anonymous

# Bowl large enough to hold the saucepan
# Ice
# Cold water
# Flat baking sheet
# Nonstick cooking spray
# 1/2 cup light corn syrup
# 2 cups granulated sugar
# 1 cup water
# Medium-sized saucepan
# Stovetop
# Wooden spoon
# Candy thermometer
# Metal skewers

1.Fill the bowl with ice and cold water, leaving a few inches at the top so the saucepan will fit without causing the water to spill over the sides of the bowl

2.Grease the flat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

3.Combine the corn syrup, sugar and water in the saucepan. Place on the stovetop.

4.Set the heat to medium-high.

5.Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.

6.Leave the pot on medium-high heat, testing the temperature after 10 minutes. The temperature needs to be 300 degrees Fahrenheit. (It may take longer than 10 minutes.)

7.Once the temperature reaches 300 degrees, remove the pan from the heat, turn off the stovetop and immerse the saucepan in the bowl of cold water. Be sure that no cold water spills into the candy mixture.

8.The candy will take a moment to stop boiling, so put the items to be dipped on the skewers in the meantime.

9.Being careful to touch only the top of the skewer, dip the items into the candy. Let any excess coating drip off into the saucepan.

10.Place the dipped items on the baking sheet and let them sit at room temperature for at least one hour.

Jan 04, 2011

Hard shell candy
by: Dreamzilla

Well actually it is a tumbling process which takes a lot of effort to recreate. At first you have to add a very thin layer of natural gum, then you’ll add a layer of a sugar and corn syrup mixture after this you can add a layer of colouring and at last you’ll add a layer of beeswax to make it shiny.

Though, when you have a chocolate core you won’t be able use solutions which are hot for the simple reason that the chocolate will melt. So the sugar mixture has to be a very wet one and you have to dry and atomize this layer over the candy simultaneously. I don’t know the exact environmental circumstances to get the best results. I guess this is M&M’s dark secret. Though, it may be help, when you’re searching for more information to also look at the pharmaceutical industries and search for terms as ‘tablet coating’, ‘pan coating’, ‘(non) aqueous film coating’ and ‘dragee’.

For me, I am also trying to make a candy with the same sort of coating, so please, if anyone could tell us more about this topic, don’t hesitate!

Jan 21, 2011

Dragee pan
by: Anonymous

Get the book "Sugar Confectionery Manufacture" (or find some of it on books.google.com to get an idea). From page 247 on the process of "sugar panning" is described. Yes, sugar coating involves a tumbling dragee pan, not unlike a cement mixer. Soft coatings just involve moisture and solids and are done at low/room temperature; hard coatings are done by evaporating water from a syrup (by applying moderate heat) until the sugar crystallizes.

Once you've got a dragee pan (they're quite expensive!) you'll still have to learn how to use it. As you can read from the book mentioned above, the process is considered an art and will take lots of practice to get right.

With enough McGuyver-instinct it's possible to make your own dragee pan. You'll need two sheet-metal salad bowls (30 cm diameter), a sheet of silicone, an electric drill (as engine), a hand drill (to slow down the electric drill), wood, screws, nails for the stand and a rotary tool to cut the hole. I'm still learning how to use mine though.

Feb 08, 2011

It's crazy no-one knows
by: Chris H

Forget it, I'm just going to buy m&m's from now on

May 29, 2011

Candy Egg Shell
by: Closet Chef

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm working on a new recipe for a dessert "Soft Boiled Egg" and have been working on trying to find a recipe for the "shell". This gives me something to work with, although I need to figure out how to make it white.

Jul 13, 2011

Hard Candy Shell
by: Emilee

As an alternative, perhaps you could use a sugar cookie icing to dip your chocolates in. It hardens like a candy coated shell and you can color it to your heart's desire. May take a couple of dips depending on your recipe's translucency.

Jul 31, 2011

try using recipe for making Jordan almonds
by: jr

Food.com has a recipe for making Jordan almonds. I would think that the candy coating on the almonds would the same or close to an M&M-like coating.

Nov 21, 2011

panning NEW
by: Anonymous

Its achieved by panning
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/panning/candy.html
its a trade process using a rotating drum

Jan 29, 2012

candy coating NEW
by: Anonymous

go to ehow.com. i jsut foudn the recipe for making the candy coation on that website.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Candy Making Questions & Answers

Search our Site:

Some of our delicious
Site Sponsors

How Do You Make A Hard Candy Shell?

Comments for How Do You Make A Hard Candy Shell?

Comments for
How Do You Make A Hard Candy Shell?