Recipe: Snow candy

More than a few times, I attempted to recreate a scene in "Little House in the Big Woods" where Mary and Laura make snow candy with syrup. Of course, as a child of 10 or so, I forgot an important step - actually heating up the syrup.

Posted 7:29 p.m. Feb 26, 2015 — Updated 7:29 p.m. Feb 26, 2015

By

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

I grew up in central New York where we had a lot of snow. So I had plenty of time to read and re-read the entire Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

More than a few times, I attempted to recreate a scene in "Little House in the Big Woods" where Mary and Laura make snow candy with syrup. Of course, as a child of 10 or so, I forgot an important step - actually heating up the syrup. So I'd take our bottle of Aunt Jemima out, pour a little in the snow and then be incredibly frustrated when it would just sink into the snow instead of harden like it did in the book.

It's been a few decades since I made those attempts, but writing about snow day activities this week reminded me of my frustration and effort those many years ago.

Of course, if I'd actually heated up that Aunt Jemima syrup back in the day, it would have hardened. Real maple syrup also is a delicious option.

Pancakes are on the meal plan for tomorrow and we're low on syrup, but the pantry is overflowing with molasses, so I tried a version from the Little House Books website.

Watch the video to see how it's done. It's definitely a messy activity, but the kids had a lot of fun. And I loved finally making it the right way.

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