FOOD FRIDAY - ROSE CANDY

“But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes

For Food Friday, some traditional sweetmeats. Rose candy, that tastes of times past and is for the romantic at heart!
 
ROSE CANDY
Ingredients

1    400 g can of full cream, condensed, sweetened milk
1    canful of water
50     g butter
1/2    teaspoonful vanilla essence
2 to 3    drops of rose essential oil (edible!)
1/2    drop each of pink food dye
450    g granulated sugar
Desiccated coconut flakes (optional)
 
Method

Pour the milk into a saucepan, fill the can with water and add it to the milk. Stir and add the butter, vanilla essence and sugar. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then boil steadily, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (116˚C on a sugar thermometer). For a softish candy remove from the heat immediately and add the rose oil and food colour, stirring all the while. You may divide the mixture into two, colour one half pink and the other leave white, for layered candy. Grease a 20 cm square tin with a little butter and pour in the unbeaten mixture. Allow to become almost cold and then mark into squares. Wrap the squares in cellophane once they are cold. (If you prefer a crisper candy, once the soft ball stage has been reached, boil slowly at 116˚C for a further 1-2 minutes, then treat as previously). Desiccated coconut flakes can be used to coat the candy (optional).

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.