Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories: bakers' confections and sugar confections.
Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called sugar confectionery, encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar candy. Vegetables, fruit, or nuts which have been glazed and coated with sugar are said to be candied.
Caramel is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, or as a topping for ice cream and custard.
Fudge is a type of dessert bar that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk. It has its origins in the 19th century United States, and was popular in the women's colleges of the time. Fudge can come in a variety of flavorings depending on the region or country it was made; popular flavors include fruit, nut, chocolate and caramel. Fudge is often bought as a gift from a gift shop in tourist areas and attractions.
Toffee is an English confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 149 to 154 °C. While being prepared, toffee is sometimes mixed with nuts or raisins.
Butterscotch is a type of confection whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter. Some recipes include corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt. The earliest known recipes, in mid-19th century Yorkshire, used treacle (molasses) in place of, or in addition to, sugar.
Penuche is a fudge-like candy made from brown sugar, butter, and milk, using no flavorings except for vanilla. Penuche often has a tannish color, and is lighter than regular fudge. It is formed by the caramelization of brown sugar; thus, its flavor is said to be reminiscent of caramel. Nuts, especially pecans, are often added to penuche for texture, frequently in the making of penuche candies. It is primarily a regional food, found in New England and some places in the Southern United States, though in the latter it goes by different names, including creamy praline fudge, and brown sugar fudge candy.
Sugar candy is any candy whose primary ingredient is sugar. The main types of sugar candies are hard candies, fondants, caramels, jellies, and nougats. In British English, this broad category of sugar candies is called sweets, and the name candy or sugar-candy is used only for hard candies that are nearly solid sugar.
Caramel apples or toffee apples are whole apples covered in a layer of caramel. They are created by dipping or rolling apples-on-a-stick in hot caramel, sometimes then rolling them in nuts or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool. When these additional ingredients, such as nut toppings, are added, the caramel apple can be called a taffy apple.
Butter Brickle is a chocolate-coated toffee first sold on November 20, 1924, by candy manufacturer John G. Woodward Co. of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and toffee pieces for flavoring ice cream, manufactured by The Fenn Bros. Ice Cream and Candy Co. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Bonfire toffee is a hard, brittle toffee associated with Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night in the United Kingdom. The toffee tastes very strongly of black treacle (molasses), and cheap versions can be quite bitter. In Scotland, the treat is known as claggum, with less sweet versions known as clack. In Wales, it is known as loshin du.
Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts, and which are usually less than 1 cm thick.
Joseph F. Fralinger was an American businessman and confectioner, known for being the most successful merchandiser of salt water taffy. The confectionary store he founded in the late 19th century in Atlantic City remains a fixture on its famous boardwalk.
Hi-Chew is a Japanese fruit candy sold by Morinaga & Company.
Blondies are a type of dessert bar that is similar to brownies but with a different flavor. They are made with brown sugar instead of cocoa and are often baked in a pan, and then cut into squares or rectangles. Other ingredients such as walnuts or chips can be added to the mixture. Blondies are soft and chewy. The name blondies comes from their light color, which contrasts with the dark color of traditional brownies.
Candy making or candymaking is the preparation and cookery of candies and sugar confections. Candy making includes the preparation of many various candies, such as hard candies, jelly beans, gumdrops, taffy, liquorice, cotton candy, chocolates and chocolate truffles, dragées, fudge, caramel candy, and toffee.
