Romanian /Ukrainian Thanksgiving CANDY MAKING

Growing up in America as a Romanian/Ukrainian,  incorporating holiday traditions from back home was/is a challenge. I love to add old world touches to the festivities, and use traditional elements from my childhood. Welcome to my version of Thanksgiving !!!!
When we were kids, we used to make candy with my moms candy maker; so here I go!
For this Thanksgiving we are getting together with 7 of my siblings, (there are 12 of us ) and the menu was:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing ( made by me)
Brussels sprouts (made by me)
Green beans
Cabbage rolls
Beat salad
Pumpkin Pies(made by me)
Buttercream cake
Mom's candy( traditional Ukrainian characters)
Moms' walnuts (made by me)


Today I am tackling candy making (since you can make them in advance)

Recipe
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water  
1/3 c. corn syrup (light)
1/4 tsp. oil flavor & food coloring  ( I added a little green to half my batch.)


 Spray inside of molds and cookie sheet with Pam. (I  used melted butter and oil and the oil worked better). Place cookie sheets with prepared molds in freezer to chill.

 Get candy lollypop sticks ready. I mark them  to know how deep to insert them in my candy molds.

Combine sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook to hard crack stage (300 degrees).

 Remove from heat. Add flavoring and food coloring. Stir approximately 2 minutes.
 Pour into cool greased molds.

 Insert sticks

Wait 20 min then take apart I had a few break.

 Enjoy!!

I made one more batch and used cranberry juice, and they turned out a beautiful red!

A few pictures of our spread!