We’ve all seen a lot of different types and flavors of expensive deer licks at the store. The main ingredients are usually the same as if you were making hard candy, so I found a few recipes out there for hard candy and used molasses instead of corn syrup. The result was great and the deer love it!!
Ingredients:
– 2 cups of Sugar – 1 cup of water – 2-3 tablespoons of butter – 1 cup of Molasses – 1 tablespoon of salt
Tools:
- Candy thermometer
- Large pot
- Wooden spoon
- Large 32 ounce cup (or other substitute for a mold)
- Stick or large screw (depending on how you want to use the deer lick)
Directions:
1. Place all the ingredients in large pot and mix together.
2. Put the candy thermometer in place.
3. Set on medium to high heat and begin to boil.
4. It will need to reach about 270-280° degrees F. or what they call soft-crack stage.
5. Once it gets to 270-280° degrees F., I take it off the burner and let it cool for a while.
6. Before it gets too thick, I will pour into mold.
7. Can put the stick or screw in it probably hour later when it starts to harden.
When it gets above 200° F., you will see it start to bubble up a lot. When I first tried this recipe, it kept boiling up too high and I could never get to soft-crack point, then we found another recipe that included adding butter, which was the secret to keeping it from boiling up too high. If it boils up too high, you can try adding more butter. It will get extremely hot, so BE VERY CAREFUL! Then after cooking it for a while and the water starts to evaporate, it will lower back down and you will see it just simmering in the bottom. I stir it a little bit and just keep cooking it until it reaches 270-280° F. Here is a picture when it’s been cooking for a while. Finally, as soon as it hits 270-280° F., you can take it off the burner and let it cool for few minutes while you stir it. Then when it cools down a bit, you can pour into your molds. Also, be sure to put some butter or light grease in your mold so it won’t stick. Again, please BE CAREFUL and always use precaution when cooking with high temperatures.
