A few of you showed some interest, so we made a batch of plain vanilla divinity and I took some photos along the way. To get started, beat 2 egg whites into stiff peaks. Get some wax paper and a disher ready. I’d have to look up the measurements, but put the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a sauce pan. Put in the thermometer, and crank the heat. We haven’t tried it this way, but I think if you are going to flavor it with gelatin this is the time to do so. I may have to find a recipe for that and try it. Orange would be really good I think. Stir constantly until the sugar all dissolves and it starts to boil. Keep an eye on it at this point, the temp can go up quickly. The water will all flash off at a certain point. You’ll think it is going to boil over, but it won’t. Aiming for Hard Ball stage, which is 165* F. Once it gets to 165, kill the heat. Crank up the mixer (egg whites) to its fastest setting, and SLOWLY pour in the molten sugar mixture. Once you get the sugar all mixed in, add the vanilla extract and let it beat for 5 or 6 minutes. It should lose its shine and start to pull away from the side of the bowl somewhat. It should be ribbonlike, but keep its shape for the most part. In the above photo, it is not running off the beater actively, it pulled out but is holding its shape. Really sticky, but not running. If you are going to add anything, this is the time to do it. Chopped nuts are good. If you do something like maraschino cherries make sure they are really dry. Get them ready before hand, because once you get here you need to dish it out before it cools off too much. They should keep their shape when you dish them out.
This is the one we made where we didn’t put enough sugar. It flattened out when dished. We had one batch last year that did this also, I don’t recall if we ever figured out why though. It wasn’t as bad, but they never really set up.
