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Divinity Fudge
2 cups sugar 1/2 cup corn syrup 1/2 cup hot water 2 egg whites, beaten stiff 3/4 cup nuts Cook sugar, syrup and water together until a little dropped in cold water forms a soft ball (240 degrees F.). Beat egg whites until stiff. Take mixture off stove and pour slowly into stiffly beaten egg whites, stirring all the time. Add nuts and beat until stiff. Drop on oiled paper or buttered plate. (Can be prepared the day before.)
Divinity is meringue set with boiled syrup, and it lives or dies by two things: the temperature of the syrup and the dryness of the air. Everything else is stirring.
- The syrup temperature is the hinge240F sits at the top of the soft-ball range, and it will give a soft, slightly sticky divinity that spreads on the paper rather than holding a peak. Many modern versions cook to 250-260F for candy that sets firm enough to lift cleanly. Use a candy thermometer and treat the cold-water test as a backup.
- HumidityDivinity will not set on a damp or rainy day; the sugar draws water from the air and the candy stays tacky indefinitely. Make it when the kitchen is dry, and cook a few degrees higher if the weather is borderline.
- Pour thin and slowAdd the syrup in a steady thread down the side of the bowl with the mixer running, not in a lump. Poured too fast, the syrup cooks the whites into threads and the mixture never aerates. A stand mixer makes this far easier than the two-handed job the original assumes.
- "Beat until stiff" means longer than you thinkThe mixture is ready when it loses its gloss, holds a definite peak, and the beater leaves tracks that stay. This is usually 5-10 minutes of machine beating after the syrup is in. Underbeaten divinity puddles; overbeaten divinity turns crumbly and has to be pressed into a pan instead of dropped.
- Corn syrup is doing real workIt is an interfering agent that keeps the sucrose from recrystallizing into grit. Light corn syrup is what this recipe means; do not substitute the dark sort unless you want the molasses flavor, and do not leave it out.
- Egg whitesThe hot syrup cooks the whites only partially. If you are serving anyone who should avoid undercooked egg, use pasteurized whites in the carton, which whip up fine with a little patience.
- NutsPecans or walnuts are traditional, coarsely broken rather than chopped fine. Fold them in at the very end, once the beating is nearly done, or they will bruise and gray the candy.
- Yield and keepingExpect roughly 30 to 36 pieces dropped by the spoonful. Store in a tin between layers of waxed paper; the note that it can be made a day ahead is accurate, though it stales and dries after three or four days.
Divinity belongs to a family of American boiled-syrup meringue candies that spread through printed cookery in the early twentieth century, made practical for home cooks by cheap refined sugar and by commercial corn syrup, which became widely available in the United States in the first years of the century and made non-grainy candy achievable without professional skill. The origin of the name is not documented. The candy is often associated with the American South, where pecans were the default nut. The note that it "can be prepared the day before" fits the practice of making holiday sweets ahead of the meal.