Mexican Sugar Skulls S.O.C. Terea by Layla Bellissimo

Basic History  Sugar skulls are a sweet, delectable treat made by the Mexicans.  They make them on certain holidays, most widely known is Day of the Dead. They decorate them in pretty icings and sell them.  The kids love them! They are a traditional treat.  They are a bit too sweet, the main ingredient, is well, sugar! Just don’t eat too much!

Sugar Skull Fail  For my SOC Terea, I want to make some sugar skulls. I loved making them in 6 th grade during Spanish class. I asked Mr. Leibson for some molds and I took them home on Friday. I knew they weren’t traditional molds but I used them anyway. I thought I knew the recipe well, but turns out, I didn’t! I had poured sugar and water into the mold, with tin foil on the top, I put the skulls in overnight, and well… IT WAS A DISASTER!! They stuck to the foil and were so gooey and icky. I couldn’t even decorate! Here’s some pictures of the disaster.

Attempt #1 Pictures The substance stuck and stayed on my finger when I reached in to grab it! Here’s how the gross sugar skulls looked like!

What you need (to fix) What You Need  What You Need  2 1/2 cups sugar  1 egg white from an extra large egg, or 2 from small eggs  1 teaspoons light corn syrup  1 teaspoon vanilla  Cornstarch, about a half cup, for powdering surface  Colored sprinkles  Food coloring  Fine paint brush  Colored icing  Candy sticks (optional)

Instructions to Perfection! 1.Sift sugar into a large mixing bowl. 2.In another bowl, mix the egg whites, corn syrup and vanilla. 3.Slowly pour the liquid into the powdered sugar. Mix with your hands until a sandy dough forms. 4.Form dough into a ball. At this point you can continue or you can refrigerate dough for later use. 5.Lightly dust surface with cornstarch as well as your hands. Pinch off a heaping tablespoon of dough and shape it into a skull. (time is 10 minutes, and this is a very easy recipe! You just need to right materials! You also don’t have to follow every rule down to the exact wording )

Instructions to Perfection! 6. Press the candy sticks into the bottom of each skull. 7. If you're using them, lightly press colored sprinkles into the soft candy. 8. Let the candy dry overnight. 9. When candy is dry, use the paint brush with food coloring to decorate the skulls. Or you can use frosting (one that will dry hard) with a find tip to decorate them. 10. Hand them out as is, or wrap in a small cellophane bag tied closed with a small ribbon.

Extra Tips! I needed to follow at least one of these, because I messed up.  The skulls may not dry completely on a humid or rainy day.  If you use the molds, you should follow each manufacturer's instructions as some molds only work with certain recipes.  The "dough" should be the consistency of damp sand. Just moist enough to hold together. If "dough" is too dry and crumbly, add 1 teaspoon of water at a time to moisten.  If "dough" is too moist, add sugar one tablespoon at a time until "dough" is the right consistency.  If the candy has trouble drying completely, place in a 125 degree warm oven until dry. (The one that is in red, is the one I had to use. I did that for about 10 minutes!)

My own twist  I ended up not doing 6-9 steps because I wanted to decorate when the skulls were dry. Here’s how they looked before the icing!

Icing…mmm…  I love decorating with icing! I bought some squeezing icing tubes. (To put the frosting in!) I used cotton candy flavored frosting. Here’s what it looked like! I found the sliver decoration at Michaels while looking for Icing Tubes!

Tada!  Thank you for viewing! Here is my source!  ht/candyskulls.htm ht/candyskulls.htm