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Small Pastries

Homemade Carbone Dolce (Italian Candy Coal)

Just a few ingredients to make carbone dolce, Italian candy coal, at home: in a stocking or under the tree, it's anything but a bitter punishment.
Recipe Homemade Carbone Dolce (Italian Candy Coal)
  • Difficulty Medium
  • Preparation 5 minutes
  • Cooking 10 minutes
  • Servings for 4 people

Who didn’t find, at least once as a child, a nice handful of Carbone Dolce (candy coal) as a sugary punishment in the stocking hanging by the fireplace or under the Christmas tree? It happened to us -of course- a few times… So we decided to relive those happy moments with a recipe for making candy coal at home with just a few ingredients.

Carbone Dolce, traditionally meant for naughty children, is made from an egg white icing with powdered sugar and the characteristic black food coloring, which is then mixed into a syrup of water and sugar. We’re sure it won’t be so bad to receive this crunchy sweet as a punishment, certainly much better than the real, dusty coal of the original tradition.

Besides being a gentle warning for little rascals, Carbone Dolce can be used during the holidays to decorate cakes and cookies in an original way or, even after the Christmas season, in creative recipes, since it keeps for a long time. If you’d like to try putting together a homemade stocking of treats, you can’t miss other sweets such as Truffles with a Hazelnut Center or the ever-popular Almond Brittle.

Ingredients for 4 people

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Method

  1. To make the candy coal, start with the icing: in a bowl, beat the egg white with a few drops of lemon juice using an electric mixer.
    Homemade Carbone Dolce, step 1: beating the egg white with lemon juice
  2. Then gradually add the powdered sugar, the alcohol and a few drops of black food coloring. Keep mixing until you have a smooth, glossy black icing with a fairly thick consistency.
    Homemade Carbone Dolce, step 2: making the black icing
  3. Separately, make the syrup: pour the granulated sugar into a small saucepan and cover it with the water. Stirring, let it cook for about 10 minutes, until the syrup starts to caramelize and turns golden. Check with a candy thermometer that the mixture reaches 141 °C (286 °F).
    Homemade Carbone Dolce, step 3: cooking the sugar syrup
  4. Lower the heat and pour all the icing into the syrup, stirring quickly to incorporate it. Just as quickly, pour the mixture into a rectangular nonstick mold and press it down well.
    Homemade Carbone Dolce, step 4
    Homemade Carbone Dolce, step 4, photo 2
  5. Let your candy coal cool completely at room temperature. Once it has hardened, transfer it to a cutting board and break it into large chunks with a knife to get the classic coal look. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!

Tips

You can flavor your candy coal with a few drops of vanilla or licorice extract.

Storage

Candy coal keeps for up to a month after you make it, in an airtight plastic bag or a tin.

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