Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
Preparation
Cover a 4-by-5-foot area of floor with parchment or newspaper. Set a pasta drying rack or a wooden drying rack on the paper, and coat well with cooking spray.
Combine sugar, the water, and corn syrup in a small saucepan; stir to combine. Place pan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush down any sugar crystals on sides of pan. Clip on a candy thermometer; cook, without stirring, until temperature reaches 290 to 295 degrees.
Remove from heat; let sit for about 5 minutes, until very fine threads form when whisk is lifted from sugar. Dip whisk into sugar; swing over rack, using a quick motion, to create long threads.
When rack is coated with a thin cobweb-like layer of sugar, lift it in one piece from rack, and roll it gently into a ball. Set on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat until 12 balls are formed.
