I was remembering my childhood and suddenly a memory with an admixture of resentment rolled over. My parents strictly forbade me to buy ...
Lollipops!
Healthy, red and green roosters on ice cream sticks!
This injustice revolted me to the depths of my soul, but my parents probably saw the rationale in the prohibition. The fact is that these roosters were sold in our district exclusively by gypsies. They made the roosters, of course, using a handicraft method, dyed them - don’t understand what, but they looked so luxurious, so... glossy, if the rooster was exposed to the sun, it shone like a jewel.
And the gypsies sold exclusively roosters. And exceptionally large ones.
We had a lollipop mold at home - six figures could be cast, sort of. And different.
But these figures were small. And the roosters are healthy. Therefore, they beckoned, as if hypnotized. Plus, the house figures were just brown. We never had food coloring at home, my mother did not welcome them even in those days. And the gypsy cockerels are bright.
I confess, I am a sinner, I could not stand it, I violated my parental prohibition. Even under the threat of a terrible poisoning, as a result of which, according to adults, the child fell asleep and was dragged to the camp. I bought a rooster instead of ice cream and enjoyed it in secret.
Periodically.
Now there are a great many lollipops on sale, and not only on sticks, but ...
In general, I still have a weakness for roosters. And because of my own adulthood, I try to make them at least a little bit, and more useful if we are already preparing for children.
Therefore, I slightly improved the recipe.
So, we take:
• 12 flat tablespoons of sugar
• Squeeze out four tablespoons of cranberry juice
• Rub a spoon (teaspoon or tablespoon, to your taste) of fresh ginger (you can add dry, but this is a different taste.
• We take some vegetable oil.
How we cook:
Mix sugar with cranberry juice and melt over low (very low heat) in a thick-walled saucepan. We boil a little (five minutes are enough) so that the caramel turns into a drop in cold water.
Remove from heat, add ginger and pour into molds with oiled oil - or pour on iron a baking sheet, also oiled and knead on it, first with a spatula, then with your hands, and then we sculpt lollipops.