HARD PINK TAFFY
2 cups corn syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup water
4 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 drops red food coloring
Cook the corn syrup, sugar and water slowly to the hard-ball stage, or 260 degrees F., stirring during the latter part of the cooking to prevent its burning. Remove from heat, add butter, soda, vanilla and coloring and stir enough to mix. Pour into a greased pan and when cool enough to handle, pull it into a long rope and cut with scissors into small pieces.
This is one of the delectable recipes used to make treats for the children (of all ages) of Alliance for most of the twentieth century. Eloise Hill had a taffy puller and made a batch of Hard Pink Taffy every day when she owned the Kandy Snap. Hill made her candy in a huge copper kettle in the back of the shop. She believed copper was necessary so the candy didn’t sugar, and this was the only way to create the cinnamon coating that would stick to her famous candied apples. Besides candy, people could also purchase magazines, newspapers, popcorn, giant popcorn balls, fudge, and ice cream from the Kandy Snap.
Originally named the Sugar Bowl, the popular candy store was established in 1914 by Claude Watteyne. It was renamed the Kandy Snap by Visna Watteyne Steinman in 1920, who moved the confectionary business to a little shop beside the Alliance Theater. After two generations of Steinmans, Eloise Hill purchased the business, and it operated in downtown Alliance until 1976.
One year Hill was approached by the Nebraska Cow Belles, who asked her to create a candy using dehydrated beef as an ingredient. Hill developed a divinity-type candy bar that was distributed for several years at cattlemen conventions. On the walls of the Kandy Snap you can see news articles about this beef candy, including a photo where it is being presented to Roy Rogers.
Dobby’s Frontier Town is hosting its annual Fall Festival on September 18-19. Since the Kandy Snap was built at Dobby’s about ten years ago, Alliance residents have been making and donating goodies for the Kandy Snap to sell, with all proceeds supporting Dobby’s Frontier Town. Cookies, suckers, popcorn balls, caramel apples, peanut brittle, fudge, or any other confections that satisfy a sweet tooth are needed for the shop. Even Hard Pink Taffy. Seth and Leslie Hulquist have agreed operate the Kandy Snap this year. Please contact Leslie at 308-760-9137; leave a message or text her if you can help out. You can also leave a voice message at 308-762-2460, Dobby’s message center.
Dobby’s Fall Festival is Saturday, September 18, 10:00-5:00 and Sunday, September 19, 10:00-4:00. Dobby’s Frontier Town is located at 320 E 25th Street/ Nance Road, Alliance, NE. The town is open from 10:00-6:00 daily for self-guided tours until October 1. There is no admission fee; however, donations are needed to maintain the 27 buildings that make up Dobby’s Frontier Town.