Molasses Candy (Old-Fashioned Pull Taffy)

Six ingredients, two cups of molasses, and a pair of buttered hands are all that stand between you and a batch of genuinely old-fashioned pull taffy.

The process is half the fun. Once the molasses-brown sugar mixture reaches the hard-crack stage (test it by dropping a little into cold water until it shatters), you pour it onto a buttered dish and wait. When it’s cool enough to handle without burning, you pull small portions back and forth until the color shifts from dark amber to a lighter, satiny gold. That physical pulling is what gives taffy its chew.

Cut into small pieces and wrap in wax paper. This is the kind of candy your grandparents made, and the recipe hasn’t needed improving.