Have all the makings for the candy but the food coloring. Is the food coloring a must?

Karin, no you don't need food coloring.

The food coloring is used to separate the flavors if using more than one flavor oil. Example: red can be used for cinnamon or cherry and so on.

FYI do not pour over wax paper. Use sugar or spray cooking oil.

also using tin foil will work so you have less of a mess to clean afterwards! :)

Just a question. Where do you buy the flavorings? I have not seen them in the grocery store.

Eunice, you can buy the oils at any cake decorating store.

In my area they sell the oils at the Rx (pharmacy).

You can buy flavoring oils at LorAnn.com. My town only sells flavorings at Christmas time, and limited ones at that. They have a huge variety of flavors to choose from. I also started using icing coloring instead of food coloring for my candies when I make them. I get colors like black, brown, colors that are difficult to make on your own. But try the neon colored food coloring! Especially if you have apple flavor. Yummy.

Can you use splenda instead of sugar???

Do NOT use Splenda, keep things pure for better results. You can omit flavorings and food coloring for a more old fashion look and taste.

You can not use any artificial sweetener such as Splenda or Equal in this recipe. It is a candy-making recipe and requires the properties of sugar and how it cooks and crystalizes.

can you use extract insted of oils for flavoring????

Just made some for Halloween using black food coloring... perfect second batch. First time I used cooking oil spray instead of powered sugar, it was greasy and tasted that way also. But with powdered sugar, AWESOME!

How long does it take to harden?

I love this! We do it every year for Christmas. I always use foil on my pan to help clean up. We love to trick each other so we use colors opposite of what you would associate with a flavor. Like green for cinnamon and blue for lemon. Also I buy all my flavors at my local grocer in the baking isle. However I have seen them at local hobby stores that supply cake baking supplies, like Michaels.

I just made a batch of this candy using Koolaid as the flavoring and it is AWESOME, and only $.10 a packet. I used 2 packets for one batch.