Dragon beard candy

Method

1. 1 Cook the sugar, malt syrup, and water until it reaches exactly 150 degrees Celsius, then pour it into a round mold and let it cool.
2. 2 Punch a hole in the center of the candy block, then pull it into a loop and twist it in half repeatedly.
3. 3 Each fold doubles the number of threads; twelve folds yield over four thousand threads.
4. 4 Coat your hands and the candy ring with roasted glutinous rice flour after each fold to prevent the strands from sticking together.
5. 5 Glutinous rice flour must be roasted until cooked; raw flour will make the candy bitter and won't be as fluffy as strands.
6. 6 Cut the bundle of fibers into sections, then wrap them around a filling of crushed roasted peanuts mixed with sesame seeds and grated coconut.

With an appliance

• Microwave 55 min

  Replace step 1: microwave the sugar, malt syrup, and water in a tall glass pitcher at 900 W for 4 minutes, then in 20-second increments to 150 degrees; reaching the temperature faster (about 5 minutes) and without stirring results in less crystallization of the syrup. The stretching, coating, and wrapping of the filling in steps 2–6 should still be done by hand because microwaves cannot create the fine strands.