Nothing brings holiday cheer quite like old-fashioned Divinity. Soft and fluffy, sweet and creamy, the name says it all. It’s divine!
I love anything sweet, fluffy and beautiful! What can I say…
4 years ago, my mother-in-law introduced me to the most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth sweet candies of all time, divinity!
We had so much fun making it together and almost burnt her hand mixer in the process! Good times.
She said her mother used to make divinity for Christmas. And I’d happily carry on the tradition! It didn’t take me long to fall in love with divinity. The name says it all. It’s a divine… Fluffy soft candy with almost creamy-like texture that simply melts in your mouth.
Divinity is a classic southern Christmas treat.
And here I am in the far north end of the country, whipping up divinity like it’s no one’s business. It’s ironic though.
We have the most ideal climate to make divinity. It’s not as humid as down in the south, which is perfect for divinity making.
TIPS TO MAKE PERFECT OLD-FASHIONED DIVINITY:
- Wait for a dry day to make divinity, because it doesn’t like humidity. If it’s raining, you better put it off for another day. And that’s rule #1.
- Also, you’ll need a stand mixer and a candy thermometer. While stand mixer is highly recommended, candy thermometer is simply a must in divinity-making affair. If the syrup isn’t cooked to hard ball stage, your divinity won’t set, and that’d be sad.
- Be patient. It does take a fair amount of whipping to get that perfectly matte batter, even with a stand mixer.
Why stand mixer is necessary for making divinity?
Your grandma probably made this candy by hand, but there’s just no way I can whip this batter by hand for 15+ minutes!
It’s also super easy (…and much safer) to beat the egg whites in a stand mixer while pouring hot sugar mixture, unless you have a helper.
Even if you have someone there to help you, it’s 100 times easier to have the mixer do all the mixing and your job is to watch the process, because otherwise it’s quite a workout!
And feel free to play with colors and design.
A few year back, I played with a new look for divinity and added festive red and green colors. Frankly, I prefer the classic look though. What do you think?
Old-Fashioned Divinity
Ingredients
- 2 cups 400gr sugar
- ½ cup 120ml light corn syrup
- ½ cup 120ml water
- 2 egg whites
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Pecan halves
Instructions
- To make sugar syrup, mix together sugar, water and corn syrup in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Cook the mixture on low heat, stirring continuously until sugar is dissolved.
- Turn the heat up to medium high and continue to cook the mixture without stirring until it reaches 250°F on candy thermometer.
- As the syrup approaches 240°F, start whipping the egg whites.
- To make divinity mixture, in a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until hard peaks form.
- Reduce the speed to low and slowly and continuously pour the hot syrup mixture in to the egg whites.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- Increase the speed to high and continue to beat the mixture until it loses its gloss and holds its shape, about 15 minutes. Check the consistency after 15 minutes. If the mixture is stilly runny and shiny, beat for another 5 minutes and check again.
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper and spray 2 spoons with non-stick cooking spray.
- Using the buttered spoons, drop a spoonful of divinity mixture onto the prepared sheet.
- For colored divinity, prepare a piping bag with large round tip and draw a few lines with red and green gel food coloring inside the piping bag. Then transfer the divinity mixture into prepared piping bag and pipe out 2-inch rounds on prepared sheet.
- Rest divinity at room temperature for at least 2 hours to set, or overnight. (The candies should set in about 2 hours though.)
- Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze them in airtight container for up to 2 months.
Tips & Notes:
This recipe was originally published on December 18th, 2013.
Kimberly M. says
After I added my vanilla it turned the mixture tan and it never went back to white.. did I do something wrong?
Shinee says
Hi, Kimberly. Hmm, interesting. I’ve never had that happen to me. And I use pure vanilla extract, which is usually light bright color. What kind of vanilla extract did you use?
Miranda Martin says
The red and green ones weren’t beat long enough. You can tell they were falling in on themselves and were probably chewy
Cherokee baker says
I love making divinity for my dear mother in law. My mixer motor didn’t make it through the entire performance, but quit within the last minute of beating. Turned out perfect! My mother in law will savor each dollop of every piece❤ Merry Christmas Mom.
Shinee says
Aww, that’s so sweet of you, Cherokee. I must make some for my MIL too this weekend. She first introduced these to me many years ago. Thank you for sharing!!!
Linda says
I am 77 and have been making it for years as my mother did before me. The recipe was in her only cook book (Watkins Cook Book published in 1945). While i use use a candy thermometer she did not nor did she use measuring cups or spoons.she made 5 batches a year for me to give as Christmases gifts.
Shinee says
Aww, sweet memories. Thank you so much for sharing, Linda! My mom never uses any measuring cups (it’s actually pretty foreign concept for us, Mongolians), or scale, let alone thermometer. Everything is measured by an eye! 🙂
Carole Shannon says
I love the rainbow colors…how did you make it look sooo perfect ??
Shinee says
Hi Carole. I drew lines with gel food coloring inside the piping bag and then put the divinity batter and piped them. It’s super easy yet yields an impressive result.
Ray Smith says
Followed directions precisely. Used the work. Got the syrup mixture poured into egg whites. Mixer speed on high. After a few minutes (about 8) mixture began climbing up to the top and over the bowl. Slung mixture all over me and kitchen. Removed wish, replaced with beaters. Continued beating. Could not tell when mixture stopped being shiny, so after about 22 minutes, decided to go ahead and spoon out on baking sheet to cool. What did I do wrong? Used candy thermometer. Was not raining!!
Miranda Martin says
I looked at another recipe that said to stop beating once the candy can stand on its own and not fall in on itself. It never really looked matte but I lifted the beaters periodically to check the consistency. That’s what worked for me!
Sherri Birkland says
Hi,. My Dad use to make Duvinity for Christmas. One year he made chocolate it is as so good. But he couldn’t remember how he did it. So my question is has anyone made chocolate divinity? Is there a recipe or suggestions on how to do it.
Thanks,
Sherri
Shinee says
Hi, Sherri. I’ve never tried making chocolate divinity. Hope you’ll find a great recipe for it.
Christine says
I live in Louisiana and have made divinity for years – I just made some yesterday with 84% humidity and it came out perfect. I think that’s just an old wives tale that refuses to die! I beat 1/2 my syrup into 1/2 the egg whites when the syrup reaches soft ball stage, cook other half of syrup to the hard crack stage and beat that in along with rest of egg whites, don’t know why that’s how my grandmother taught me 🙂 You have a nice site here – thanks for sharing
Kathy says
I agree. I knew a lady that made divinity all year round
Marlene says
With the Kitchen Aid mixer, do you use the wire whip attachment throughout the whole process?
Shinee says
Hi, Marlene. Yes, wire whisk the entire time.
Shelley Bowman says
I’ve made divinity for40+ years. Never have used a thermometer. Learned from my Mother she used the trick of testing the syrup by holding spoonful 15 or so inches above pan till it spins a very fine thread. She also would pour a portion of the syrup while letting some simmer for a minute or so. I remember her using a hand beater when on the ranch as we had no electricity.
Shinee says
Hi, Shelley. Thank you for sharing your trick for checking the sugar syrup. And oh man, your mother must have been strong and patient, because it’s not easy to beat this by hand!!