Ann Reardon

Dragons Beard | Pashmak Recipe | Cotton Candy

pink cotton candy make at home
 

Cotton candy or fairy floss takes on different forms all around the world. Although the starting point of melted sugar is similar the texture and taste of variants like pashmak and dragons beard are quite different altogether. If you are one of those people who bakes to relax try out the dragons beard, pulling the candy is most satisfying.

How to make Pashmak recipe:

pashmak recipe how to make
Sesame paste made with
150g (5.29 ounces) sesame seeds
125g (4.41 ounces) oil
75g (2.65 ounces) flour

175g (6.17 ounces) or 3/4 cup white sugar
125ml or 1/2 cup water
50g (1.76 ounces) or 2 1/2 tablespoons glucose syrup
1 tsp vinegar

2 baking trays and rice to fill tray
candy thermometer
cotton and silicone gloves

Place the oil and the sesame seeds into a blender and continue to blend until you have a smooth liquid. Pour into a pan and add the flour. Stir over high heat until it thickens. Continue to stir over the heat for another minute and then remove from the heat.

Fill one baking tray with rice and top it with another baking tray. Place this in the oven at 80C (176 degrees Fahrenheit).

Put the sugar, vinegar, glucose syrup and water into a pan and heat on high heat. Wash down the sides of the pan using a wet pastry brush to get rid of any sugar crystals. Add a candy thermometer and leave it unstirred until it reaches 133C (271.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Remove it from the heat immediately.

Grab your trays out of the oven and rub the top one with oil, this one has the warm rice underneath it so that it stays warm while we work.

Pour the sugar syrup on top and using a spatula move it around as it cools so the edges don’t set hard.

Put on cotton gloves and then 2 pairs of silicone gloves to protect your hands.

edible hair

Once the syrup is very thick roll it into a ball. Make a hole in the centre, using your thumbs. Gently squeeze and make that into a bigger circle trying to make sure it is even without any thin bits. Continue to stretch it into a larger ring. Letting it rest on the warm oiled surface keeps it soft.
Flip over one side to make a figure of 8 then bring one side over on top of the other. Now we have 2 stands, stretch that out and gently pull then make and 8 again and pull again now we have 4 stands. Repeat that four more times.

Pour the warm sesame paste into the middle. Continue to twist and pull dipping it into the paste each time for another 8 turns. Now you will have 16.384 strands of pashmak.

How to Make Dragons Beard Candy Recipe

pink cotton candy recipe dragons beard

Cotton candy two from Korea is called dragons beard it is made in a similar way to the yashmak but without the paste.
(ames enough for 6 discs)
500mL (16.91 fluid ounces) or 2 cups water
100g (3.53 ounces) or 1/3 cup glucose syrup
1kg (2.2 pounds) or 4 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tblspn vinegar

disposable microwave safe containers
500g (17.64 ounces) or 4 cups Rice or cornflour
candy thermometer

Put the flour into a baking tray and place in the oven at 60C (140 degrees Fahrenheit).

Place all of that in a pan, wash down the sides and boil it unstirred until it reaches 133C (271.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Wait for it to cool to 100C (212 degrees Fahrenheit) and pour into disposable food containers. You can add a couple of drops of food colour here but be warned too much and they will crystalize.

Leave them to cool for a couple of hours then tip them out of the container by pushing on the bottom until it drops out. Place onto some baking paper and microwave on low until it is soft enough to work with.

Make a ball then make a hole in the centre and pull twist and pull like. Dipping it each time into the warm flour.

Tip 1: If you’re flour is too hot it will melt the strands too much and they’ll clump together so you just want it warm.

Tip 2: 14-15 twists is all you need, keeping on going beyond this does not make it better.

Copyright © 2017 Reardon Media Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. How To Cook That

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

75 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 4

    I was surfing your website and ran into “PASHMAK” and I was like OMG! I didn’t know Koreans call it dragon beard but we, Persians, call it pashmak and I love cocoa flavored the most.
    in case the readers don’t know; I want to add this that do not store it in refrigerator and in keep it in zip lock bag.

    • Thanks Basira

  2. Rating: 4

    The dragon’s beard worked great! I cut the recipe in half and the first time the circle was uneven, so there were lots of broken strands. However, the second one was so much better. The texture was just like fine hair! We cut it with scissors and wrapped crushed peanuts as well as sesame seeds in the candy, like bite-size cocoons. They were very chewy and a little crunchy because of the peanuts and sesame.
    I substituted the glucose syrup for light corn syrup, and I used rice flour. One thing I noticed was that the temperature of the mixture stopped rising for a while at around 100° C. If you are making this and that happens, don’t worry! Just be patient. Also, I used rectangular containers, but it still worked. The shape of the container doesn’t really matter. 🙂 It is so fun to pull the candy! (Warning: if you do this with kids, flour will get EVERYWHERE!) Thanks Ann for a wonderful recipe!

    • That is great Ida.

  3. Rating: 5

    Could you use a combination of cornflour and rice flour? Or wheat starch? Or all-purpose wheat flour?

    • Hi Em, Check out Ida’s comment above. She used rice flour. It really is just a way of minimizing the stickiness and handling the sugar strands.

  4. Rating: 5

    Hi l’m Iranian and pashmak is one of our traditional candies!
    We named it “pashmak” because it is like wool and wool in farsi is “pashm”!

  5. Rating: 5

    I tried making dragon’s beard and substituted gluecose syrup for corn syrup (due to not being able to find it in stores), and it is not working. It has not solidified and is a sticky candy paste. Can you do that? If that is a bad substitution, what should be able to substitute for gluecose syrup?

    • Hi Paloma B, glucose syrup is a good replacement for corn syrup. It sounds like the issue was more with the cooking of your candy. If it didn’t solidify it wasn’t cooked enough or didn’t reach the right temperature. Check your candy thermometer to ensure it is reading accurately.

  6. Rating: 4

    Hi i just suscribed!!! Thanks for all the awe-inspiring videos!! Ps. PLEASE make a minecraft unspeakablegaming or How to cook that cake!!!
    Plus, might you be able to GMAIL me?
    Kind regards, Eve
    Subscribed

  7. How long do we leave it to cool?

    • Hi Savannah, Wait till the heat has totally dissapated before storing.

  8. Rating: 5

    hello i love your videos and i am new here .what is it like having a website?

  9. Rating: 5

    Hi, how long and how can you store dragon’s beard? wanted to mare it in order to represent hay in my gingerbread nativity scene…
    Greetings fron Luxembourg

    • Hi Yannick, Like most sugar work it will be impacted by moisture over time. If you store it dusted with sugar in an airtight container it should last well. Out in the air it would gradually deteriorate. If it is just for decoration it should be fine.

  10. Hi
    I want to buy this dragon bread candy
    Pls. Call me i will send you money for the same

    Aaftab

    • Sorry Aaftab. Ann doesn’t make products to order.

  11. Rating: 4.5

    Hi, I am loving your recipes, I have tried lots of them and I am now addicted to your channel, can you please tell me , what can I do to stop hard candy from going sticky when set ?
    I live in the UK and it gets damp here.
    I would be grateful if you can recommend something. Thank you.

    • Hi Teresa. It is such a common problem. Obviously ensuring your candy is taken to the right temperature is important, so it sets nice and hard. The other helpful think is to dust it with icing sugar and store in airtight containers. Some people like to use a very small amount of coconut oil and rub it over the candy before storing to stop the pieces sticking together.

  12. Rating: 4.5

    Hello! I started to make the second recipe, but after pouring the mixture into disposable containers, it has not solidified and is just a thick syrup. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

    • Hi Jessica, Check your quantities and your candy thermometer for accuracy and start again.

  13. What can someone do if they accidentally let the temperature too high?

    • Hi Lauren, I would start again. sorry!

  14. Rating: 4

    I keep trying to make dragon’s beard, but the puks are always too hard, no microwave..
    I pull it when it reaches 133…. not sure wha’s going on

  15. Rating: 5

    Hi,

    For the dragon’s beard recipe, is it okay to leave the discs in the fridge for longer periods of time (so I don’t have to pull all 6 in one day)

    Thank you

    • Hi Jack. It shouldn’t need to be stored in the fridge but yes, as it is predominately sugar, you can leave it more than one day.

  16. Rating: 4.5

    I can’t wait to give this a try … ty Ann

  17. Can I replace the glucose syrup with light corn syrup? I don’t have any glucose syrup. And how long should I place the flour in the oven for?

    • Hi Jayden, yes you can use light corn syrup instead of glucose syrup. The flour just needs to warm up so about 20 minutes should do but it can be in there longer if you are not ready.

      • Rating: 5

        Can I replace the light corn syrup for dark corn syrup?

        • Hi Samuel, Dark corn syrup is not ideal for this recipe because of its color and flavor. It would work though.

  18. Rating: 5

    Can you replace the glucose syrup with honey

    • Rating: 5

      hi tanner, you can add some honey for flavor if you like but you still need the glucose/corn syrup to stop the sugar crystalizing.

      • Rating: 5

        Hi I live in Australia too but I can’t find corn syrup or glucose syrup anywhere where do you get yours?? Thanks

        • Hi Ev, You can usually grab this at a grocery store like Coles or Woolies. Heathfood stores also stock it as well as cake decorating stores.

          • Rating: 4.5

            I looked in the shops you suggested but still couldn’t find it does it have a different name at wollies because they stayed they have it but I couldn’t see it any where
            Thanks

          • Hi Ev, I just do a woolies online search and found 3 brands that they stock. The most common one was Queens Glucose Syrup.

  19. Rating: 5

    Hello, I am from Costa Rica. I just love these wonderful recipes! You are the best baker I know of because you make your dishes from scratch, you explain what you use, and you tell how much of it to use! Thank you so much, and I am just wondering, how did you make your own website?

  20. Rating: 5

    This sweet is also made in India by the name of ‘Soan Papdi.’

    • Thanks for letting us know Samrin. It is a very similar item, except Soan Papdi contains flour which gives the finished product a more flaky consistency. The methods are very similar though.

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