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 Ā© 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: 3.5

    Will a regular thermometer work for the dragon’s beard? ThanksšŸ™‚

    • I am a different Ivy than the one further down the line.

  2. Rating: 4.5

    Hi, I haven’t tried this recipe but it looks delicious. In Israel there’s a very popular sweet treat called halva (also common in other countries like Greece) which is made from sesame and sugar, and there’s also a stringy, soft version known as ‘halva mesulselet’. The pashmak looks very similar to it, and I’m wondering if they are the same thing? This comment probably won’t be seen as it’s an old recipe, but also Ann please can you try making halva – it’s absolutely delicious and I would love to see you making it. Thanks!

  3. Rating: 5

    Hi, is it ok if i leave it overnight?
    Thank you!

    • Rating: 5

      I mean to cool overnight.

    • Rating: 4

      Can i replace corn flour with all purpose flour?

  4. Rating: 2

    Hi Ann
    I tried your recipe but was disappointed that the candy did not form a ball after heating it to 133 and then cooling to 100 and placing on a baking tray.
    I did not use a baking tray but used a Aluminium foil lined baking tray. Could that have disturbed the sugar from set

    • I think you only heated to 133F (this needs to be around 270F to form correctly.

  5. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, I love your recipes and I am so excited to make the pashmak for Halloween (green monster hair), but it is impossible to get glucose sugar where I live and I am wondering if corn syrup will work the same? Or if not do you know a recipe to make it homemade? Thank you so much! Happy Halloween!

    • Light corn syrup is typically the equivalent to glucose syrup.

  6. Rating: 5

    Hi, I really want to make this for Halloween and die it green (monster hair) and I am wondering if and when I could add in food coloring to the Pashmack, also my sister is gluten-free and I was wondering if gluten-free flour would work? Thanks so much!

  7. Rating: 4

    Hi! For the pashmak recipe, does it make a difference if the sesame seeds are raw or already toasted?

    Also, my first two attempts at pashmak turned out much like your first one in the video, Ann. Thank you for including your mistakes and your suggestions for fixing them; it’s encouraging to see that someone with your skill is still learning new things in the kitchen! I’m ready to try again, and it’s helpful to see that even the professionals may not get it perfect the first time šŸ™‚

    That said, you ARE incredibly skilled and it’s a joy to watch you create so many delicious, extraordinary treats. Thanks for sharing with us!

    • bruhhhh why

  8. Rating: 5

    I’m impressed

  9. Rating: 5

    I’m trying this today! Hope it works! I watched the video, I think it will.

  10. Rating: 3.5

    Hi Ann
    I tried making your pashmak
    Why did it turn out hard like boiled candy

    • The temperature of your syrup mixture went too high and the candy lost too much moisture.

  11. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann,
    I just wanted to say hello and tell you how much my girls and I just love watching your videos!
    I have 4 daughters, ages 13, 9+9, and 6! We love to sit in a pile on the couch and watch your debunking videos and….well, everything!
    I’m trying this dragons beard recipe, and I’ll be coloring the water green before cooking.
    My plan is to use this as an edible grass, we’re doing a little bit of Easter treats to cheer up some friends who are getting a little stir-crazy from already a month of quarantine.
    Our schools are fully cancelled for the year, but your videos are part of our new routine!

    • Hi Gwen, Say hi to your lovely girls for me ??. How did the pashmak grass go? We have just had 3 weeks school holidays and my boys went ‘back to school’ yesterday – the start of quarantine school from home for them. My youngest starts today – hence why I am doing comments at 5am in the morning before the school day begins. I think there will be lots of tired mums by the time quarantine is over.

  12. Rating: 5

    Hi, I tried making the dragon’s beard and the mixture is still liquid after three days. Did I perhaps not heat it up enough? Is there anyway I can save it?

  13. Rating: 4

    I had done this exactly what you did, and I followed the instructions, and now it cristlized before I could work it. How can I save it. And please do not say you need a pastry brush because I did that.

    • Hi Liliana, Which one were you making yashmak or dragons beard? Did you use colouring? Some food colours can start the crystallisation process. Once it is crystallised you can’t save it for this recipe.

  14. Rating: 4.5

    Hi Ann, I was just about to make this recipe, and I had a thought to try and color the water before adding it to the vinegar and glucose mixture. Do you think this could this work just as well?

    • Hi Marcy, yes that should work just fine, good idea ?

  15. Rating: 4.5

    Hi! Iā€™m Kathy from the USA. You do pretty amazing things on your channel! I just got into creating(baking) and I thought your chocolate cups were adorable. I just might attempt those one day! Thank you for doing these teaching videos. Yes, much different from reading how to do something. One question: has no one offered to mail you candy melts? Iā€™ve bought them and didnā€™t flinch at the cost. What is the cost in Australia? Iā€™ll paycloser attention when I buy them again. Well thank you for posting these videos! I hope I can learn to make some tastie deserts. I lost my husband a year ago and our 5 children are adults and moved to other states. I was always the cook and my husband was the baker. I was always busy making big dinners and left the Baking mess to him. Have a good day and thank you again!
    Kathy

    • Hi Kathy, Thanks for sharing some of your story. That is so sad to hear that you lost your hubby, but amazing that you a doing your best to make the most of the very different season you are in. Candy melts are some thing we can order in from overseas but aren’t a common product here in Australia. Ann can get get them if needed but they aren’t the most economical way to go for home bakers here.

  16. Rating: 5

    I have to try this..bt how many minutes do I have to put the flour in the oven

  17. Rating: 5

    Thanks for all your detailed recipe and works as shown.
    I would like to make similar sweet called Soan Papdi which is from India all is same. I made completely as your eyepiece all is well but Soan Papdi is actually Crispy and Texture is crystalline. Can you please suggest me what should I do ? Should I omit Vinegar or / and Corn Syrup. Street vendors when you see them making they just use Sugar and water only.

    • Hi Sam, That sounds like a local product so best to ask the local bakers. This is not something Ann has a video tutorial on as yet.

  18. Rating: 5

    Hey there… thus kind of technique fascinated me too and sweets around the world. Since you tried this two similar way Indian sweet made called ā€œsonpapdiā€ golden threads where instead of sesami paste well roasted cheakpea and normal flour used. Roasted in ghee of ourselves gives signature sweet flavor and garnish with nuts and cardamom is key flavor there

  19. Rating: 4

    Hi, my syrup keeps crystallizing and Iā€™m doing all I can to brush up the sides, is there anything else I can do?

  20. Mine kept on breaking, how do I make it stop?

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