[Sca-cooks] Sugar Plate/Paste; Stained Glass Sugar

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

Plain aluminum foil is fine--never tried parchment paper. I hazard a guess
that it would stick. The gingerbread church we made lasted for several
months (enough to require being dusted a couple of times) with no visible
ill effects to the stained glass.

I think, although my sugar chemistry knowledge is fairly sparse, that
sugar has to go through the chemical change to the hard crack stage first,
for it to melt properly. Although it may be just a structural change in
the sugar molecule what does it. Bear will probably know. ;-)

You can also use pieces rather than powder, especially if you are using a
cookie frame, as the heat of the oven is certainly high enough to melt
even the pieces.

Margaret


On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Cindy M. Renfrow wrote:

> I've done the former method for small 'windows', but as you say the colors
> blend if you try to do a large stained glass 'window this way.
>
> Please explain to everyone why crushed clear candies work well, but
> granulated colored sugar does not melt. Also, what have you found to be the
> best way of baking these? If baked directly on the pan these will stick &
> break. Do you use  parchment paper? Greased or ungreased aluminum foil?
>
> Cindy
>
>
> >The first method makes it tricky to do large areas of "glass".  The
> >second method Is used to make windows in gingerbread houses that you glue
> >in place with royal icing.  In my experience, it's quite a pain to mix
> >different colours together in a pattern, the edges blurr any way.  If
> >your design is made of easy enough components, you can cut them to shape
> >and attatch with icing.  You could even backlight it with a candle to get
> >a real stained glass window effect!
> >
>
>