Spamotron said:
Let’s make some cinnamon suckers. Shape: Sphere Flavor: Cinnamon Color: Red Texture: Hard
You roll a 14 (required 10). Success!
Moonflower (Cook): 10
Apple Basket (Cook): 18
You decide on hard, spherical, red, cinnamon-flavoured lollipops. With that in mind, you grab a spherical lollipop mold with some sticks, a vial of red food colouring, and a bottle of cinnamon flavouring.
Once back at your seat, you barely have time to put your items down before Lollipop Frost appears next to you, carrying a small stack of cards.
Lollipop Frost: “What are we making over here?”
You tell the filly about your idea, and she responds by nodding, and giving you a card with a number on it.
Apple Basket: “Uh, I was thinkin’ about makin’ somethin’ simple, like apple-flavoured caramels.”
Lollipop Frost nods, then gives Apple Basket a card with a different number on it.
Moonflower: “There’s a buncha flavours I never tried before, so I wanna make rainbow candies with all of ’em!”
The filly looks at Moonflower’s hoard of dozens of colours and flavours. Then, she nods, and gives Moonflower a card as well.
After finishing her round, Lollipop Frost returns to the front of the room, and gets everypony’s attention again.
Lollipop Frost: “Okay! It looks like everypony’s got a card. But before we start doing anything, I want all of you to put on your aprons and goggles. This stuff is about to get real hot and sticky, and you don’t want any of that on your coat — let alone anywhere near your eyes!
Are we all set? Then let’s get cooking! The first step is to mix some water and syrup with sugar into your bowls. A good amount is one quarter cup of water… yeah, this line here, one fourth… then half a cup of syrup… we’re using corn syrup, by the way… and finally, one full cup of sugar. You can add more sugar if you want, just make sure to add enough water so it all dissolves.
Is everypony done? Okay! Now, put your bowls on the burners, and turn them on. The burners, I mean, not the bowls. You just flip this switch here. Anyway, you should see a red light to show that it’s cooking, and a thermometer next to it showing the temperature of what’s in your bowl. We’ll get to that in a sec.
Okay! While this heats up, we’ll prepare the molds — or pans, depending. Next to the sugar bag, you should all have a cooking spray bottle, like this. Use it on the inside of your molds or pans, so your candy won’t stick later. Just aim and squeeze. For molds, just one spray per hole is enough — no need to spray the stick holders, either.
All done? Then let’s check on our thermometers again! I gave each of you a card with a number on it earlier — that’s the temperature you want to reach. And I mean the exact temperature, no more, no less! When you reach that temperature, just switch the burner off. I don’t hear any boiling yet, so I think we still got a minute or two.”
Lollipop Frost begins another round of the room to make sure that everyone is doing well. As time passes, you begin to hear waves of burners getting switched off around the same time. You and Moonflower are among the last few.
Lollipop Frost: “Once your burner’s off, if you’re going for just one flavour and colour, you can start stirring those in now. Remember, use just a few drops of each. You always need less than you think! A lot less! That’s it, just a few drops, then stir it in. With a spoon, yeah.
For the next step, carefully pour your bowl’s contents into the molds or pan. For the molds, you can use a spoon if you want — just make sure to fill up those holes. And if you’re making lollipops, now’s the time to put in your sticks!”
While Lollipop Frost continues to give instructions for all sorts of different sweets, the only remaining step for you is to wait for your candy to harden. In the meantime, you watch Moonflower pull and roll all colours of candy strips before twisting them up together, and cutting them into small discs.
Before long, the sweets of your labours are ready, and you decide to give one a taste. As you tentatively lick one of your lollipops, foalhood memories of Hearts and Hooves Days echo in your mind. You remember learning the likes and loves of fillies and colts as though it was second nature to you, while gifts of spicy cinnamon hearts filled your candy stash.
Lollipop Frost: “It looks like everypony’s done. And I didn’t smell any burnt sugar! What’d I tell you, huh? Short and sweet. You can use these paper bags over here to pack your candies for the road.
That’s all for the Confectioner’s Workshop this round. Thanks for coming, everypony! If you want, you can leave a sample for me on the counter over there. Don’t forget to sign it!”
You and your friends decide to share your confections, and leave one for Lollipop Frost. You get 28 Cinnamon Lollipops, 10 Rainbow Swirl Candies, and 10 Apple Caramels!
Apple Basket: “Shucks, looks like my pouch is full. Uh, mind if we swing by your place real quick so I can drop some of this off?”