Sugar Glaze

Happy St. Joseph's Day. I already have my Zeppole. I have Cannoli filled ones from the Italian bakery - we got their last ones!. Mmmmmm.

This is from the same Domino Sugar book. I LOVE this picture! I have a recipe here for the glaze, but no explanation is given for the decoration - likely gummy candies rolled flat and cut. Or nuts/cherries for that bread. Here's the glaze:

2 cups Domino Granulated Sugar (Wow! No one said these were healthy...)

2/3 cup water

1/8 tsp. sale

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, optional

1 cup Domino Confectioners 10-X sugar (?? Just get the Confectioners...)

1/4 tsp. lemon or other extract

Combine granulated sugar, water and salt in saucepan.  Stir over heat until sugar dissolves.  Boil, without stirring to 230F or thread stage. Remove from heat. (Um, thread stage? How would you know that w/o stirring?)

Blend butter or margarine, confectioners sugar and extract into syrup with fork or whisk.  Stir until smooth and slightly thick.  Keep glaze at right consistency by standing saucepan in larger pan of simmering water. (Hope you read this all first and are ready to go with that.)

Brush or spoon glaze onto cakes, cookies or breads.  If mixture becomes dry and crusty, reheat slightly and stir a little water into glaze.  Yield 1 2/3 cups glaze.

These treats look perfect for spring. In other news, it is supposed to snow a little here Sunday or Monday, though it looks like lovely day today.