Dragon's beard candy

Step 1: Toast 5 ½ oz cornflour in a dry pan over a low heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring constantly, until it smells nutty and very lightly beige. Cool completely and sift.

Step 2: Mix 2 ⅛ oz roasted peanuts, 2 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds, 2 tbsp desiccated coconut and 1 tbsp caster sugar for the filling.

Step 3: Put 7 oz white sugar, 2 ⅛ oz liquid glucose or maltose, ¼ cup water and ½ tsp white vinegar in a heavy pan over a medium heat and stir until dissolved. Stop stirring and boil to 125–250°F on a sugar thermometer (hard ball stage). The hot syrup burns badly: keep children well away.

Step 4: Pour the syrup into a small silicone mould or ring about 8 cm across and leave until completely set, cool and hard, at least 3 hours or overnight. Common mistake: pulling while still warm or soft; it sags into strands that stick instead of splitting.

Step 5: Pop the disc out, dust heavily in the toasted cornflour, and press your thumb through the centre to make a ring, like a doughnut.

Step 6: Working over a tray of cornflour, gently stretch the ring to double its size, twist it into a figure of eight and fold it back on itself. Dust with cornflour and repeat, stretching slowly and evenly, 12–14 times, until you have a skein of thousands of fine, silky threads.

Step 7: Cut the skein into 6 short lengths with scissors, place a spoonful of filling on each and roll the threads around it into a cocoon. Eat at once, before the threads soften.