Recipe of the week: Befana's sweet coal

Befana, the old lady riding a broomstick,  enters children's houses through the chimney and visits all the children of Italy on the Eve of the Feast of the Epiphany. She fills their stockings with candy and presents if they are good, or sweet coal if they are bad.

In case you have been bad, here is the sweet coal's recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2-2 tsp. black gel food coloring
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Whisk together 1 cup of the powdered sugar along with the remaining ingredients in a bowl
2. Whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar. The mixture should be very stiff as you whisk. If needed add a little more powdered sugar until consistency is reached.
3. Line a heat-proof pan with parchment paper
4. Combine water and sugar in a large non-stick saucepan and mix together
5. Insert a candy thermometer and let the mixture cook until it reaches 258-260F (126° C) degrees. When it's close to the 250F (120° C) degree mark, the mixture may begin to lightly brown from cooking, it should still be grainy.
6. When reaching 258-260F degrees, add the black egg white/powdered sugar mixture and stir
7. When thoroughly mixed, pour into the prepared pan and let it harden and dry. Then break it apart into big pieces (you might need a hammer... )