Divinity Candy recipe is a Southern classic. Just one bite and you’ll be hooked on this chewy, soft vanilla treat packed with crunchy pecans!
Love Pecans? Our Pecan Pie Truffles are delicious for the holidays, or as an year round treat! Be sure to add a batch of English Toffee to all your holiday baking as well.
What is Divinity Candy
If there’s ever one standout recipe request that I receive, it’s always for the ever popular southern treat, Divinity.
If you’ve never had this sweet treat, the texture is marvelous.
It’s a combination of marshmallow, fudge, and taffy! Add in the crunch of pecans and this is a dessert made for the holidays.
Divinity can be finicky, so be sure to read all my tips and tricks on how to make divinity candy!
Tips and Tricks
- Be Patient. When the recipe states to beat the mixture for 6 minutes, do that. Don’t rush it. Don’t skip a single minute.
- Stand Mixer. While a handheld mixture may work, most people find a stand mixer to not only be more convenient, the higher power is needed for this longer run!
- Watch the humidity. Don’t attempt to make these on a humid day. Much like meringue cookies, this Divinity candy recipe won’t set up properly.
- Candy thermometer. Use it! And make sure while you are boiling the mixture, the bulb of the candy thermometer is completely covered with liquid and is not touching the bottom or side of the pan.
- Vanilla extract. Using my homemade vanilla extract or store bought extract works great. Make sure it’s PURE and not immitation, you want that flavor to stand out. Almond extract is great too!
Recipe FAQs
Check your candy thermometer before using it, to make sure it’s calibrated correctly. To do this, place your thermometer in boiling water for a few minutes. It should register at 212° If it is above or below that, add or subtract the same difference in degrees from the recipe temperature!
Anywhere from 1-2 hours for divinity to set properly.
Store divinity candy in airtight container at room temperature. I use parchment paper between layers.
More Candy Recipes:
- Pralines
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Buttercream Truffles
- Peanut Brittle
- Cream Cheese Mints
- How to Make Chocolate Fudge
- Christmas Crack
Divinity Candy
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- ½ cup water
- 2 egg whites
- 1-2 teaspoons pure Vanilla extract or almond extract
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium high heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and the water. Cook and stir constantly until boiling. Clip the candy thermometer to the pan and without stirring over medium heat, bring the temperature up to 260°F (hard ball stage). This will take approximately ten minutes.
- When the candy is nearly to the hard ball stage, begin the next step. In a large mixing bowl, attached to an electric freestanding mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Gradually, in a slow steady stream, pour in the hot mixture, beating on high the entire time. This should take about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in your Vanilla extract (or almond).
- Continue to beat on high speed for approximately 6-10 minutes, until the candy starts to lose it’s glossy finish. When the beaters are lifted, the mixture should mound on itself, and not flatten. You can test it by dropping a spoonful onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. If it stays mounded, the mixture has been beaten sufficiently. If it begins to flatten, continue beating and check again after a minute or so.
- Once it’s properly beaten, fold in chopped pecans and spoon (I use a heaping tablespoon) onto your parchment paper lined baking sheets. Allow about an hour or two to set. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature. ENJOY
Notes
- Be Patient. When the recipe states to beat the mixture for 6 minutes, do that. Don’t rush it. Don’t skip a single minute.
- Stand Mixer. While a handheld mixture may work, most people find a stand mixer to not only be more convenient, the higher power is needed for this longer run!
- Watch the humidity. Don’t attempt to make these on a humid day. Much like meringue cookies, this Divinity candy recipe won’t set up properly.
- Candy thermometer. Use it! And make sure while you are boiling the mixture, the bulb of the candy thermometer is completely covered with liquid and is not touching the bottom or side of the pan.
- Vanilla extract. Using my homemade vanilla extract or store bought extract works great. Make sure it’s PURE and not immitation, you want that flavor to stand out. Almond extract is great too!
Video
Nutrition
Divinity Candy recipe is a Southern classic. Just one bite and you’ll be hooked on this chewy, soft vanilla treat packed with crunchy pecans!
made this in the 50s and still remember that Taste. will do this this year, its just so Good.
This is the exact same ingredients I use in my recipe which was passed down from my Mom from her Mom. The originl was gotten out of a Jewel T cookbook. The only difference is we cook our syrup to softball stage, put 1/2 in the egg white mixture and then cook the remaining half to hardball stage. This was one of my Mom’s favorite candies.
This is exactly like my Grandma’s recipe, so good! It is not a myth about the humidity if it is raining or even cloudy it will not set up trust me, I know this from experience.
I can taste this heavenly treat just looking at the picture. My Mom made this every year at Christmas time and I do too. Love it and so does my family. So true, do NOT make if it is humid. Will not set up. This is a must have on special occasions. Everyone loves it. 🙂
I love hearing everyone’s childhood memories around this treat 🙂
dont ry to make this if the humidity is high.. or raining…
When I was a girl, I used to make divinity at Christmas time, decorated with red halves and green slivers (for leaves) of candied cherries, and sold it around town (yeah, it was a different world!) to make money for gifts. I cannot tell you how many hand mixers I burned up–one or two a year, as I recall. I do rather wonder how much money I would have actually made, had I been forced to buy new mixers! (Yes, I would highly recommend the stand mixer. Besides, it is much easier to just pour and scrape, than to pour, scrape and try to manage the mixer at the same time!)
Just made this last night as a surprise for my mom. She said it was excellent! I don’t really care for it and am allergic to nuts, but I must say it was a breeze to make. My mixer was pretty warm as well. I had almost given up on it and was cleaning up the mess, and went back and looked again and it was standing in peaks!! Next time I am going to try maple flavor with peanuts, as I am not allergic to them. I’ll let you know if it is a success. Thanks so much for sharing this and all your other recipes????
Maple sounds like a delicious idea!!
Thank you for the recipe. One thing of note, water does not necessarily boil at 212 deg F. It will change depending on altitude. 212 is at sea level.
This looks great and brings back fond memories. My Mom used to make this at Christmas time and I was hard pressed to stay away from it. It’s so good!
try a drop of red food color and peperment flaver for some of it. my grand kids like it
Oooh great idea!
I make this at Christmas when I first start taking it out with a spoon it so nice and fluffy but at the end it looks dry not as pretty is that because I’m not doing it fast enough or did I cook it to long?
You must work fast at spooning it out. I remember this from watching my mother do it and her telling me what an important part that was.
“MUST USE A STAND MIXER”…..No, you don’t. We have made this (& the microwave version), for 30+ years, using a good handheld mixer & never had a problem!
I can’t imagine , but I’m glad a hand mixer works for you! I know my KitchenAid mixer was getting rather warm after ten minutes, I can only imagine a hand mixer 🙂
I have used a hand mixer. I have seen my mother (70+ years ago) make it with an old timey crank egg beater for the egg whites & lots of hard work beating the rest. In the early 50s she got a heavy duty Mixmaster. It is the best. . It still works & has lots of power. If I could replace one beater I would still be using it. A Kitchenmaid is not nearly as good. I have one. A Mixmaster bowl turns. It has plenty of room for using a spatula & pouring syrup. It is perfect for divinity.
I make it every year. I like to have help spooning it out because I want each piece to be smooth not rough as pictured above. Pieces of red or green dried fruit sitting on top add a festive touch at Christmas.
That’s candy looks good
My Mom made this a lot . She would add different favors like cocoa for chocolate, coconut , crushed peppermint made it pretty at christmas, what ever she wanted at the time. This candy always brings back good memories, thanks for this recipe.
Love the memories! I’ll be playing around with new flavors too! So delicious.
I pour my divinity into a buttered 9 x 13 pyrex dish, let it cool and cut it with a knife dipped in hot water.
Oooh! I’m going to have to try this!!!
Can I use the candy from the baking section from store? I believe my Mom did and cant remember it. Like small chunks in red, green, so on.
Whats the recipr
nice dish for you
“Just to say “thank you” We all enjoyed your delicious food and the evening was everything we hoped it would be. Thank you so much.“
I completely agree with you on the trial and error of making Divnity. It has signature traits, like the glossy-to-matte transition that you’d never know until making it. It’s such a unique confection and not difficult to make but definitely has quirks! Yours looks delish.
It definitely can be quirky! The gloss to matte was where I first messed up 🙁
I first tried this treat when I was very, very young at a friends house when we were living in North Carolina for a time. I was extremely impressed with how delicious it was…keep in mind I must have been around 10 years old so I was used to store bought cookies and cake. Never really had any type of dessert that was home baked, so yeah, I remember being floored with this! Lol. I used to have a recipe for this from an old friends mom but I lost it and have yet to find a great replacement for it. This is taking me down memory lane so I will keep this one in my back pocket, Aimee 😉
I love when food sparks a wonderful memory! Thank you for sharing yours 🙂