The recipe I've used as a spring-board for what I'm doing was actually here on AO in a thread titled "Bear Suckers" back in 2011. The recipe was posted by a user called Big-River. I've changed an ingredient or two, but it's pretty much the same recipe as that, so go ahead and search the archives.
I've also made one with Molasses that is a much smaller recipe that I used as a first time attempt. I figured that since it was a smaller batch, if everything goes wrong, no big deal. I've done so much reading on candy making lately that I can't remember where I got that recipe, but here it is...
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 cup molasses
1 tablespoon salt
Combine the ingredients and turn on the heat. Stir as the temperature comes up to completely dissolve everything into solution. You will need a thermometer for this but it really isn't necessary until after it all boils. Once it starts to boil you can stop stirring and you will need to reduce the heat because it will foam up dramatically. Add 3 tablespoons of butter. For some reason the butter calms the foaming down. There will be a lot of steam coming up at this point and if you use your thermometer you will find the temperature is holding steady at 212 degrees F. All the heat is being used to vaporize the water.
You will notice that fairly suddenly, the amount of steam reduces and the temperature starts to climb. All the water is now gone and you are now dealing with candy. Gently stir and allow the temperature to rise to approx. 280 degrees. Have a bowl of cold water handy and let the mixture drip off your stir stick into the water every few minutes. When it cools in the water, it should be brittle and hard, not gooey at all. At that point it's ready to go into the moulds.
I've found that coconut oil is the best mould grease and I am using plastic buckets and they don't melt. They get soft, but they stay together. Pour into the mould (this recipe will yield approx. 32 oz so you don't need a big pail). After a few minutes, insert whatever you want to use for attaching it at your bait. Allow to cool completely.
I've learned three important things in my short career as a candy maker:
1. Pyrex makes a terrible mould. My first Molasses block was moulded in a 32 oz Pyrex measuring cup. Thank God I used a lag bolt as my attaching hardware because the only way I got it out was to thread it onto a 2x4 and just keep turning the lumber which put downward pressure on the top of the Pyrex and with the help of some hot water outside the mould I was able to pull it out but it cracked in the process.
2. Even though every beaker and petri dish we used in high school science was made of Pyrex and we put those on bunson burners without catastrophe, Pyrex does not like fire. I discovered this while I was dissolving 4 boxes of raspberry jello into 1 1/2 cups of water but it started to set up so I pulled out the coleman stove and figured a little heat would help me out. Pyrex explodes on a coleman stove. Seriously...explodes. What a mess, both in my shorts and the garage where I was cooking the candy. And coleman stoves are not easy to clean when there's jello and broken glass in every little crevice.
3. When you're pulling your candy out of the mould, it will require some heat, but hard candy cracks if you heat it too quickly. What you're going for is just enough heat to melt the coconut oil that you used to grease the mould. I used a sink full of scorching hot water and it cracked the block. Use warm water and it will come right out.
Finally, here are some pictures....
This is my first attempt. It's the molasses one.
Here's the finished product. I took it to my friend's place and used the lag bolt I cast into it to attach it to a tree.
Here's my first big recipe in the turkey deep fryer
Here's what I cast into it to secure it at the bait. I think just an eye bolt might pull out, so I went a little heavier...
The finished product.