Is there a way to use a regular cooking thermometer in place of a candy thermometer?

I do not have a candy thermometer and have attempted to make vanilla fudge several times (going by dropping a dab of the mixture into cold water to see if it is at soft ball stage) but it never seems to come out quite right. I have a regular cooking thermometer, is there a way [...]

Why did the caramels I made stick to my teeth instead of being soft and chewy?

I tasted some really good melt in your mouth caramels. The gal gave me the recipe when I tried to make it, it didn’t turn out. My caramels stuck to my teeth and were kind of hard. My question is what did I do wrong? Did I let the caramel mixture [...]

how to test if popcorn ball mixture is ready w/o a candy thermometer?

i dont have a candy thermometer and i need to test if the mixture to pour over the popcorn balls is ready. any ideas?