O! Lollipop!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm taking a quick detour from fiber to share one of my favorite Valentine's Day treats.  I used to make these with my kids for their teachers, friends, etc.  Such an easy gift and very fun.  I think of this recipe as sort of a cheater recipe, in that you don't actually cook anything from scratch, but, WHO CARES???  not me.


Multicolor Lollipops

You need to have this special baking mat called a Silpat. 
This is a nonstick baking mat, and it works like a miracle for these lollipops.

Some Jolly Ranchers in various colors (any flavors you like), or some other type of hard candy.








Lollipop sticks (I used the 4" - smaller size today)  I think I bought mine at Michael's 

Something to put on the lollipop to decorate it (this is optional)  Today I used Sour Patch Kids. But I have used Conversation Hearts, Gummi Bears, and all sorts of cake decorations and sprinkles






Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 °F

2. Put the Silpat on a flat tray or cookie sheet.

3. Unwrap the Jolly Ranchers (this is the hardest part of the recipe) and arrange in bunches on the Silpat.

4. Put the tray in the oven for 2 minutes.

5. Rotate tray. Put back in for 2 more minutes. 

6. Here you need to start checking.  Mine were not melted, so I rotated again and put back in for 2 more minutes. You might want to start checking at 1 min

7. The one on the furthest left was slightly raised because of the slight warping of my pan, so it didn't melt enough, so I rotated and put back in for 30 more seconds.

8. They don't need to be totally melted, as they will continue to spread a bit after you take them out.

Do these next steps as quickly as possible, as the candies will cool.  If they get too cool for the sticks and decorations to stick, just put back in the oven for 30 seconds or so.

9. Place lollipop sticks on the melted candies, rolling the sticks a bit to coat.  Make sure as much of the stick as possible is on the lollipop, not just the tip.

10. If desired, decorate with candies. 

11. After they cool (you can put in a refrigerator if you can't wait), they will just peel off the Silpat.  You can wrap with plastic wrap tied with a twist tie or a piece of ribbon.

Enjoy!

f1bercat

saving the planet one lollipop at a time