It's A Hard Candy Christmas Candy Treats DIY

DIY to make your own Hard Candy Christmas Candy Treats.  A great addition to your Christmas candy tradition.

Some of my fondest memories of holidays are the smells and sweets that came from my childhood kitchen. My mom started making candies not long after I was born to help raise money to build a new chapel for our church.  For the next twenty years of my life, she continued to make suckers to raise money, to support our family, and finally to start her own candy store.  I think these little sweets were the start of a lifetime of candy for my family.



Yet, I admit, until now, I've never tried making hard candy treats on my own.  My own kids had no idea what I was even attempting and I felt so sad that something that had been a staple of my life, was so foreign to them.  But after trying them, we all decided they were definitely a wonderful addition to our Christmas candy treat plates for all our friends, neighbors, and family.

To make these treats you need:

2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Water
2/3 cup Corn Syrup
1 teaspoon Candy Flavoring
food coloring

You will also need Hard Candy Sucker Mold, a Candy Thermometer, Lollipop Sucker Sticks(depending upon your candy mold), and Pam or other cooking spray.

Start by spraying your candy mold cavities with your cooking spray and placing your sucker sticks in the cavities.  Once you start working with the candy, you will need to move fast, so having this all done ahead of time will definitely save your candy.

If you want to get creative, you can use other types of molds too.  I used a Christmas Holiday Jolly Jigglers Jell-O Jiggler Mold and only filled the cavities a little full.  I also used a silicone mold of hearts and that worked great too.  Just be sure your mold is good for high temperatures.  You don't want to use a chocolate mold or something that will melt when you pour the candy into it.

Mix the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a sauce pan.  Heat on high heat until boiling.

Let the sugar mixture boil until your candy treats reach "Hard Crack Stage" which is 310 degrees.  While boiling, be sure your candy thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of your sauce pan or it'll mess up your readings.

Once your hard candy reaches 310 degrees, remove it from the heat and add your flavoring and your color.  The amount of color will depend upon how rich of a color you want for your candy treats.

Work quickly so your candy treats don't harden in the pan and pour the candy into the sucker molds.

Let the hard candy set up for a half hour or so.  When set, remove from the molds and enjoy your hard candy Christmas candy treats and a new tradition.