I have wanted to make Candy Cane treats for a long time and now is the time!
The critical part is that you go out NOW to hunt down candy canes before the shelves are cleared to make room for Valentine candy.
I found Candy Canes at 75% off this week at Walgreens. At .37 cents a box, I will be able to provide two classrooms of 80 treats (more than needed) for .74 total. Granted I have sucker wrappers and sticks that I didn’t have to purchase but having to purchase those too still make this a ridiculously inexpensive treat!
Inspect all of the candy canes at home as I had a high number of broken ones that were not noticeable when purchased. If I waited till February to inspect them, I would have never found more to replace them. The store manager did tell me that candy canes do have a long shelf life so they will still be good next Christmas if perhaps you purchased too many or weren’t able to complete the project before Valentine’s Day.
Candy Cane Treats & Suckers
Place two candy canes on a baking sheet with a silpat (or spray a baking sheet with cooking spray) in the form of a heart. I used large and small candy canes. I don’t recommend filling the baking sheet with lots of hearts as the candy will melt and you need time to mold each one. I found that they set pretty quick leaving little time to get to a filled up baking sheet.
I experimented with my oven and baked one set at 300 degrees for 5 minutes and a second set at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. Just be sure to watch them as they bake to know what oven setting works best for you.
When they come out of the oven, I used the edge of a sharp knife to form them into a perfect heart and pinched the seams together with my fingers ~ caution with the hot pan.
To turn the small candy canes into suckers, insert a lollipop stick in the bottom center of the candy cane and pinch together around the stick.
Once they were cooled they are ready to package. I believe presentation is everything. At less then a penny for each treat, this is where the pretty packaging really ties it all together. I used cellophane sucker bags and sticks found at Michaels or a local cake decorating store. Pretty ribbon tied into a bow looks beautiful ~or twist ties work equally as well. A cute homemade tag festively finishes it off!
Here’s what I made with my broken ones…
I baked the broken pieces, the same amount of time, and the used a kinfe to push the melted candy cane together almost forming a circle. I then placed a heart shape cookie cutter over the top of it and push the candy down in the center so the candy filled the inside of the cookie cutter. I let it set for a minute and then carefully pushed it out.
For the larger heart, I baked it longer, and just used a knife to free form a heart shape.
These pieces are perfect ice cream toppings!
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