Hard Candy Ornaments

This was one of our favorite Christmas crafts we did when the girls were young. It is a quick, fun craft that has good results.

You need assorted hard candies such as starlight mints, Jolly Ranchers, or cut candy (that you find at Christmas), metal cookie cutters (round works best) or canning jar rings, aluminum foil and cooking spray.

Preheat your oven to 325. Line a cookie sheet with foil (make it as smooth as possible). Spray the foil and the cookie cutters with cooking spray. (You can just oil them if you don't have the spray.)

Place the unwrapped candy inside the cutters in the design you would like. Remember they will be spreading, so leave some space. You can break the candy if you want for a different design.

Place the tray in the oven for about 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on the candy. The Jolly Ranchers melt faster than the mints or the cut candy.

Once the candy is melted, remove from the oven. Don't let the children touch it-- it if very hot. If desired, you can take a toothpick and swirl the candy. The one below and right was swirled.

While still warm, use a tooth pick or chopstick to create a hole for the ribbon to go through.

Carefully remove the ornament from the ring or the cookie cutter. I have more trouble removing the Jolly Ranchers ornaments, so they got a little distorted. If the ornaments  aren't flat, you can put them in the oven for a minute or two. Peel the foil off and allow to cool completely.

Finally tie a ribbon through them to hang on the tree.

They are edible--- but we never ate them.



This is the back of the first one shown in this entry. Pretty cool!



Another idea: When making cookies, leave spaces in the cookie (like windows). When the cookies have about 5 minutes baking time left, fill the cookies with hard candies such as the Jolly Ranchers. You will have stained glass cookies.