Candy Wreaths

Several years ago, the older children and I made candy wreaths out of hard candy. It's an easy project and normally extremely successful. The candy is placed in a circle on a foil lined cookie sheet.



The edges of the candy need to touch each other.



The cookie sheets are placed in the oven at 350 degrees. In about 4-6 minutes the candy melts together for form a colorful candy wreath. After the candy cools, a ribbon bow is glued at the top and a ribbon hanger is tied through the center of the wreath. We used the Cut Rock candy, which melted into color-edged white circles with designs in the center. Eventually, the wreaths were destroyed. My littlest girls hadn't made the candy wreaths yet, so we decided to make them again this year. I searched all over town for the Cut Rock candy and couldn't find any. In desperation, I purchased several pounds of bulk hard candy to use instead.

When the kids created the first batch of wreaths, we discovered that the melting point of each type and color of candy was different. Some of the candies were still hard circles, while other candies had melted all over the place. The kids ate the first set of wreath disasters.

Today, we tried the wreaths again. The red Starlight mints melted fairly consistently.



Unfortunately, the other candies didn't work out well. The green "Starlight Mints" foamed before they melted and created another candy disaster. (Something more for the kids to eat."



We ended up with 5 fairly recognizable wreaths. Next year, we'll order the candy well in advance.