Friday, June 6, 2014

How to Make Hard Candy Jewels Using Melted Jolly Ranchers Candies!


Shiny and sparkly, hard candy jewels!

I made them super easy, with...you guessed it, Jolly Ranchers!

The first time I noticed the sweet and edible gems, was in a Martha Stewart Living magazine.
Click here to see her recipe.

There are many versions of these candies, but after googling, all those I found called for a homemade recipe. To simplify things, I'm melting Jolly Ranchers. 
This also allows for creating many different colored gems as opposed to only one or two. 
Now how sweet is that?!

We are getting ready to celebrate Father's Day which has me thinking about fun gifts for Dads. 
Edible crafts..cookie frames and crowns, etc..and all using these fun and wonderfully colorful, 
Hard Candy Jewels!
Need Bling?!
I found my candy mold at Hobby Lobby.

Prepare mold by spraying lightly with non-stick spray.
You can use a paper towel to wipe out any excess. 

Even though I used the same designed row more than once, I did not need to spray the mold a second time.
To melt my Jolly Ranchers, I put four pieces in a small coffee cup and heated them in the microwave @ 80% power for 60 seconds.

You might need to try a couple of test runs to see what works for your particular microwave oven.
Working quickly, these four candies will fill a row of the molds.
Just be careful as the candy is hot! 

*don't worry! you're eyes are fine. i'm showing you the blue candies and then only photographed the melted red ones!*
Let these cool 10-15 minutes before flipping these molds over a paper towel and gently popping the candies out. 
It's a little difficult to see the definition in these candies..so just make a few and you can see for yourself. Soooo pretty!
Oh! I love the blue..and the pink..
..and the green!
Wishing You All a Wonderful
Father's Day From
Sugartown Sweets!

Comments are Welcome and So Are New Members!

34 comments:

  1. I love this idea. Tried making them however, I find that it hardens too quickly. Is there a special spoon you use?

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    1. Thank you! :-) As for the candies, I didn't use any special tools. As I mentioned above, you do have to work quickly as these little guys will harden quickly. I only made one row at a time. Let me know how it turns out for you if you try them again. Thank you so much for stopping by. :)

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  2. Mine came out very sticky! Help!!!

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    1. Hello..and I'm sorry yours turned out sticky. Since I've not had that problem (I've made lots of these lollies), the only thing I can think of is, I always make sure to use fresh Jolly Ranchers. Check your bag's expiration date. Even then, if I'm making candy with them, I use them within a month or two of opening that fresh bag. Hope this helps! :)

















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    2. A cute idea that I tried with success, but only after quite a few attempts to perfect my technique. I would highly recommend using 5 old coffee cups (microwave safe) -- one for each color -- for this project. I started with my favorite Pyrex (glass) 1-cup measuring cup, but it took 5 or more minutes of scrubbing and dissolving the hardened candy in the cup when I wanted to change colors.
      I was disappointed to see how tiny the jewels are; I used the same candy mold from Hobby Lobby. I did find another mold with much larger gems (also at Hobby Lobby) that yielded a nice result.
      Do note that you need to work very quickly to pour the molten candy into the molds. I used a chopstick to help guide the candy and move between molds without spilling or making candy threads. Thanks for a great project!

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    3. Thank you Fiesta! I like your idea of using a larger mold. And you are right..you do have to move quickly! Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment. :-)

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    4. Hi! So even though this is years later...it may help some folks with the stickiness issue. I half expected mine to be sticky when I made them for 2 reasons,
      1. It was raining the day I made my first batch...which changes the humidity in the air...higher moisture content in the air will result in sticky candy, slushy meringue,etc.
      2. The region you are from...I'm in SC which is already naturally humid!
      I worked in a bakery for years and we weighed everything out, but day to day even with a Baker who had 25 years with the same recipes had different results based on the weather and season (of course, she knew what to do to combat that changing seasons) but none the less...humidity is no friend to bakers and candy makers!

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  3. Can you melt the candy on stove or oven instead of microwave?

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    1. Hi Brianna! I have never melted Jolly Ranchers in a pan on the stove but I'm sure you could do it. I would just use a very low heat.

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  4. I am thinking about trying this and one of my friends has been giving me tips. She says that she adds water to hers. What happens if you add water to the Jolly Ranchers before melting them?

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    1. You know..I've never tried that, but I like the idea. If you try it let me know how it works, it sounds like it really would! :-)

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    2. I used a 1/2 cup of water with about 50 candies to fill two mold sheets. You still have to work quickly, but the water helps tremendously and does not affect the hard candy finish!

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  5. I did this a few years ago with orange jolly ranchers and it worked great! Just tried it tonight with the blue ones and they turned green (????)

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    1. Hmm..don't know why that would have happened! I'd like to hear back from you if try the blue again. Sending happy thoughts! :-)

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    2. They turned because the temperature of the sugar got too high and started to caramelize which will make the sugar turn Amber/yellow --- Orange looks more orange - yellow will turn orangey or brown - green gets darker - blue to green, red and pink to orange, purple turns brown (an unfortunate shade too). I have found this out in the most flavorful ways 🙂

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  6. Hi, doing something very similar for part of a sculpture project. I made a mold of an apple out of plaster, and am hoping to use your microwave method instead of the stovetop. However, I was wondering, how did you clean out your mug at the end? I was wondering if there's a simple way of doing it, or if my mug would be beyond repair.

    Also, I was looking around at various techniques (yours seems like the best, just btw) and another person talked about smashing up the jolly rancher, and another said to use water while melting them. Clearly you didn't do these, but I was wondering if you had any idea on if they would make the process any easier?

    Thanks, Karen

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    1. Hi Karen! It's very easy to clean the mug as you just fill it with hot tap water till candy melts and then rinse.
      Sorry I can't help with other methods of melting as I haven't tried them. I would love to hear back from you though if you try them. Thanks for stopping by, Karen. :o)

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  7. Hey, these look great, but when I made them they turned out bad.

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    1. I'm so sorry to hear that! I'm wondering if they were in the microwave too long. I hope you get to try them again..they are a lot of fun to make. :o)

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  8. These are so cool, I tried these for decor on a cake. They worked great! I then tried cleaning out an eos and pouring the melted jolly ranchers into the top. It was an awesome hack to eat at school.

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  9. This looks like a fun project I'd like to try sometime. I have melted hard candy on the stove top before with a little bit of water, and it turned out like taffy. The next time I melted the candy with a little bit of coconut oil on the stove top on really low heat, and it was perfect. Thanks for posting. :)

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  10. Hi just wondering ..so you have to use a non stick spay

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  11. Hi Denell! Yes, just make sure to spray lightly and wipe out any excess with a paper towel. Happy candy making! :o)

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  12. Has anyone tried using a silicone mold? Did you need to spray it so the candy wouldn't stick?

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    1. I used my silicone gummy bear molds to make gummy bear shaped hard candies, and it worked perfectly, no spray required! Just be careful not to let the mold overflow, and make sure to let the candies cool completely before removing them from the mold!

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    2. I use silicone molds, without spraying. I have not had any problems with sticking.

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  13. I haven't tried that, but i love this idea! :o)

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  14. these are cute. thanks for the recipie!

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  15. I used my silicone mold they came out ok but there were ALOT of tiny bubbles and it looked like crap. Any suggestions??

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    1. Hello, Eaglemanusa, I'm sorry this happened with your candies! I can't think of why they ended up with so many bubbles unless maybe you stirred the mixture? I hope you can try making them again and you have better luck!

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