Candy Lollies!

~Easy Homemade Lollipops~

 Super Sweet~Super Easy~Super Fun!

While I do enjoy some winter weather..it's beginning to look a little blah around the south..especially with all our pretty Christmas lights being taken down.
Lollipops make me happy, 

so.. I broke out these colorful hard candies.

Jolly Ranchers, LifeSavers, etc.

Any hard candies will do. 
Just looking at all the pretty colors makes me smile :o)

You will need 3 simple items.

Parchment paper~Candies~Lollipop sticks

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. 

Arrange candies on parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Depending on what brand of candy you're using will determine baking time. I set my timer to 10 minutes but kept a check on them after 6-7 minutes.

Bake only two flowers or designs at a time. 

Quickly insert lollipop sticks as these set up fast.

 I love the colors of the Jolly Ranchers...

 but they didn't hold their shape like the oval shape candies. 

Still..really pretty :o)

 If I were a bit more patient, I would have waited until tomorrow to make a trip to the store for more candy colors.

  This one has a red hot in the middle. LifeSavers seemed to be the best choice for the centers.

The red lollie in the lower left corner is made with all Lifesavers. 

 Love!

 So pretty!

 Another view..

 :o)

 So much fun to play around with different designs.

 These would be great for baby showers, birthday parties, etc.

Just use the appropriate colors.

I like this white one made with all LifeSavers.

I swirled this one with the tip of a sharp knife as soon as it came out of the oven. This one is made with Jolly Ranchers.

I think these would look really cute on cupcakes..I might try that for my niece's birthday!

Happy Creating

from 

Sugartown Sweets!
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop my blog today.
I would love it if you would leave a comment letting me know what you think :)

Oh My (Peppermint) Stars!

                 Wishing Everyone                    

A Blessed &

Happy New Year! 

Christmas Tree Cookies!

With Christmas only 5 (five!) days away, I finally made these trees!
 I've been wanting to make them for a few weeks. 

I saw a popcorn can lid on the cover of a Stew Leonard's catalog with green Christmas trees and I knew I had give them a try. The funny thing is, these look nothing like those!

The first thing I wanted to do was "go green", so I tinted my cookie dough. Now I want to tint all my cookie dough! Let's see...blue ones for winter ..red & pink for Valentines day...

 I'm really liking this color.

 Now I'm wanting an ice cream cone!

I just liked the way this photo of these cute cookie cutters turned out :o)

The Christmas Flour Tree

I like to roll enough dough out for only a couple of cookies at a time. I don't know why..it just works for me.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum..

Sometimes after I press the cutter into the dough...

I just peel off the outer layer.

Place your trees on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Cooling on the racks..

 I've got my GREENS!

You will need one bag filled with full strength royal icing for the outlines.

This is NOT the easy part for me. I don't have the steadiest hand. Hopefully with practice, I will get better!

Yay! This one turned out pretty good..after a few tries.

Let these dry for about an hour before you flood your cookies.

 Add a few drops of water at a time to the full strength royal icing until you achieve a glue-like consistency. Let the fun begin!

I like to use the tip of a sharp knife to pop the little air bubbles that WILL rise to the surface.

I used 3 different sprinkles on this one.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to ever do this but..I was flooding this cookie when I noticed the pretty design ..so I decided to let it dry for a few minutes. I then came back and flooded another section with a lighter color green. I LOVE this idea! Sorry, I didn't take a follow up photo. But keep scrolling, I used this method on a few cookies.  

I also dropped some dots in some other dots while the icing was still wet.

:o)

This turned out to be one of my favorites!

I really like these decorator bottles.

One thing I learned today..make sure you keep the tips out of the  icing and then check them anyway. Notice the dark green icing streak in the light green? Yeah, I did this a couple of times!

Love this cookie!

On this one, I did the two-tone method, then dropped dots and then used a toothpick to swirl them as well.

Just pull or drag the toothpick through each dot without lifting the toothpick.

The little trees were quick to decorate..

The finished pan!

Sweet!

Cookie Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup 10 x sugar

2 sticks salted butter (softened)

1 egg

1tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

food color (optional) I used Wilton leaf green

Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.

Cream butter and sugars.  Cover mixing bowl with a damp dish towel to keep the sugar dust from escaping.

Add egg and extracts mixing well.

Add flour mixture gradually till combined.

Chill dough.

Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Royal Icing

4 cups 10 x sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder

6 tablespoons warm water

Mix all ingredients on low for 7-10 minutes till stiff peaks form.

My Christmas Tree Forest

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Baking from 

Sugartown Sweets!
 I would love it if you left a comment!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today :)