how to make awesome homemade lollipops
hello everyone today I'm going to show
you how to make lollipops at home using
three different methods store-bought
candy molds free form on a cookie sheet
covered with a silicone mat or parchment
paper or how to make your own mold using
cornstarch making your own cornstarch
mold is actually pretty easy all you
need is a shallow container I'm using a
baking dish that's kind of small but I
was only making a few lollipops in there
put in the cornstarch you're going to
smooth off the top using a spoon or
maybe something like a like a popsicle
stick just drag it across the top to
smooth it out you don't want the
cornstarch to be compacted because
you're going to be using a some kind of
object in this case I'm using I'm going
to use a juice bottle cap I'm going to
press that into the cornstarch to make
the mold cavities now I made a mistake
here I dumped the cornstarch in what I
should have done was sifted the
cornstarch into the container and it
would have been kind of light and fluffy
and I wouldn't have the problem I'm
having here when I was pressing the
bottle cap into the cornstarch I had to
press pretty hard it was sticking to the
cap and made the bottom of my cavities
uneven so sift the cornstarch smooth it
out gently and then press in whatever
object you want to make as your candy
these are hard candy lollipop molds I
bought these online because I couldn't
find any locally I'll put a link in the
description box if you're interested to
prepare these you'll need to spray them
a little bit with some cooking spray
just so that the candy releases well now
these are specially made to withstand
high temperatures and are for hard candy
making you could also make chocolate
lollipops with these as well but do not
try to make hard candy lollipops with
molds the clear ones that are designed
for candy melts or just for chocolate
because they will melt nd I bought two
kinds I bought just the plain round ones
and I bought flower ones but there's a
whole pile of different ones available
okay so here we go on to the actual
candy making in a large saucepan place
two cups of white granulated sugar a
quarter cup of water and two thirds of a
cup of light corn syrup you can also use
the golden corn syrup as well it'll just
affect the final color of your candy
if you can't find corn syrup where you
live you may be able to find a candy
recipe that doesn't use it you just
might have to look around a little bit
now to flavor this candy I'm using some
orange extract I put in one at teaspoon
they actually sales specially made candy
oils for candy making you only have to
use a little bit and if they have
intense flavors I didn't have any in the
house at the time so I just used the
orange extract now you're going to begin
to heat this mixture over high heat at
the beginning you're going to have to
stir continuously because you don't want
it to scorch or stick to the bottom and
at this point you can also add some food
coloring if you want to change the color
now I wanted to match the orange extract
so I added some yellow and some red to
make a nice bright orange color I'm
using paste food color but you can use
the liquid food coloring as well now
you're going to need to stir this
continuously until it begins to boil
once it begins to boil you can stop
stirring now I've seen some candy
recipes that ask you to add in the
coloring and the flavoring after you're
done boiling the candy either at the
beginning instead of the end and it
still worked out okay so I don't think
it matters so I'm a mixture has come to
a boil now you can stop stirring and you
need to continue to boil this until the
temperature of the mixture reaches 310
degrees Fahrenheit now in order to be
able to tell you've reached the right
temperature there's a couple things you
can do you can use a candy thermometer
these are relatively inexpensive if
you're going to make candy often go and
buy one because they're really really
useful if you don't have a candy
thermometer or don't want to go buy one
you need to heat your candy until it
reaches the hard crack candy stage I'll
put a link in the description box that
shows you what that means now I turn the
heat down just a touch from high to
medium high I just made sure that the
candy continued to boil until it reached
310 degrees once it reached the right
temperature I transferred it into
another container that had a spout on it
just so that it would be easier to pour
once you're done pouring the candy out
of the pot into the other container do
not scrape down the sides of the pot or
the bottom just leave the residue in
there and I'll show you how to clean
that pot out in a minute now at the
beginning you'll notice that your candy
mixture will be very runny and I'm going
to fill the hard candy molds up first
with it you just pour enough in
to fill the mold and try not to add so
much as if they leak out into the handle
or where the lollipop stick is going to
go the lollipop sticks I'm using are
actually paper and I purchase them at
the bulk barn but you can also buy them
at candy-making supply stores or baking
supply stores so I just push them into
the candy and there was a bubble there
so I just burst it and push the candy
onto the stick now I'm going to fill the
cornstarch mold cavities with the
mixture same thing just gently pour it
in there now I'm very intrigued with
this cornstarch method and I think I'm
going to try maybe another video and try
to make different shapes and this time
I'm going to sift the cornstarch in to
see if it makes a big difference but you
can imagine how much fun you can have
with this so I filled in all of the mold
cavities and then I added the sucker
stick or the lollipop stick I just put
it in there gave it a little bit of a
turn and then just gently press down on
it to sink it into the cornstarch so
that it was in the center of the
lollipop now another variation that I
actually saw on Martha Stewart website
was it you can add sprinkles and
decorations to these while the candy is
still hot these are little fall leaves
sprinkles different little maple leaves
different colors and while the Candy's
hot just sprinkle it on and just gently
press it into the candy and let it
harden and you've got these little
decorated pops you can decorate for
absolutely any occasion as you can
imagine I had these little pumpkin
sprinkles as well so I press some of
those now for the freeform
lollipops if you're making them freeform
without a mold I suggest that you allow
your candy to cool a little bit when it
cools it won't be as runny and if it's
not as runny it'll be easier for you to
control the flow and to make nice little
round lollipop shapes if the candy is
really hot and are really runny it may
leak all over the place and you'll get
very very thin lollipops the Martha
Stewart website actually suggests that
if you're making them free freehand like
I'm doing here you take your pot when
you're done boiling it put the pot into
an ice water bath to cool it down a
little bit more quickly but since I
filled all those other molds first by
the time
I got to the freeform method it had
cooled down quite a bit
so as you can see it's a bit harder to
get the same size of same shape but it's
the same idea you pour it on and then
you add in your lollipop stick and you
can see here just by looking when I was
pressing in these sticks that they had
it had cooled significantly and you can
even add candies in this case I'm
pressing in some candy corns because it
was near Halloween time that I was
making these and the cool candy had
cooled quite a bit so I had to press
them in but it still worked quite nicely
now as far as cleanup goes when you're
done with the pot put it immediately in
the sink and fill it with hot water and
just the hot water sitting in the pot
will dissolve any of the candy that's in
there the same thing goes with the rest
of your utensils like the this measuring
cup that had some candy left in it and
any measuring tools you have like a
spoon or maybe your candy thermometer
put it in let it sit in the hot water
and the candy will dissolve all on its
own or you can even take the pot and put
it back on the stove filled with water
and just let the water simmer and you'll
simmer away all the candy as well so you
can see it's sat there for about an hour
a lot of the candy has gone out of the
measuring cup and all the candy has
disappeared out of the pot as well so
it's nice and clean so cleanup is not a
nightmare if you just are patient and
let it sit in some hot water so I refill
but measuring cup with hot water and let
it sit and give it a stir every once in
a while and the candy will just dissolve
right off your container so you're going
to let those candy molds cool completely
and then you're just going to pop them
out of the mold and they should come out
quite easily I did spray these a little
bit of cooking spray first and they
popped right out and they are just
gorgeous I was very impressed with this
first attempt using these candy molds so
there are some flowers the candy stick
is cold white adhered to the can you
don't have to worry about it falling off
and here are some of the ones with the
little sprinkles on them and the
lollipops are nice and clear so you can
see them from this angle which kind of
looks like they're floating in the
ambi or you can look at it from this
side as well pretty cool these are the
ones I did free form and they should
come right off the silicon mat you'll
have a little bit of an imprint from the
silicon mat on the back of the lollipops
and here are this cornstarch lollipops
just take them out tap off the excess
and then you can wipe them down with a
clean dry towel to get rid of more of
the cornstarch and the core starts in
the container you can reuse that for
baking put it back in the container or
you can use it for more lollipop making
as well it's completely reusable now
here are some of the completed lollipops
it made about two dozen of them and they
tasted great they tasted just like
orange now these this is one of the
cornstarch ones and you can see the back
of it is not smooth and it actually
looks a little like the surface of the
Moon it actually holds details quite
well which is kind of interesting here's
another cool recipe it is for candy
apple chips this video will be going
live on November 4th 2013 so if you're
watching this video after that date
please go ahead and click right on your
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recipe thanks for watching