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Stained Glass Lollipops with bright colorful swirls.

Stained Glass Lollipops Recipe


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5 from 10 reviews

Description

These gorgeous free-form stained glass lollipops with colorful swirls are quick and easy to make! They look gorgeous and are super festive. They’re perfect for birthday parties, baby showers, wedding showers and old-fashioned spring/summer fun!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup cold water
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 3/4 teaspoon of your favorite extract (vanilla, orange, peppermint, cherry, lime, root beer, etc.)
  • Neon gel food coloring

Instructions

SET-UP

It’s important to have everything set out and ready to go before you begin this recipe. Once once the hard-candy mixture reaches the hard crack stage, you have to act quickly to form and decorate the lollipops before they harden.

  1. Create an ice-water bath for your pot. You can use the small portion of your kitchen sink or a heat-resistant bowl filled with ice cubes and water. Pull out a heat-resistant glass measuring cup with a pouring spout. Set out your measuring spoons and desired flavoring. Pull out two or three large baking trays and line them with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
  2. Place your lollipop sticks right next to the silicone mats, take the lids off your gel food coloring so they’re ready to use, and set out several toothpicks or cake decorating scriber needles. You’ll need a separate one for each color. You can also use the end of the lollipop sticks for making the swirls.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR STAINED GLASS LOLLIPOPS

  1. Begin by adding three cups of granulated sugar to your clean dry pot. Add in the cold water using this important technique: slowly turn the pot 360 degrees as you pour the water tightly around the wall of the pot. This is to ensure that no sugar granules are attached to the interior walls of the pot. If any sugar granules are on the sides, they will harden and crystalize. When making lollipops you want a nice clear syrup.
  2. Pour the light corn syrup in the center of the pot, allowing it to spread to the edges and meet the water. Let these three ingredients sit in the pot for 12-15 minutes so the liquids can completely soak down into the sugar. With a clean finger, briefly stir the ingredients to make sure everything is well combined.
  3. The hard-crack stage for making lollipops is 305 F. Place the pot over medium heat. DO NOT STIR the sugar mixture as it cooks. The mixture will gradually start to boil. As the liquid evaporates the bubbling will get pretty intense. Use your candy thermometer to track the temperature of the mixture. Once it reaches 305 F, it’s at the perfect “hard crack stage” that’s needed for making lollipops.
  4. The very moment the candy thermometer displays 305 F, remove the pan from heat. Immediately add in the flavoring and swirl the pot back and forth to mix it in. Right away stick the pot in the ice-water bath for 15-18 seconds to stop the temperature of the sugar mixture from rising. If the temperature rises above the “hard crack stage” it will turn yellow or amber color and will start to caramelize. We want our lollipops to be stained glass clear so we can add in those beautiful colorful swirls. Remove the hot pan from the ice bath, taking care not to get any water inside the pan. Immediately pour the sugar mixture into an oven-safe glass measuring cup.
  5. To form the lollipops, carefully pour the scalding hot liquid directly onto your silicone mats or parchment paper. I suggest pouring only two lollipops at a time because they harden up fast! These are free-form lollipops so you don’t need lollipop molds for this recipe. Immediately place a few drops of gel food coloring onto the first lollipop. I use scriber needles to quickly swirl around the food coloring in a colorful design, but you can use a lollipop stick or a toothpick. Quickly place the lollipop stick into the lollipop about half way up and rotate the stick 360 degrees. Place another dollop or two of hot syrup over the embedded lollipop stick just to give it some added stability. If the sugar syrup starts to harden before you can finish pouring the rest of your lollipops, no worries! Simply stick the glass measuring cup with the syrup into the microwave for a few seconds to heat it up and you’re ready to go again. Allow the lollipops to cool and harden before lifting and wrapping in cellophane.

Notes

For a boozy version of these stained glass lollipops, check out Sugar & Cloth’s DIY Spiked Lollipops.

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Category: Dessert, Party
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American