My boy lollipop

The other day I saw Susan's gorgeous gingerbread house on her blog.  It was decorated with 2 candy canes formed into a heart.

Genius!  We always have candy canes at Christmas and knocking about for age afterwards, why had I never thought of this?!!

So, I started playing about with my candy canes, as you do (I really must get out more) and decided they'd make great lollipops.  Of course, a quick internet search for suitable ingredients revealed that this was not in fact an original idea, they were everywhere.  Will anyone ever be able to come up with an original idea ever again with Google, blogs, pinterest and Facebook? I wonder...

So here's what you'll need to make sweets for your sweet:

Candy canes (if you don't have any left over from Christmas, you can buy then in old fashioned sweet shops of online)

Candy Melt (again, you can buy online at Amazon or eBay or in specialist cake shops)

Sprinkles, glitter etc of your choice

Greaseproof paper

Paper lolly sticks

Cellophane and ribbons to wrap

1. Unwrap your canes and arrange on the greaseproof paper into heart shapes.  I didn't like the elongated shape they made full length, so I snipped them shorter with a pair of scissors to make a rounder heart.  If your canes snap or break, hold the broken end over a gas flame for a fraction of a second and join back together.  Once you've filled with the candy melt, they should hold fine.

2. Open up the pointed end and lay a lolly stick inside.  Two of mine I didn't put in far enough and the end results were a bit wobbly, so I'd recommend putting the stick inside at least as far as the one on the left.

3. Melt the candy melt in the microwave as per the packet instructions.  I used about half a bag for 3 lollies (6 candy canes).  Pour or spoon inside and gently spread to ensure even coverage.

3. Go as mad as you like with your sprinkles.  Then leave to set for about 20 minutes.  Don't put them in the fridge, just leave them out on the side, away from curious little fingers.

4. Wrap with cellophane and tie with ribbons.