Peppermint lollipops
By Sarah Cook
These little treats are the new wedding must-haves, but make them yourself and they won’t break the bank
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Prep:30 mins
Cook:20 mins
- More effort
Nutrition per serving
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kcal 0
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fat 0g
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saturates 0g
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carbs 0g
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sugars 0g
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fibre 0g
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protein 0g
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salt 0g
Ingredients
- 500g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 200ml water
- 2 tsp peppermint essence
- green food colouring
- 40 plastic lollipop sticks (janeasher.co.uk or hobbycraft.co.uk), or wooden skewers cut into short lengths
Tip
Print off labelsYou can print off labels for your guests. Simply cut them out, make a hole with a hole punch and tie to each lollipop or pot of lollipops with pretty ribbon. Alternatively print off a plain template for your own message.Presenting the lollipops
Place lollies in a container anchoring them in sugar, as above, or package individually in pieces of cellophane, scrunched and tied around the stick with a ribbon, up to a week before the wedding.Storing the lollipops
Make up to 3 weeks before the big day. Store layered between baking parchment in airtight containers – if the lollies touch, they will stick together.
Method
Put the sugar and cream of tartar into a saucepan with 200ml hot water. Gently heat until the sugar has completely melted, then increase the heat and boil until the mixture reaches the ‘hard crack’ stage on a sugar thermometer (or a small spoonful dropped into cold water sets hard). Remove from heat immediately and swirl in peppermint essence and enough green colouring to give a pale green colour – start by adding just one drop at a time.
Cover a heatproof surface with baking parchment. Using a metal spoon, carefully pour some peppermint syrup onto the paper – roughly ½-1 tbsp per lolly. Push a lolly stick into each. If the syrup becomes too thick, just put the pan back over a gentle heat briefly. But if the syrup is too hot and runny, the shapes won’t be as even so set it aside for a minute. Set lollies until hard.
To clean equipment after lollipop making drop everything back into the pan, fill with water and bring to the boil.
