Lollipops are so much fun. I stumbled across a great blog recently called Dessert First and there was a very pretty picture of Rose Saffron Lollipops for National Lollipop Day. These were in Anita Chu's book Lollipop Love which I bought in a heartbeat, if only for the stunning photography!
I decided to give her simple lollipops a go today and make the Rainbow Swirl Lollipops. I plan to experiment further but I chose the simplest recipe to try as it needed very few ingredients - water, sugar, glucose, lemon flavouring and some food colouring - plus a candy thermometer. I already had the lollipop mold and some sticks (my lollipop mold has 7 x 4cm cavities).
The process moves at a fast pace and you want to have everything lined up ready to go. And it's not the kind of recipe you want to be working on with little children around your feet. The temperature of the sugar mixture needs to reach 149 degrees celcius so it's hot hot hot - and my little thermometer lit up red to show just how hot it really was. The biggest learning from making these was that the mold cavities need to be extremely well greased - I started off lightly as the recipe suggested but struggled to get my lollipops out and most of the first ones cracked.
At the point when it comes off the stove, I decided to flavour mine with lemon extract. When pouring the hot liquid into the mold, the recipe calls for a candy funnel or a jug with a spout (and I can see how a little funnel would really help here) but I just used my jug. I used a lollipop mold that has 7 cavities and the sugar solution does start to set before you get to the last cavity making it a little more tricky to fill. Then I also wanted to swirl colour through the lollies so you need to work super-fast. I used Sugarflair Spectral Paste to colour my lollipops which give a vibrant colour but I found when the lollipops set the gel colour would rub off on my fingers so I need to experiment a little more with these.
There's so much fun to be had with these. I've just dipped my toe into the Lollipop world today and it's sort of addictive. You can make them in a relatively short space in time, exercise a little creativity and create lovely unique lollipops that would make lovely gifts with cellophane and ribbon - or just bring a smile to a child's face.
Watch this space for more lollipop creations!
Rainbow Swirl Lollipops Makes 7 x 4cm lollipops (from Anita Chu's Lollipop Love)
Ingredients
- 100G SUGAR
- 60ML WATER
- 30ML LIGHT CORN SYRUP (GLUCOSE)
- 1 TSP LEMON EXTRACT
- FOOD COLOURING (I used Sugarflair Spectral Colour Paste)
Method
- Ensure that the lollipop cavities are well greased with non-stick cooking spray and pop the sticks into the mold
- Combine the sugar, water and glucose in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat
- Continue cooking until the temperature reaches 149 degrees celcius on a candy thermometer and immediately remove from the heat
- Stir through your chosen flavouring
- Put the mixture into a heatproof jug with a spout and moving quickly before it sets, fill each of the cavities
- Again working fast, mix a little food colouring into each lollipop, swirling the colour with a toothpick
- Allow the lollipops to cool and harden for 15 minutes and then remove from the molds
- Store them wrapped in cellophane bags in a cool place for up to a month