So, I have to be honest here. I have seen ornament made out of peppermint candy here and there on the world wide web. Easy. Simple. Not really, as it turns out. Because, cracking. We had a lot of cracking, some serious stickiness, and maybe a few tears. But, trial and error led us to some really pretty pieces that my kids are excited to give as gifts this Christmas. So to save you all some peppermints and tears I will share our tricks!
Bowls, Platters, and Ornaments to Make with Peppermint Candy
To start this project off there is lots of eating, and unwrapping, and more eating. I always thought of peppermints as a bit of a punishment but it turns out my kids love them. We unwrapped, ate, and looked forward to this super simple craft. (One that wasn’t even supposed to be blog worthy because there is nothing to it. )
It’s crafty….and it’s candy. win, win.
The directions for making these peppermint ornaments is super simple. Unwrap candy, fill cookie cutters, bake at 350 degrees, and presto.
Candy Craft Catastrophe….
Well, this activity was slightly less fool proof than it seemed. While our house smelled deliciously Christmas-y our ornaments cracked into pieces and stuck in the cookie cutters. Fail.
We made a few adjustments for batch number two. First we greased out cookie cutters heavily with coconut oil. And we used only cookie cutters with simple shapes. Our second batch turned out much better. We still had a couple that cracked but this one was more than a 50% success rate. It’s not my most favorite thing to do with candy but I’ll take it.
Candy Crafts Peppermint Bowls
These bowls were a success from the start. Because there was no cookie cutter to “pop” the peppermints out of there was little to no breaking! We tried two different methods. Both of which worked well, but produced very different results.
The following free form method was fun to make, required no special pan, and turned out really nicely.
Because the mints are just laying on a pan when they melt they spread, and they do melt in a somewhat uneven fashion. Every time we tried this it came out a bit different. When the sheet of peppermint candies is draped over a bowl it creates a really cool organic shape. The uneven edges are part of what makes it fun!
The Springform Pan Method
This next method is my favorite! I think it makes a thicker, sturdier bowl but it does require a special spring form pan. I used one like this Wilton Perfect Results 9 inch Nonstick Springform Pan. I also think it would be really fun to try this on a smaller scale with these Wilton Mini Springform pans that come in a set of three!
This method combines some of the cookie cutter and some of the freeform concepts. The spring form pan acts just like a giant cookie cutter; holding all the peppermints into shape and allowing it to stay a bit thicker. The beauty of the spring form pan is it just pops right off! The bottom of the spring form pan gives you something solid to use to flip the sheet of peppermints over onto your upside down bowl!
We didn’t attempt to seal any of our bowls. We are just going to enjoy them for the season, knowing they may not last through the oven that is our attic where we store our off season decoration!
