Edible Stained Glass

The other day on THIS post a "fan" said something along the lines "that it would be cool if the candy melted to make edible stained glass".  YES- that would be cool.  :-)  So we tried it.  We melted the gummies we used that day and had ONE BIG GOOEY MESS!!  That was fun.... NOT.  

When we were kids we used to make homemade lollipops.  I knew there would be a recipe out there where you could make your own.  After searching I came across THIS Very cool... but I wanted something that would be a little bit more hands on for the girls.  With a little more searching I learned you can melt hard candy down and have it reform.... Uh duh!!  Why didn't I think of that the first time around.  :-P  So here is our Round 2 go at it....

I bought 2 different kinds of hard candy.  Jolly Ranchers and Life Savers.  I knew the Life Savers would crush easily if we wanted to break pieces up.  

My 29M old was apart of this whole process.  Setting up the invitation was actually her favorite part!  So much fun learning going on as well.  :-)  Color recognition... sorting.... fine motor...

Taking the wrappers off. 

My 29M old was all over the crushing part. 

Again, true to form... my oldest (3.5) hard at work making her masterpieces.  We placed the pieces inside of cookie cutters and also canning lids (what I had on hand).  We also did a few free form.... these were my favorite!  

"I crushed it all up, Mommy!!!"  

Filling in the circles.  

This was as far as my 29M old got....

Design and Drill was much more appealing. 

My oldest's pre-oven.  She decided to do one more free from because "we needed to have 3 for each of them."  We baked these at 325 for about 5-6 minutes.  

Waiting.....

Finished!  

I placed the cookie sheet on top of a towel.  Before they harden you can use a toothpick to make swirls in your designs (we did this as kids... so much fun!).  

You can also make a hole to hang them.  You have to pop them out of the cookie cutters, etc before they harder all the way, while they are still warm or they will crack.  Oh... we also sprayed the parchment paper with cooking spray.  Next time we will spray the cookie cutters as well.  

After we saw how cool the free form ones came out my oldest asked to make more.  She asked if we could make a flower.  We did this one together.  

Heart

We made a couple lollipops as well.  Just place a stick in your design while it is still warm.  

Canning lid with toothpick swirls.  

Our flower turned into "it looks like a cloud... that's a pretty cool cloud."

"It feels so warm and cozy."  

She chose to hang this one up.  

Materials:

Cookie cutters/canning lids (or do them free form)

Hard candies

Parchment paper

Cooking spray

Cookie sheet

Place parchment paper on your cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray.  Place candies within the cookie cutters or make designs free form.  Pop in the oven at 325 for 5-6 minutes.  Let cool a little bit.  You an also make designs during this time or put holes in them to hang.  Pop them out while they are still warm to the touch.  Let harden.  

RL