Homemade Candy Canes
Homemade Candy Canes are a fun, festive treat to make with your friends and loved ones during the holiday season. These will be sure to impress everyone! They taste just as good as store-bought ones with a beautiful glossy finish, peppermint taste, and vibrant stripes.
I’ve been wanting to make homemade candy canes for the longest time. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t have a good answer. I just wanted to. You know when you get that baking itch to make something and you just have to do it? Yeah, that was these candy canes for me. Was it easier to buy them from the store? Yes. Was it way more fun and accomplishing to make them from home? Absolutely!
These homemade candy canes are just as good if not better, than store bought. They have a beautiful shiny, glossy appearance, just enough peppermint flavoring, and have a good crisp texture, just like the ones at the store.
Homemade candy canes are fun to make, and would make a great Christmas tradition to do with kids, family and friends. These are fully customizable too, so you can add whatever colors and flavorings you want. Have fun and get creative with it!
The details
Homemade candy canes seem intimidating to make. I will say you will have to shape and twist a few candy canes until you truly get the hang of it, but they’re not as hard as they may seem.
Ingredients
- granulated sugar – this provides the sweetness to the candy canes
- light corn syrup – corn syrup contributes to the sweetness of the candy canes. Corn syrup also has an important function to help prevent the sugar from forming large sugar crystals. This helps to keep the candy canes texture smooth and its appearance glossy.
- water – water helps the sugar crystals dissolve.
- cream of tartar – cream of tartar helps to prevent large sugar crystals from forming
- peppermint extract – this provides the flavor for the homemade candy canes, but feel free to use whatever flavoring you want!
- red food dye – this gives the beautiful characteristic red hue in the candy cane, but feel free to swap out for another color if desired. I recommend using gel food coloring as it is more concentrated.
- white food dye (if using) – white gel food coloring helps to give the candy canes their beautiful characteristic white stripe. However, you can get a white-ish color from just stretching the candy. It just isn’t as prominent as using the white gel food coloring. I used the white gel food coloring in mine.
Here’s how to make Homemade Candy Canes
boil the sugar syrup
To begin making these homemade candy canes, you’ll add the sugar, corn syrup and water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of your pan. Do not stir the mixture. Boil until you reach a temperature of 265F. This is the hard ball stage.
stir in the cream of tartar
At this point, you will stir in the cream of tartar with a heat resistant spatula or whisk. Stir JUST until combined.
boil to the soft crack stage
Continue to boil until the mixture reaches 285F. This is the upper end of the soft crack stage. I found if I boiled the mixture to the hard crack phase around 300F, it was incredibly hard to work with as you had to work very quickly. The hard crack stage will give you more hard, brittle candy canes, but boiling to 285F produced candy canes that were hard and brittle just like the ones in the store.
flavor the candy canes
Now, it’s time to add in the peppermint extract. Stir in the extract with a clean heat proof spatula or whisk, JUST until combined.
divide the mixture and add the colors
Pour half the mixture onto a silpat mat or your baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. If your saucepan is heat proof, add it to your warm oven. If it is not heatproof, pour the other half of the candy mixture onto the other silpat mat or prepared baking sheet. Place in the oven.
With one half of the mixture in front of you, add either the red or white gel food coloring. Stir to combine. Using a bench knife sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, scrape the candy from side to side and top to bottom. This helps the candy cool down.
stretch and pull the candy
Put your heat proof gloves on, or use a pair of cotton gloves with a pair of latex gloves over top. The candy is hot, so you want to make sure that you wear these at all times. Pick up the piece of candy and stretch and fold it over itself. Repeat until the candy becomes shimmery/glassy in appearance. Form the candy into a log, then place back on the silpat mat or lightly oiled baking sheet. Place in the warm oven so that the candy remains pliable.
Repeat with the other half of the candy. Stir in the remaining food gel coloring, use the bench knife to gently cool the candy down, scraping back and forth and up and down, then stretch and pull the candy using your heatproof gloves.
shape the candy into candy canes
Cut a 2 inch piece of candy off of the white and red log. Use your hands (still wearing the heat proof gloves) to stretch the candy to your desired thickness. Alternatively, you can roll into a log. You will have to work rather quickly in this step. Once your desired thickness is reached, twist the candy cane in sections to achieve the spiral stripe.
Repeat with remaining candy logs until all of the candy is used up. Feel free to experiment, and use two pieces of white candy with one piece of red, or two pieces of red candy with one piece of red, etc. It will give you different stripe appearances.
What if my candy melts when it is warming in the oven?
Some of my candy almost melted while it was warming in the oven. Don’t worry if this happens. It is still fine to use. Just take the candy out of the oven and allow to cool for a minute or two. It cools fairly fast. You can also alternate in keeping your oven on at the lowest setting and turning it off.
Professional candy makers have heating lamps, or heating tables, which provide the perfect subtle amount of heat to keep the candy pliable. Since not all of us have all of these tools, we have to find other ways that work. The warm oven works, but it is certainly not 100 percent perfect.
Here are a few other Christmas recipe ideas
- Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls (like Cinnabon)
- Soft 1-hour cinnamon rolls
- Nutella Star Bread
- Easy Pear Tarte Tatin
If you enjoy making Christmas candy, make sure you try this recipe!
Let me know what you thought!
If you make these homemade candy canes for a delicious Christmas candy treat, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. I absolutely love reading all of your comments! Also, make sure to snap a picture and tag me @simplebakingwithpep on instagram. It truly makes my day to see all of your wonderful creations
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Homemade Candy Canes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 18 1x
Description
Homemade Candy Canes are a fun, festive treat to make with your friends and loved ones during the holiday season. These will be sure to impress everyone! They taste just as good as store-bought ones with a beautiful glossy finish, peppermint taste, and vibrant stripes.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 teaspoon red gel food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon white gel food coloring (if using)
Instructions
1. Using two baking sheets, place a silpat mat on each. Alternatively, you can spray two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting (mine was 170F).
2. Add sugar, corn syrup and water to a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Insert a candy thermometer and boil until it reaches 265F. Do not stir.
3. Add in the cream of tartar, stirring to combine.
4. Continue to boil until the candy thermometer reaches 285F. Do not stir.
5. Using a clean whisk or heat resistant spatula, remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract.
6. Pour half of the mixture onto the silpat mat, or the baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
7. Put the remaining mixture in the oven. If your saucepan is not oven proof, pour onto the other prepared baking sheet and place in oven. The warm oven will keep the candy mixture warm enough to work with.
8. Add the red food dye (or you can start with the white), to the half of the mixture you plan to work with. Stir until combined. Use a lightly oiled bench knife to scrape the hot candy from side to side and top to bottom, folding the candy over itself. This helps to cool the candy down. Do this until the candy is cool enough to handle.
9. You can either use a pair of heat resistant gloves, or if you don’t have heat resistant gloves, put on a pair of cotton gloves, then a latex/vinyl glove over top of the cotton glove. Pick up the piece of candy, stretch it out and fold it over itself. Repeat this until the candy becomes shimmery/glassy. Form into a rough log, then place back on the baking sheet and place in the warm oven.
10. Now, repeat step 8 and 9 with the other food dye.
11. Use a lightly oiled pair of kitchen shears to snip off a 2 inch piece of candy from both the white and red log. Place the remaining logs in the oven while you work with the small pieces of red and white candy.
12. Continue to wear the gloves as the candy is still warm. Working quickly, squeeze the red and white piece together, then roll into a log, or stretch/pull the candy to your desired thickness. Gently twist the candy cane in sections to achieve the spiral stripe. Form a hook on one end of the candy cane. Set the candy cane aside to finish cooling and hardening.
13. Repeat until the entire logs are used up. You can even try making a candy cane from two pieces of red and one piece of white, or one piece of red and two pieces of white, etc. Have fun with it!
Notes
Some of my candy almost melted while it was warming in the oven. Don’t worry if this happens. It is still fine to use. Just take the candy out of the oven and allow to cool for a minute or two. It cools fairly fast. You can also alternate in keeping your oven on at the lowest setting and turning it off.
Professional candy makers have heating lamps, or heating tables, which provide the perfect subtle amount of heat to keep the candy pliable. Since not all of us have all of these tools, we have to find other ways that work. The warm oven works, but it is certainly not 100 percent perfect.
Make sure you use gel food coloring. Gel food coloring is more concentrated and colors the candy canes much better.
The hardest part, in my opinion, about making candy canes, is working quickly enough to pull and twist the candy cane into its shape. It may take a few tries of stretching and twisting the candy pieces until you get the hang of it.
The candy is very hot. Make sure you wear heat resistant gloves, or a pair of cotton gloves covered by latex gloves to protect your hands.
Cream of tartar is added to the candy canes which helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, resulting in smoother candy canes.
I used white gel food coloring in my candy canes, but it is not entirely needed. As you stretch the candy, it gets a clear, white-ish color. The white gel food coloring helps the white color stand out more.
- Prep Time: 75
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Candy, Dessert
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: German
