I had been waiting since last year to try making these candy cane hearts. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any mini candy canes at the stores this year. So, I adapted and came up with a new plan. Instead of melting two candy canes together, I decided to heat the candy canes and bend them into hearts. This was both a success and a failure.

To make these hearts, you will need candy canes and patience! Some candy canes seem to work better than others... the Spangler brand worked wonderfully while others crumbled.



While your oven is preheat to the lowest temperature, unwrap the candy canes and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 6 minutes and check flexibility. If the candy canes get over heated, the candy canes will flatten but if they are not hot enough, they will not bend. It is much easier to put them in for another few minutes than it is to try to make them round again!


Once they are flexible enough, curve the ends together to form a heart and pull the middle down to form a point.


You can also make them into letters...


After a few batches in the above method, I decided I'd try to heat them in the microwave. That was not a good idea...


It did, however spark a new idea. As with any box of candy canes, I had several broken ones that I couldn't figure out how to form into a heart. I decided to put the pieces into my silicone heart pan and zap them for about 30 seconds in the microwave.

It worked to create peppermint, marbled hearts!


So, experiment away. You never know what will work!