Here's a story from my young and foolish days. When I was new to candy-making, I decided I wanted to make some cinnamon lollipops for Valentine's Day. I went to my local craft store and bought a heart-shaped lollipop mold and some sticks. I found a recipe. I even successfully used a candy thermometer! I was feelin' goooood. Everything was going swimmingly until I went to pour the hot sugar syrup into the candy mold. I filled a few of the cavities, and then, mid-pour, noticed that the mold was warping, and shriveling, and that the candy had leaked all over my kitchen table. The hot syrup had melted through the plastic mold, creating a huge mess. You haven't lived until you've scraped and scrubbed hard candy from your wooden tabletop!
Any guesses as to where I went wrong? In my naivete about candy-making, I hadn't realized that not all candy molds are created equal. Some are meant for chocolate work, and other low-temperature uses. These molds are most often made of clear plastic, and are not meant to withstand the high heat of sugar work. You can see an example of a chocolate mold to the left of the picture above. Even if they include a space for a lollipop stick--do not be fooled! These are only for making chocolate lollipops. You will regret trying to use them for anything else.
Hard candy molds, like the kind used to make lollipops, are a different beast entirely. They can be made of silicone or metal, but the cheapest and most common are made of a thick white plastic (seen to the right in the picture above). These are often specifically labeled for high-heat work, and they are perfect for forming hard candies from scalding hot sugar syrups. Now that we've cleared up a few vital details, let's put this candy mold knowledge to good use making two different types of Valentine's Day lollipops.
Cinnamon Heart Pops are the more successful cousin of those lollipops I tried to make so many years ago. Turns out, they're not so hard to make once you have the right equipment! It just takes a quick boiling of some sugar, a dash of cinnamon oil (and literally just a dash--that stuff is strong!) and the patience to wait until the candy hardens before devouring them. I think these sweet and spicy candies look lovely on their own, but if you want to decorate them, whip up a batch of royal icing and pipe on some custom decorations, like names, phrases, or cute Valentine's-inspired designs.
If boiling 300-degree F sugar syrup seems like courting disaster, you can still enjoy a Valentine's Day lollipop by making these Marbled Chocolate Heart Pops instead. In their simplest form they're just a mix of your favorite white and dark chocolates, although you can always add a bit of flavoring oil to make orange, peppermint, or other flavored chocolate pops. I should note that while you cannot use chocolate molds to make hard candy, you can definitely use hard candy molds to make chocolates, so if you only have the sturdy white hard candy molds available, you can use them to make either recipe!
Get the recipes:
Cinnamon Heart Pops
Marbled Chocolate Heart Pops
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Photos ©2012 Elizabeth LaBau, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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