Candy Fire

I fell into a burning ring of… candy fire.

Have you ever experienced a sugar burn? Not cool. Not cool, at all.

Proceed with caution.

Candy fire or candy flames may look impressive and even complex, but they are very easy to create! Don’t tell your mom or grandma that though, just let them be proud, okay?

Let’s get started.

Tools:
•Baking Sheet
•Parchment Paper (No, not wax paper. Wax paper cannot withstand high heat like parchment can. You’re welcome.)
•Sandwich baggies, one for every color
•Meat cleaver, rolling pin, or clean hammer
•300° F oven
•Mini LED tea light (optional)

Ingredients:
•Yellow, Orange, and Red hard candies. (I’ve tried being clever in the past and added some Blue candy to resemble that of a hot flame, but it turned more of a purple hue as it ran with the other colors. Makes sense.)

Unwrap the hard candies. I use generic assorted hard candies and Jolly Ranchers. Place unwrapped candies in baggies, divided by colors, of course.

Okay, here’s the fun part. Total destruction. Have a bad day? CRUSH. Significant other being difficult? SMASH. Have a three month old sleeping baby? DON’T. Candy crushing can wait. Settle down Candy Crush Saga people, not talking to you. That is still a thing, I’m assuming.

Arrange the crushed candies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make sure you do not use a funky pan that likes to pop and shift during the heating and cooling process. Keep in mind what you’re using the candy flames for. For example, I will be stabbing candy flame shards into a cake, so the bottom inch and a half will not be showing, and my flame will be shorter.

Once you’re happy with your arrangements, place the pan in a 300° oven. Bake for 8-12 minutes. Everyone’s ovens are different, so just stand guard after those first several minutes. Once the candy is fully melted, without any visible hard candy chunks left, take the pan out. Set to cool, about 20 minutes.