Did you know that you can bend and shape candy canes?
Seriously!
The candy cane, usually so hard and brittle, becomes soft and bendable after just a few minutes in the oven.
Maia and her friend Ava played around with this idea after school yesterday and had so much fun with it.
They started out by taking the plastic wrapper off the candy canes and placing them on a parchment-paper covered cookie sheet.
Then I popped them in a 250F oven fro 10 minutes. They should look like this (above)—slightly puffy but still holding their shape (although that very top one has been bent already).
If you forget about the candy canes in the oven while a child is being picked up and you’re chatting with a parent, your candy canes will look like this. Interesting, but a little more tricky to manipulate for bendy purposes.
At first, Maia and Ava were unsure about the candy cane project.
But they quickly got into it. Maia bent them with her hands (they weren’t that hot)…
While Ava used chopsticks to shape her candy cane.
They made hearts, wreaths, twists…
…letters…
…and spirals.
This is seriously addictive! We’re already planning to do it again with a variety of candy canes—small ones, big ones, even different colors.
I highly recommend giving this a try and bending some candy canes with your kids! It’s so easy and quick, yet super satisfying.
Besides, what else are you going to do with all those candy canes?
Update: Check out this awesome candy cane garland that Laurie from Frosting and a Smile made for her tree using this method. Thanks to Meg for sharing the link!
27 Comments
Monique
December 12, 2013 at 9:16 amI just tried this with some candy canes from the dollar store (hubby bought cheapies that taste awful, so I thought this idea was perfect!) They didn’t make it 6 minutes in the oven before turning into goo. I guess we’ll try our “good” ones next :)
Janel
December 12, 2013 at 8:24 pmCute idea! My daughter’s name is Maia! I haven’t come across many others with that name<3 She is only 2, so we may have to wait until next year to try this out, but I bet she would love it!
meg
December 12, 2013 at 9:57 pmMy friend posted a great blog about this and even made Christmas tree garlands with them! http://www.frostingandasmile.com
erin
December 13, 2013 at 8:58 amI want to make a candy cane chain now!
meg
December 13, 2013 at 9:37 amAww thanks for the shout out! =) I just thought you might find them fun! ;)
Rebekah
December 13, 2013 at 9:51 amHow long do they stay “bendable”?
Laurie
December 13, 2013 at 10:18 amThank you so much for the link. I love what your kids did with their shapes.
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 8:13 amYes! Definitely try the “good” ones. But that’s interesting that the cheaper ones turned to goo so quickly. I wouldn’t have expected that. I just bought a few different kinds, including the tiny ones. We’ll see what happens!
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 8:14 amI haven’t come across many others with that spelling, either!
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 8:14 amOoh! I’ll go check it out! Thanks, Meg!
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 8:48 amWow, Meg — super cool! I’m going to update my post with a link to her candy cane chain. Thanks for sharing!
karen blackburn
December 13, 2013 at 9:18 pmjust did this! so fun. 8 minutes for us. we have hearts and circles to decorate our gingerbread houses! thank you! xo.
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 6:24 pmMe, too. :)
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 6:24 pmSure!
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 6:26 pmNot too long. I’d heat up a few at a time.
Jean Van't Hul
December 13, 2013 at 6:27 pmThanks! And thanks for your fun garland idea!
polly
December 14, 2013 at 9:50 amWhat a great idea! I would do this with left over ones and use them for Valentines. Then again making lollipops with them for treats for the children. Or I might decorate a whole tree in candy canes, red, and white. Thanks so much!
[email protected]
December 14, 2013 at 1:15 pmDo you leave them on the pan while sculpting? Mine went brittle after only a minute or two off of the cookie sheet. Maybe I didn’t bake them long enough.
JDaniel4's Mom
December 16, 2013 at 6:39 amI found this on the Red Ted Art Facebook page and had to stop by to share how much I love this activity.
Rockabye Butterfly
December 16, 2013 at 10:48 amBrilliant idea! Would be great to manipulate and shape them just the way you want it to decorate gingerbread houses!
carrie
December 17, 2013 at 1:49 pmhad to post that i love your ideas! my 11 year old is going to love to do this!
Beth Marie
December 21, 2013 at 11:29 pmSo cool! I’m totally doing a test trial on these tomorrow so I’ll be ready to share with the fam on Wednesday!
lyndsay // coco cake land
December 22, 2013 at 1:51 pmthat is so cool! found you via handmade charlotte. can’t wait to try this in the future! (my little one is only 16 months… maybe next year!!) :)
Emma
December 22, 2013 at 5:26 pmThat is so cool! Your kids came up with some pretty neat shapes too!
Cheryl
December 23, 2013 at 6:27 pmI tried dollar store candy canes as well…Six minutes and they were flattened. Retried with with a Brach’s candy cane from Walmart for .96 and 5 minutes later – perfect for shaping. Retried with another dollar store candy cane. Approximately four minutes later it started to ooze red liquid, so I pulled it out of the oven. It did’t bend, just came apart. Suggest that everyone watch their oven at about the 5 minute mark. Love this!!
Sherry Davis
December 29, 2013 at 11:05 amMy donkey and goats all love candy canes and peppermints, so I can play around with these and use them for treats. Always stalk up when I find them super cheap on sale after Christmas!
Kara Wren
October 24, 2017 at 2:39 pmMichaels sells the cutest little glass xmas tree that looks like it is made of small candy canes. I am going to try making one with real candy canes.