Tricks + Treats: Wicked Witch Lemon Honey Lollipops by Katie

Hi, It's Katie from I Go By Katie! One of my favorite Halloween images is of a witch silhouette in front of the moon. So for my Halloween treat DIY tutorial I've decided to make Wicked Witch Lemon Honey Lollipops! When they are all finished & packaged up they will look like little moons in the sky with a witch flying by. Below is the recipe & directions along with a wicked witch silhouette for you to use.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1/3 cup light yellow honey
2 Teaspoons pure lemon extract/oil

What else you need:
Parchment paper, wax paper or a silicone baking sheet
A package of 6 inch lollipop sticks
Printable transparent film
Lollipop wrappers
Thin black ribbon
Measuring cups
Pyrex glass measuring pitcher
Small saucepan
3-4 baking sheets
Candy thermometer
Heat resistant spatula

To prepare the lollipops:

Step1:
To begin prep your baking sheets by lining them with your parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Next head over to your stovetop & add 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons water & 1/3 cup honey to your saucepan. Turn your burner on medium & stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved clip your candy thermometer to the side of your saucepan & turn the heat up to high. Let the mixture heat to 300-310ºF (This is the hard crack stage), refrain from stirring while the mixture heats. It should become a nice transparent golden yellow color. (If you want your lollipops with sugar crystals throughout, which I have done to mine to make them slightly opaque, turn the heat up to high before all of the sugar has dissolved)

Step 2:
Once your mixture has reached 300-310 degrees remove the pan from the stove & pour it into your Pyrex glass measuring pitcher, quickly pour in 2 teaspoons pure lemon extract & mix together using a heat resistant spatula.

Step 3:
Quickly pour 2" circles on your baking sheets far enough apart to allow you to place sticks onto your lollipops. While your sweet circles are still warm & gooey take your lollipop sticks and place them at the bottom of the circle and twist slightly to guarantee the stick will not come loose once the lollipop is grasped.

Step 4:

To prepare the witch decoration & candy wrapper:
Print out a sheet of witches evenly spaced on an 8.5×11" sheet of transparency film. Using a circle cutter cut a 2" (bigger if you want your lollipops larger) circle around each witch. Once your lollipops are cool & ready to package set a lollipop face first onto one of your clear witch circles, be sure the toner or ink side is not touching the lollipop or it may come off on the candy.

Now slip your witch & lollipop into a lollipop wrapper & tie it off with a pretty black bow.

Be aware that these lollipops will turn out much stickier than the hard solid ones you can buy at the store, sticking them into their wrappers might be a little difficult. It’s best to package them sooner rather than later as they get slightly stickier on the surface with time.

Note: if you have a sticker machine making witch stickers to put on the outside of the wrapper would work fantastic. The way I did mine is for those of us who just have printers 🙂

Caution:
If you are giving these lollipops to children remind them to remove the witch plastic before consuming, although this is sure to become obvious to anyone who removes the lollipop from it's wrapper, it's always better to be safe than sorry 🙂

Alternative recipe:
For those who don't like or are allergic to honey you can substitute it with light corn syrup, cut the amount of lemon flavor you use in half (the reason why you do this is because you have to add more to balance the honey & lemon flavor) & add some yellow food coloring to imitate the yellow moon. 

Thanks so much, Katie, for this adorable recipe! It's perfect for this fun holiday week! XXoo. Elsie

ps. Here's an UPDATED SCHEDULE for Tricks + Treats this week. XO!