How to melt Jolly Ranchers in silicone molds

These Easy Jolly Rancher lollipops have long been one of our favorite treats to make and they truly are so simple!

You might remember me sharing them a few years ago when we made them as 4th of July Jolly Rancher Lollipops without molds, but my daughter recently started making them in these fun molds and they are so fun, and a great way to use up any left over Halloween candy and/or make fun treats for the holiday season!

Make them with any type of mold you like, here’s how to make and melt Jolly Rancher hard candy into lollipops.

Non-stick butter cooking spray

How to Melt Jolly Ranchers 

1. Unwrap 4 jolly rancher candies and place them in a coffee mug.

2. Lightly spray a non stick cooking spray in the sucker part of the mold and wipe out with a paper towel.

3. Microwave for 30 seconds on 60% power and then microwave for another 15-30 seconds on 80% power (your mixture should be bubbling, caution it’s very hot).

4. Carefully and quickly pour your melted Jolly Rancher into your sucker mold.

5. Rinse your mug with hot water until the leftover candies have melted off (this takes a minute or so).

6. Switch colors of Jolly Ranchers and repeat steps.

7. Place in freezer for 15 minutes and your suckers will pop right out.

Make Jolly Rancher Suckers with Molds

We used really simple molds for this demonstration but there are so many different sucker and candy molds that you can use to make Jolly Rancher suckers. 

My daughter even melts Jolly Rancher candy without the sucker sticks to make different shaped candies. So many fun things you can do by melting Jolly Ranchers and depending on the occasion you can use different colors to go along with your theme or holiday!

I think you’ll love these melted Jolly Rancher lollipops as much as we do! 

Print the Recipe to Make Jolly Rancher Lollipops

If melting and pouring hot sugar isn’t your thing, but you’d love to make your own edible jewels & gems, then this is the tut for you! Instead of melting candy and then working at the speed of light to get it into your molds (and not all over your hands), why not let the candy do all of the work? I have to tell you, after weeks of dealing with crazy weather and endless snow, taking a little bit of aggression out on those little Jolly Ranchers felt pretty good. Felt even better when my smashed candy experiment was a success! Now I have something pretty to look at (and eat!) while I watch the snow fall (again).

Edible Jewels

Supplies

– Jolly Ranchers or Life Savers

– Small zip-top bags

– Rolling pin

– Extra Large Gems Hard Candy Mold (or other heat-proof gem mold)

– Pan spray

– Paper towel

Step 1:

Position a rack in the center of your oven and heat the oven to 275 degrees. (I used my toaster oven.)

Step 2:

Unwrap a few Jolly Ranchers and place them in a zip-top bag.

Step 3:

Use your rolling pin to smash up the candy into small pieces. Set the bag aside while you prep your mold.

Step 4:

Spray pan spray onto a paper towel and use the greased towel to wipe the cavity of your gem mold. This provides enough of a barrier to pop the gem out later, but not so much grease that it makes your gems cloudy. Pick up the mold I used here: Extra Large Gems Hard Candy Mold.

Step 5:

Fill the greased gem mold with your candy crumbles.

Step 6:

Place the gem mold onto a cookie sheet, then into the oven for 5-7 minutes. As the candy melts, it will spread out and fill in the mold. If the gem is not as full as you’d like, sprinkle in a little more candy and place the tray back into the oven for another minute or so. Just long enough for the additional candy to melt.

Step 7:

Let the gem mold cool on the cookie sheet until it’s easy to handle. Even though these molds are heat-proof, they still get a little wiggly when they’re warmed up. For this reason, you’ll want to wait until the mold has cooled to room temperature before picking it up. This should only take about 5 minutes.

Step 8:

Once the mold is cool to the touch, pop it into the fridge for another 5-10 minutes. This will make your candy gems easier to remove.

Step 9:

Take the gem mold out of the fridge and pop out your gems. They’re ready to go as a glamorous snack, a cake decoration, or cupcake topper!