How To Melt Jolly Ranchers For Impressively Decorated Desserts

Jolly Ranchers aren't just a yummy kid-favorite candy. They have somehow morphed into a decorating wonder that lets you create incredible decorations for your sweet treats, not just making them fun to look at but fun to eat.

Melting them down for impressively decorated desserts is surprisingly easy. Although you can use a double boiler method to heat them to their melting point of 350 degrees Fahrenheit (being sure to stir them frequently to keep them from burning), the much easier method is to use your microwave. All you'll need are a bag of Jolly Ranchers, a microwave-safe bowl, and a potholder to handle the bowl once it heats up. Keep in mind, you'll want to be sure to work with the classic Jolly Ranchers hard candies to achieve the results you are looking for. Avoid some of the fun iterations like Jolly Rancher Freeze Dried, Jolly Rancher Gummies, and some of the best new candy, Jolly Rancher Ropes – no matter how much fun they are to eat.

In order to get clear, crisp colors, you'll want to separate the candies so you are working in different colored batches unless you want to get creative with blending hues. You'll want to work in small increments of time, starting with one minute and adding 15 seconds at a time after that to ensure the candies don't burn. But the benefit of the microwave is even heating throughout the bowl, and the ability to carefully control the time ensures you won't end up with a useless bowl of burnt sugar.

Now that you've mastered the art of melting Jolly Ranchers, it's time to let that creativity loose and make some edible artwork. The best part of working with Jolly Ranchers is all the fun colors you've got to work with, including flavors like blue raspberry, green apple, and watermelon. One of the best ways to use them is to make stained glass cookies with a cookie frame around a clear colored pane of sugar. When it comes to your designs, the sky is the limit — you can do anything from geometric shapes with cut-out centers, which are especially fun around the holidays, to words that have "stained glass" sugar panes in the center of letters like "O" and "A," making spelling out a message or a name fun and delicious.

Stained glass cookies aren't the only use for this effect. You can also create impressive gingerbread houses that feature beautiful "glass" work. Melted candy pieces can add accents throughout your gingerbread house, making it a fan favorite whether it is simply a fun hobby or a centerpiece for a holiday party display.

Because the melted candies are in a liquid state, they can be poured into candy molds to create different shapes and designs that you can then use as cupcake toppers. Or, you can simply pour them into a sheet, wait for them to harden again, and smash them into bits that can be used as sprinkles on cupcakes, cookies, or boring store-bought cakes, adding splashes of flavor and color along with interesting textures.