DIY HOMEMADE HONEY POPS

Doctors now agree with your grandma: a small spoonful of raw thyme honey can ease a sore throat and clear up a cough. Some put it in their hot chamomile tea, but others need more playful ways to enjoy their honey. Laura the blogger from Oakland Avenue suggests a honey pop that is actually fun to make and your family will crave them all year round.

You will need Honey (a cup is good for around 20 lollipops), lollipop sticks and a silpat mat or parchment paper. A candy thermometer would be helpful, but you can do without it.

Here’s what you do:
Pour honey in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. If you have a candy thermometer, use it to tell you when the honey reaches about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. It’ll take about 10 minutes. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can test the honey by dropping a bit of it into a cup of ice water. If it hardens (like candy) it’s ready. If not, keep on boiling.

*Keep a super close eye on your honey. It will seem like nothing’s happening for a while, then it will increase in temperature very quickly. It’s better to test often and too soon, than to miss the mark and burn a batch.

When the honey reaches 300 degrees, remove it from the burner.

Pour small circles on the silpat mat or a piece of parchment paper. After pouring five or so circles, stop and put the lollipop sticks in each circle of honey. Give the sticks a little twist to be sure they’re really stuck in there. Continue creating small honey circles on the mat, stopping every few minutes to put in the sticks. *When you first pour the honey, it’s very thin and difficult to get a good circle (second row below), but as you continue on, the honey thickens and is much easier to pour (the darkest ones on the mat). Feel free to go back over your first few to help round them out and make them a bit thicker.

Allow them to cool and harden on the counter completely at room temperature, about a half hour.

To store, wrap them with a bit of plastic wrap and secure them with string or a twist tie. If that’s too much work for you, just cut up some parchment paper and fold it over the sucker heads. It’ll keep them from sticking together when you store them, but will peel off easily when you’re ready to enjoy them.

  Tip: If you want to play with the flavor a bit, I’ve heard of adding a few mix-ins to these. Just add your flavoring (about a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon or lemon zest) right at the beginning when you put the honey in the sauce pan.

Enjoy!