DIY Stocking Stuffers Made From Candy

Surprise friends and families with sweet candy creations.

Leave everyone else on your list with sweet memories of the holidays by giving out stocking stuffers made of candy. Start with the favorite candies of the person receiving the gift and make the gifts by hand. Stocking stuffers are traditionally used to fill the stockings that are hung along the chimney around Christmas time, but the candies can even be used to decorate the house, garnish the dinner table, or decorate wrapped presents in place of bows.

Things You'll Need

• For candy reindeer:
• Candy canes
• Brown pipe cleaners
• Adhesive googly eyes
• Red ribbon
• Bell
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue stick
• Small red pom-poms
• Candy brittle:
• Metal bowl
• 17 ounces white chocolate chips
• Pot
• Water
• Measuring cup
• Baking sheet
• Aluminum foil
• 1/4 cup crushed peppermints
• 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 6 tablespoons whipping cream
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 8-by-8-inch cellophane squares
• Ribbon

Instructions

Candy Reindeer

1. Bend a brown pipe cleaner in half around the curved end of a candy cane and twist the two ends of the pipe cleaner together to secure it in place.

2. Twist and curl the two ends of the pipe cleaner around fingers or a pencil until they look like reindeer antlers.

3. Remove the backing from two adhesive googly eyes and attach them about two inches down from the antlers on the short end of the candy cane. Place the eyes evenly on either side of the candy cane.

4. Feed a thin piece of red ribbon through the top ring of a tiny bell and hot glue it in place about one-fourth of the way down the longer side of the candy cane.

5. Place a dot of hot glue onto a tiny red pom-pom and fix it to the tip of the candy cane for the reindeer's red nose.

Candy Cane Bark

1. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Fill a metal bowl with 17 ounces white chocolate chips. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water. The bowl must be able to sit on the rim of the pot without its bottom touching the water below. Let the chocolate melt.

2. Remove the bowl from the heat. Measure 2/3 cup of melted chocolate and pour it onto the foil-lined baking sheet.

3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup crushed peppermints onto the white chocolate.

4. Chill the white chocolate layer in the fridge for 15 minutes.

5. Stir 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 6 tablespoons whipping cream and 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract in a saucepan over low heat until the chocolate has melted and the ingredients have combined.

6. Pour the dark chocolate evenly over the layer of white chocolate in the baking sheet.

7. Put the baking sheet in the refrigerator. Let the chocolate layers chill for 25 minutes.

8. Reheat the remaining white chocolate until it is melted.

9. Pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate layer and sprinkle the rest of the peppermint pieces on top.

10. Chill the chocolate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

11. Break the bark into pieces with a sharp knife. Make the pieces uneven, with jagged edges, for visual interest. Stack the pieces of bark into piles of four.

12. Place each pile on top of an 8-by-8-inch piece of cellophane. Gather the edges of the cellophane up into a bundle above the candy and tie it off with an 8-inch piece of ribbon.

References

• Epicurious: Layered Peppermint Crunch Bark

Resources

• Organized Christmas: Candy Cane Reindeer