Dec 18th ~ Candy Making Day!

Candy making is a favorite activity for many when the holidays draw near. Some may ask how this is STEM related? Well, there are a lot of details behind making the perfect candies! Things like ingredients, shopping (with discounts!), measuring, temperature controls, and decorating with unique style! So when the Delta Life Skills girls group {Note: See post from Dec 10th ~ Why Home Economics? for more info about this group} asked me to come help them learn about homemade Christmas candy making, I couldn't resist the opportunity!

Cutting up the Cherries!
The girls group started by breaking into twos to cover more candy making. We decided to try four different recipes including: Cherry Mashers, Peanut Delights, Butterscotch Stacks, and (my favorite!) Peppermint Cane Fudge!

Although the candy was for personal enjoyment, we did discuss proper sanitation when making food and gifting it to others. Then the groups split off to there culinary tasks.

We experimented melting chocolate with a double boiler for two recipes vs. melting on a burner for the others. The girls were able to see, touch, taste, and unfortunately, smell the difference. Yes we burned a little bottom chocolate, but everything tasted great by the end! They all agreed double boiler was the way to melt chocolate.

As we finished up decorating, the hard part began - waiting for the candy to harden up. So the girls cleaned up and headed back to their classroom for Christmas gift exchange and a movie.

When it was finally time to dish out the candy, they all got to take their own container home filled with goodies.

Mmmmmmmm..... Makes me want to go make more candy right now!

Thanks to the Life Skills group for having me come help out! I'll be back soon!

I am a STEM/k12 Educator with Colorado State University Extension. I love working with youth and encouraging them to participate in many forms of hand on education! Overall, our goal is to promote positive youth development and encourage youth to pursue higher education after high school.

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