Create Holiday Suckers with Your Children

The leaves are turning, the mornings and evenings are chilly and it means the holiday season is almost upon us.

If you have young children in your lives, this is a great time to create wonderful lasting holiday memories. Perhaps you'll even create new traditions. Maybe you have childhood memories yourself of times spent with your mother (and maybe Dad, too!) making fudge and cookies during the weeks preceding Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Here is a terrific idea for cooking up some great goodies to give as gifts and/or enjoy with your family and friends.

Looking for something unique for a son or daughter's class party? Or, giving a couple of teachers a small gift? Chocolate suckers work out great for this. Try working with confectionary coating, more commonly known as white chocolate. (TIP: I've had very good luck using semisweet chocolate pieces for this also.) You'll find several candy molds in different shapes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

You'll need a clean and dry candy mold and make sure all your utensils are dry. Start melting the chocolate in the microwave, or, in a double boiler. To microwave, have your assistant/child put a handful of the candy discs in a microwave safe container and microwave for one minute. If necessary, repeat at 20-second intervals. When using a decorator bag, snip only a little teeny piece of the bag. Once it's melted, snip the rest of the end of the bag.

Once the chocolate is molded your and your assistant/child can either squeeze the decorator bag gently, dripping the chocolate into the molds, or by spooning the chocolate out of the microwave bowl. (TIP: I melt the candy discs in a measuring cup, so you can simply pour the melted chocolate into the molds.

Once the candy mold cavities are filled, gently tap the mold on the countertop a couple of times to eliminate any air bubbles. Next, place a sucker stick into each mold, rolling the stick gently to coat it with chocolate. Let the candy set by placing the mold in the refrigerator or freezer in a level area for about half an hour. The suckers should come out of the molds easily.

Once you have the suckers out place them in clear cello bags, or wrap with plastic wrap. Secure them with ribbons, decorative bag closures or clean scotch tape. For a festive look, add ribbon in holiday colors, use the holiday mini wire garlands. You can even add gift tags or business cards to the finished sucker(s) by punching a hold in each tag/card and tying to the sucker with ribbon.

Need a bigger gift? Gather up several suckers and tie them into a bouquet and embellish with ribbon, wire garland, etc.

The bouquet, or the individual suckers can be also be sold at boutiques and craft shows during the holidays. (TIP: Check to see if you need a local license to sell these homemade goodies.)