How to make your own ~ Christmas Candy Cane Hearts

I love everything about this time of year. I love the vibe and the atmosphere. I love the happiness and the festive spirit. I love the rush and the stress. I adore the giving and of course the receiving. I love the lead up, the day and the come down. Christmas is that one thing every year that I look forward to, all year. When the decorations start to appear in the shops I start to get goosebumps and have often found myself tearing up when I have found a new and exciting decoration to bring home. It excites me, it brings out the child in me, it encourages my inner imagination and creativity and it just makes me so freaking happy. I love Christmas!

Before I had children I was known to spend hundreds of dollars on buying well thought out gifts for my family and friends, never recording what I had spent... Because the feeling of buying, wrapping and giving far out weighed the cost! But since Evelyn was born and we now live on a single income I have had to reign in my spending come Christmas. My desire to give is still live and well and so each year I look for ideas for handmade and cost effective gifts.

This week I saw a photo of a great quick and easy candy cane treat on the instagram feed of this lovely lady and I just knew I had to give it a whirl. With today being my Mothers Group Christmas party I thought it was a good excuse! And I had the best time making these little gems so I thought I would share with you this very cost effective, quick and easy "baking" recipe for the non baker.

I have a few other "crafty" christmas projects on the go at the moment and will share each one as they are finished here. I am not a crafter, but come Christmas, I try to be! So all of these projects are easy to do, for the non crafty mama!

What you will need

4 x boxes of Candy Canes ~ Aldi - 2 for $3

2 x bags of Cadbury Melts ~ Coles - $3.98 each

Cellophane Lollie Bags ~ Coles - 30 for $2 (I think!)

Total cost - $15.96 

(this made me 15 hearts)

Recipe

Lay your candy canes out on baking paper in the shape of hearts to make 15 hearts

Crush your spare Candy Canes in a plastic bag with a hammer or meat mallet

Melt your chocolate down over boiling water, I used milk chocolate and white chocolate so had to melt mine down in two steps

Carefully spoon your chocolate into the heart of your candy cane, then sprinkle with the candy cane dust

Pop in the fridge for a couple of hours and wait for the chocolate to set

Once it is set I placed two hearts, one milk and one white chocolate into my lolly bags. I wrapped a small piece of christmas ribbon around the end and made a 'Merry Xmas' tag with some cardboard and stamps that I had in my craft drawer.

Ta - Da!!!

Merry Christmas