YAH: Peppermint Candy Dish...

...Gone Wrong?

You know how most of my posts tell you how to do something? Well, this post is more about what not to do, or what didn't work for us. And no matter how many times we tried, it still didn't work how we thought it would, but we ended up kind of liking the results. And because we had so much fun, I'm sharing it all. Get ready for picture overload!
It all started with a post I read about using peppermint disk candies to make bowls and plates. As soon as I read this post from Refresh Restyle, I sent the link to my sisters and mom and asked if we could please, pretty please, make these Christmas day. They seemed to be as excited as I was. So after a wonderful Christmas brunch and a little Michael Jackson Wii dancing, we headed to the kitchen. We preheated the oven to 350 degrees and started unwrapping peppermint candies. We had wanted to add some green ones in, but couldn't find them at the store so we used candy canes that had green stripes. My sister Sarah had made one before we all gathered at her house, but it broke so she planned on re-melting it. The rest of us laid out our candies how we wanted them. We covered cookie sheets with parchment paper and put the candy on top. We also had some butterscotch candies so we thought we'd try those as well.

Then they went in the oven. We left them in for about 8 minutes, but watched them almost the whole time so we could see when they were melted. When the first pan came out of the oven, they looked great.

Then it was time to mold them. My sister Kate, who made the one on the left, put hers over a tall glass vase, with the parchment paper between the vase and the candy.

 We formed it a little while it was still warm.

Sarah draped hers upside down (parchment paper on top) over a small bowl and put a towel on top so she could press down and form it a little better.

She was very proud of this and wanted to get in the picture.

(Yes, those are wine glasses in the background, but hey, it was a holiday! And it was only Mimosa.)

After the candy cooled, she had a lovely bowl.

She didn't like some of the higher edges, so she started whacking them with a butter knife!

Kate wanted to leave her candy on the vase until it was completely cooled so it would be stronger, to which Sarah replied, "Why? Mine's rock hard." And she picked it up and set it back on the counter and it broke. Again. So back in the oven it went. Maybe third time's a charm! Meanwhile, the second tray came out of the oven.

Mine is on the left. I love how the candy canes look in the middle. But it was a little big, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. The butterscotch candies started boiling on the edges, but we didn't give up on that little guy yet. I draped mine upside down over a short and wide vase,

but it immediately started dripping down. (Excuse the out-of-focus picture, but we had to move fast!)

So Sarah put a bowl on the top of it and flipped the whole thing over. We were left with this lovely display.

My hopes of a beautiful peppermint dish were shattering. But I added some candy cane kisses and took a picture anyway.

And I realized shiny candy wrappers can make almost anything pretty! Here is how Kate's turned out. Remember, hers was the one on the tall vase.

Very cute! We also molded the butterscotch one and had planned on putting some fudge in it before taking a picture. And this is what happened when a piece of fudge dropped out of Kate's hand.

 But this is what it did look like before it broke.

So we tried a few more times. It looked so simple on Refresh Restyle, we didn't want to give up. Meanwhile, here's what the boys were doing. Brother:

Father:

And nephews:

OK, back in the kitchen. My mom decided she wanted to follow the directions on the Refresh Restyle website exactly, using the same number of candies. So after it came out of the oven, it was carefully set on an upside down bowl.

My sister Nancy helped her stretch it out to a good shape before it cooled too much. (The extra set of hands in a lot of these photos belong to Nanc!) It worked great.

But it still wasn't right. Why? Because the side that touches the parchment paper isn't shiny. And that's the side that faces up in the bowl. We wanted a shiny bowl. So my mom tried one more time. Meanwhile, I wanted to try again with the candy canes in the middle, so I made another one, but this time smaller.

And here it is melted.

This one we carefully draped over the same bowl.

Here's how it looked when it was done.

I liked it, even though it wasn't shiny-side up. Maybe I'll spray it with a clear-coat finish. Sarah tried another one, too, this time crushing up the candies in the middle. She used the back of an ice cream scooper and whacked away. (She seemed to enjoy that a little too much!) But when it melted it just looked like the middle candies melted funny. You couldn't really tell they were crushed.

She kept this one flat and used it as a cookie plate.

And here is my mom's final attempt, with the candies cooling upside down on a bowl.

We thought it would turn out perfectly, but the candy stuck to the bowl and we couldn't get it off! Sarah finally pulled hard enough and it broke in half. But Nanc held the pieces together for one last picture.

And remember Sarah's first bowl, the one that was put in the oven three times? Here is what it finally ended up looking like.

How cool is that? So in all, we made 8 dishes. (Or 10 if you count Sarah's first two attempts at her bowl.) We learned a few things along the way and had a blast trying different techniques. And if anyone out there is still reading this forever-long post, here are two more pictures too cute to not be included. My niece Greta with grandma and grandpa.

Thanks for a wonderful Christmas day, girls!