Lollipops
Today, I am going to talk about failure; my failure at making these dead-simple lollipops that I found a video for on YouTube.
How hard could it be? You place hard candies onto pop sticks and bake for less than 5 minutes. They come out looking like something from Dr. Seuss, but in a completely loving way.
This is NOT what happened.
After carefully lining up the recommended 5 Jolly Rancher candies on each Popsicle stick, I lifted the tray and promptly dumped them off again.
Did you know that the candies were not all flat on each side? They don’t exactly match up, no matter what the woman on YouTube says. 
So, I replace the candies and very (VERY) slowly bring them to the oven, while the children watch, breathlessly. It was so helpful when they would let me know that one or two pieces of candy fell off again, mom.
Third time’s the charm, and into the oven they went. Set the timer and wait. Even the 3 yr old can manage to wait 4 minutes, right? DING! 4 minutes. No melting. 5 minutes, perhaps a bit of shine indicating that the candy might melt after all. 6 minutes, OK now they we are getting somewhere. 7 minutes, what’s that bubbling sound?
Yep, they were too melted and the sticks were floating in a pool of molten sugar.
REALLY?
Starting over again, it took tow more tries before I was able to get a few into the oven. By this time, the kids figured that it was a lost cause and left the kitchen.
5 minutes later, no one else was there to behold the misshapen, slightly scary looking pops I managed to make. My shortcut lollipops are a failure. The kids enjoyed the brittle glass-like candy that shattered when they nibbled the tiniest bites, but I am not impressed.
It’s not the lollipops. It’s me.
Amy Jeanroy, 2013
this just made me laugh out loud … thanks for sharing your misadventures. Goodness knows we have ‘em all the time