½ cup to 1 cup honey (honestly any amount would do probably)
Candy thermometer (optional)
Lollipop sticks
Lollipop mold (although if you do not have a mold you could make free form lollipops by pouring the honey over the stick on a non-stick surface)
Cook-
Pour honey into small saucepan and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and bring honey to a boil. If using candy thermometer, insert in and continue to stir the honey until it has reached a temperature of 300 degrees. Remove from heat and move to test phase. If not using the candy thermometer then continue cooking and occasionally test. Just don’t wait too late to test; testing too early is better then testing too late.
Test –
To make sure your honey has reached the right consistency, place a drop or two of honey into a cup of ice water. If the honey turns and stays hard (like a hard candy) then you are good to go. If it is still soft then you need to keep cooking a bit longer.
Making the Lollipops –
With Molds- Grease lollipop molds and insert sticks so that they are ready in the mold. Pour honey into mold and let cool at room temperature. (No cheating and putting them into the fridge. It won’t work)
Without Molds- Lay lollipop sticks on a greased non-stick surface such as a silicone mat or parchment/wax paper. Carefully pour honey over each stick, creating a free form lollipop.
Making Cough Drops sans sticks-
Instead of making lollipops, you can of course make regular cough drops. You can purchase cough drop molds or any small mold will work. I used my lollipop mold to try out my cough drops and it worked fine. You could also create free form cough drops just like the free form lollipops. Same instructions apply; pour honey into mold or onto a greased non-stick surface and let cool.
I was SO excited to find this on Pinterest. Brandon has had a cough for about 2 weeks now and is pediatrician said to give him straight honey to help coat his throat and stop the coughing. I tried putting some on my finger and having him lick it off and he only had like 3 licks. Then I tried giving him a spoonful of it and he just gagged. He loves suckers so I knew this would be a winner. Yay!!
