Valentine's Day

Port Wine Lollipop Recipe

Red wine is an unexpected ingredient to incorporate into desserts. These lollipops were created with Port wine, but you can experiment with your favorite variety of red.

By Heather Baird, Sprinkle Bakes
Filed under: Recipes, Valentine's Day

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Ingredients and Materials

1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons Port wine
3 tablespoons corn syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoons kosher salt
12 lollipop sticks
gold luster dust (optional)
hard candy lollipop molds or a silicone mat
lollipop sticks
candy thermometer

Directions

1. Bring red wine to a simmer in a small saucepan (Image 1). Simmer wine until reduced to 1/3 cup. This should take about 20-25 minutes. Remove from stovetop and let cool completely.
2. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and wine reduction. Stir until combined.
3. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
4. Stir occasionally with a heatproof spatula until all sugar granules have dissolved.
5. Boil until candy temperature registers 298-310 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
6. Remove from heat and fill greased lollipop molds with the hot candy.
7. Place lollipop sticks in the stick crevices and rotate until the stick is coated in the hot candy. Alternatively, you may also drop the hot candy from a spoon onto a silicone mat or parchment paper, making two- to three-inch disks and leaving room to place — and rotate — the lollipop sticks.
8. Allow the lollipops to harden completely.
9. These are best if you wait a day to consume them, as this gives the red wine flavor plenty of time to develop.
10. Embellish with luster dust (Image 2), if desired, and store between sheets of parchment paper in an airtight container.