One of my favorite little details from our Pink Pig Party were the pigtail candy cane twists. I used an easy tutorial to shape leftover Christmas candy canes. Here are a few extra tips and the easy trick to making the pigtails!

This idea is based on a tutorial from Frosting and a Smile. Be sure to visit her blog to see her candy cane garland. The technique is simple.

Supplies

• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Candy canes
• New pencils

Instructions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Bake your candy canes for 4 minutes. My tip is to only bake a few candy canes at a time because they cool quickly. Once they start to cool, they can crack.

2. When you pull the candy canes out of the oven, wait about 30 seconds for the candy canes to cool a bit. They will still be hot, so you have to be a little tough and work quickly.

Now here’s my “twist” (yuck, yuck). Take a clean pencil and wrap your candy around it about three times. You are only wrapping the top third of the candy cane.

3. Keep the pencil in the candy cane for a few minutes to let the shape set up. Then slide the pencil out, and put the candy cane on a non-stick surface to cool completely. Don’t put the candy cane back on the baking sheet, because you don’t want the heat to melt the shape.

4. Bake your next batch of candy canes until you have the number you want.