Jolly Rancher Cotton Candy

The Red is Cherry Jolly Rancher and the Pink is watermelon Jolly Rancher

I have always loved cotton candy. It was one of my favorite treats as a child. I would always get it at fairs. I used to not like Cinnabon, shocking I know, but when my mom and sister would get Cinnabon at the mall I would always get cotton candy. Since it was the mall where my grandparents lived, I would ask them for cotton candy too whenever we went to their mall.  My favorite thing was when Walmart had the people selling cotton candy for Riley hospital. I would always buy a few bags. Of course you can buy prepacked cotton candy, but it’s not fluffy. It’s dense and packed in. I ended up buying a cotton candy maker a couple years ago. I loved using it and it was so easy to use. Fresh cotton candy whenever I want? Sign me up. I ended up storing it in the box in a locked cabinet on my balcony. I went to use it once and it was covered in ants. I didn’t want to chance having cotton candy like on the movie Shrek so I threw it away. I figured I would just get a new one because they weren’t very expensive. 

I learned about the hard candy cotton candy makers, at first I thought it was a sugar free cotton candy maker. That sounded gross to me. After not being able to find the exact same one I had, I finally looked in to it more and saw that you can really use hard candy. You can also use sugar floss. I bought some sugar floss on clearance this past summer in anticipation of having a new cotton candy maker. I started thinking about what kinds of hard candies I would use. I love Jolly Ranchers, especially the watermelon and cherry ones. So, I started dreaming of Jolly Rancher cotton candy.

I asked my mom for the Nostalgia Electrics Hard Candy Cotton Candy Maker for Christmas. She had a really hard time finding it, even though it had been in the stores for months. That was a must have gift this year I guess. She went to like ten different stores. I was able to find it on Target.com so I ordered it. I knew it wasn’t going to be there in time, which was fine. My mom wrapped up a package of cotton balls with a little chocolate bar taped on.  I was so excited when it arrived. 

  

My first attempt of making both flavors was not good. It was crunchy, I realized I was holding the sticks wrong. I immediately tested the sugars I had to see if it was the candy. Once I figured out how to hold the sticks again everything was great. I had already ate a bunch of cotton candy by this time so I didn’t want to attempt the Jolly Rancher cotton candy again that night. I decided to try again tonight using the proper extraction method.  It’s important for it to heat up in the directions. If you stop for a few minutes to take pictures between flavors, you should preheat it again for a bit. Maybe not the whole five minutes but you want it to be hot or it will not work properly. It worked and it’s so delicious! I need to buy some bulk Jolly Ranchers on Amazon. Just the cherry and watermelon. Jolly Rancher cotton candy is the best thing ever!

You are supposed to use two hard candies each time.  I did each flavor twice so this is four Jolly Ranchers worth. 

What is your favorite flavor of cotton candy? What's your favorite Jolly Rancher flavor.