How To Crush Candy Canes
When the holiday season comes, I always know there will be plenty of candy canes in the house for the kids and food decorated with crushed candy canes.
So, learn how to crush candy canes without scattering them all over the place below.
How To Crush Candy Canes
Here are some simple and easy ways to crush candy canes.
- Firstly, it is important to ensure that all the candy canes are hard enough, so they can easily be broken. If you have left them throughout the holiday season without proper storing methods, it is likely that your candy canes are slightly melted and soft, making them difficult to be crushed into small candy cane pieces.
- Frozen candies are more brittle and less sticky, perfect for crushing candy without any mess or a sticky surface. Therefore, you can put them all in the freezer for a few hours to prepare them.
- Secondly, I put all the candy canes inside a resealable plastic bag, heavy-duty zip-close bag, or freezer bag to prevent any flying piece of candy while I’m working on the candy.
- If you don’t have a freezer bag or resealable bag, you can also use two sandwich bags, with one bag wrapped by the other. You should not let too much air inside the bag as it can easily be popped when you use force on it.
Tools to Use to Crush Candy Canes
Take a look below at a few of the tools you can use to crush candy canes with, most of which are common household tools you may have on hand.
Use A Meat Mallet / Rubber Mallet / Rolling Pin / Hammer
A meat mallet is a great tool for tenderizing meat, but they are also the best way to crush candy canes. This method will help you get your desired size, whether small candy cane pieces or dust-like consistency.
If you want to protect your counter from damages, you can also place the bag inside two towels. They are super helpful in minimizing the damage and noise during the process.
Once you’re ready, take out the best tool you have and use them at the side to smash. With a decent force, you can achieve the crushed candy in just a few minutes.
Use A Pestle And Mortar
This is another plausible tool to crush candy canes if you only have it at home. However, it is not made for a large batch of candy, so you need to separate them into fewer candy canes at one time to use this method.
Take those frozen candy canes out of the freezer and fill them in the mortar. Then you can use the pestle and smash the candy into small pieces with a weak but consistent force.
Use A Food Processor/Blender
If you prefer a powder consistency with zero physical force, using a food processor or blender is the best answer for how to crush peppermint candy.
To use this method effectively, the candy must be hard and brittle so it can’t stick to the blade of the food processor.
The last thing you want to do is cleaning a food processor with candy sticking all over the blades.
Therefore, it is best that you have frozen the candy beforehand to strengthen its brittle stage. Usually, I tend to add powdered sugar into the processor for extra carefulness.
Some food processors/blenders might use a weak material like plastic which is not produced for this action. So, if you don’t want your blade to be worn down quicker, you can break the candy canes first into a manageable size.
Once you’re ready, you can use pulse mode to pulverize the candy canes.
If you can’t imagine how this actually works, I’ve found a great video that shows perfectly how a food processor crushes candy canes here:
Video: Food processor
Use A Coffee Grinder
If you have only used a coffee grinder for grinding coffee, it is time for you to add more tasks to this useful machine. As candy canes are just as hard as coffee beans, you can be certain that crushing candy canes will not damage this machine.
A coffee grinder can not only break the candy canes into small pieces, but it can also turn them into finely ground candy, which you can use to substitute sugar, for example.
Like a food processor, put those frozen canes into the coffee grinder and set up the coarseness you prefer.
How To Use Crushed Candy Cane
You can use crushed candies for different things, but the most common way is using them as dessert toppings.
Hot cocoa or hot chocolate cups with a minty flavor of candy canes will be a creative way to spice up a classic hot chocolate recipe. The creamy and hot chocolate melts candy pieces into sweet notes lingering on your tongue.
If you love the crunchy textures on desserts like brownies, you can also decorate them with crushed candy canes. The soft and creamy texture of the cake combined with the crunchy and winter flavor of candy canes will be a fun dessert experience.
How To Store Crushed Candy Cane?
Candy canes will not stay the same texture if you don’t know how to store them properly. If they are in direct sunlight, the crushed peppermint will melt and become big clumps.
The simplest way to store crushed candy canes pieces is by placing them in a cool and dark area like a kitchen cupboard or in the refrigerator. It is important to keep them in an airtight container, like a glass jar.
