Recipe: Cinnamon-Apple Lollipops

Cinnamon-Apple Lollipops
The warm flavor of cinnamon can be savored for a long time with this homemade lollipop. Look for cinnamon oil at most drugstores.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil, preferably canola
10 large cinnamon sticks, 2 to 2 1/2 inches long
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon oil
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons apple juice concentrate

Brush vegetable oil evenly over a baking sheet. With a large chef's knife, cut each cinnamon stick in half, lengthwise along the groove between the two curled edges. Arrange the cinnamon sticks on the prepared baking sheet and set aside. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon oil and water; bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Clip a candy thermometer to the pan and boil until the temperature reaches 300 degrees or a hard-crack stage (when a bit of the syrup dropped into ice water turns hard and brittle). This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in apple juice concentrate. Return saucepan to high heat and cook, stirring, until thoroughly combined. Continue cooking, swirling the pan just until the mixture begins to bubble; be careful not to let it burn. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the cinnamon extract. Ladle a golf ball-sized amount of syrup mixture onto each cinnamon stick and let set for about 10 minutes until cool. When lollipops have set, carefully loosen them from the baking sheet. (The lollipops can be stored in an airtight container, with wax paper between.) Use colored plastic wrap to cover the lollipops.