I’m a big fan of doing things once and doing it big enough that I don’t have to think about it for a while. You know, kind of the point of this blog. So, I had the bright idea this summer to expand my candy making to a bulk sized endeavor. The small batches were a big hit, but time intensive. I don’t have tons of spare time to be standing around in my kitchen watching sugar boil (as I’m sure many of you can relate to!) so bulk is the way to go.
The original recipe was 1 cup of water and 1 cup of xylitol. Bring to a hard boil for 12 minutes (or 310*F) and tada! Candy! That seemed to work well for the small batches. There were always some candies that didn’t harden, and some of them turned out a bit crumbly, but no one really cared much. So, I increased my recipe by 4.
Well, let’s just say that this plan didn’t really come together how I envisioned it. First of all, it took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. for the xylitol to come to the right temperature. Then, I discovered that you don’t add flavoring to candy when it is at temperature. Bad idea!!! The difference in temperatures cause the intended mix to spatter and it can burn you! DON’T DO IT! Don’t worry – I’ll tell you the safe way to do this in a minute. The third issue that occurred with my bulk attempt is that some candies hardened beautifully, some never hardened, and some were like crystal shards – not really what one expects when one thinks of HARD candy… It was quite mysterious, and obviously needed more thought.
I started playing around with the xylitol candy recipe (as I do, when things don’t turn out just how I want them) and have discovered that the original recipe I linked to isn’t the best way to make it. The original recipe used xylitol and water, and then boiled off the water to make the candies. After much research, also known as reading candy cookbooks (yum!), I decided to skip the water as an ingredient altogether. As it turns out the wide variety of textures in my bulk candy experiment were because of the various amounts of water in the solution. The really crumbly candies were poured first, and the hard candies were poured at the end when the water had finally boiled off.
So, to make your xylitol candy, you will need to slowly melt some xylitol in a small pan. In this case slow is better – so you don’t burn the xylitol before it melts. When the temperature reaches “hard crack” (which is about 310*, or if you drip some into cold water, it forms threads that will crack when you try to mold them) pour the xylitol into your candy mold, or drip it onto parchment paper and let it harden.
As I said earlier, DON’T add the flavoring when the candy mixture is at its hottest – it will spatter and burn you! Wait for the xylitol to cool some (to about 270* or so) before adding the flavoring. You will still have plenty of time to take advantage of the fluidity of your candy before it hardens.
Food Allergies On Ice 
Jan 04, 2013 @ 16:37:16
Thanks for sharing your xylitol method. I’ve been experimenting with xylitol candies for a few months now, and figured out a lot of what you have. I was still getting crumbly candies half the time. I think now, I’ve just about perfected a fool-proof xylitol candy recipe. These come out quite hard, and don’t shatter or dissolve too quick when you put them in your mouth.
Xylitol Hard Candies
– Melt xylitol in a pan with just enough water to keep it from burning (~1 Tsp).
– In a seperate, heat-proof bowl, add just enough boiling water to dissolve 1 packet of unflavoured gelatin. Add mint essence and food colouring.
– Continue to boil xylitol until you’ve cooked out the water (bubbles should slow down or stop forming, but before it starts to brown).
– Take xylitol off heat, and let cool a bit (otherwise it’ll boil up the gelatin mixture because it’s so hot)
– Slowly stir melted xylitol into gelatin mixture.
– Drip onto parchment paper (I find wax paper sticks). If you have no patience, you can just pour out into one big blob, and crack into shards afterwards.
Jan 16, 2013 @ 11:54:57
Interesting about the gelatin. How did you decide to start using gelatin?
I’ve been looking at silicone molds for candy. The perfectionist side of me likes to have things uniform.
Jan 17, 2013 @ 18:43:36
On the gelatin, first I tried making xylitol gumdrops, which I didn’t like at all, but when they dried out a bit, the corners got hard and dissolved slowly in my mouth, so I thought I’d try the recipe again, but left out all the water, and ended up with smooth, hard candies, with just the right texture.
I’ve also been looking for a candy mold. I’m interested in the mini ice cube mold on Amazon, but I’m waiting till I can get it in the US, since it’s cheaper than to Canada.
Jan 21, 2013 @ 08:54:25
I picked up a mini-ice cube tray with silicone as a base for the cubes at my local grocery store. It works pretty well, as long as I only fill the silicone part.
I’ll try the gelatin trick on my next batch and let you know how it goes!
Jun 10, 2014 @ 23:55:43
Moara, would you share the measurements? My daughter really wants to make this. She loves Ice Chips but they are so expensive. Thank you!
Apr 27, 2013 @ 17:53:50
@moara and all: I tried to make the candies, but they got too soft. Could you please add how much of all ingridents you use…?
Apr 29, 2013 @ 09:18:44
My original recipe called for 1 cup of xylitol. I haven’t experimented with the gelatin yet. The kids are telling me I need to make more candy, though, so I might do that this week.
Sep 24, 2014 @ 01:36:10
I did a fair bit of reading to see how other people made theirs, then just did what I thought might work with what I had. I heated the xylitol on low until it melted, added peppermint essential oil, then poured it into a panand was disappointed that it stayed sticky and translucent. So I picked it up and started pulling it like taffy – hey presto, it went white, and hardened quite quickly after that! Funnily enough it also got quite warm as it hardened, so I’m guessing there was some sort of chemical reaction from the pulling.
Tip: keep it in the fridge for a while before starting to pull to make it easier to handle. No need to heat to a high temperature it or add anything else.
Dec 17, 2014 @ 00:33:17
I read the article and appreciate all that you learned and shared. But I did not see the recipe. Just that you used 1 cup of xylitol and another time you used 4 cups. Where you saying that if I put plain xylitol in a sauce pan on low, that it will melt? I am trying to find a recipe that will make a syrup (like for hard candy) that I can use for making sugar free Divinity. Do you have any good idea’s for that? I am allergic to cane sugar and I love Xylitol.
Aug 21, 2015 @ 23:17:09
Goodness, I left you hanging didn’t I? I am so sorry! The original recipe was in the second paragraph: 1 cup each of xylitol and water. So far, small batches are my go-to approach.
As far as making Divinity, if you try the xylitol please let me know how it works out!
Jan 14, 2016 @ 10:12:55
Hi! I have been messing around with different recipes as well just since ice chips are so expensive! The issue i keep having is that the mints dont ever get hard. I left them out to dry for over 24 hours and when i bite into it…it just is soft? I am trying to make these xylitol mints into little balls (so that they actually look like mints) instead of the little shards (pretty much how ice chips look). in your picture above you have little drops and i was wondering how you did that and if they tasted ok? if i poured it into a mold it would pretty much stick to it since its like a syrup! Any advice at all would help! Thanks a ton!!
Apr 16, 2016 @ 09:03:07
The candies in the picture were made by dripping the xylitol syrup on a piece of parchment paper that was laid in a cookie sheet. I have since purchased ice cube trays that have a silicone base. Now I can just invert the tray and pop the candies out.
Though, full disclosure, there have also been some major life changes in my home and I no longer have time to make these. My kids are sad.
Mar 21, 2017 @ 21:11:02
Is there no way to have soft/chewy candy made from xylitol?
Mar 26, 2017 @ 16:04:16
Hi Phoenix!
I’m sure there must be. I confess I haven’t been making much candy lately.
I’ll poke around and see what I can find for you!