# How to melt boiled sweets

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## Summary

Boiled sweets melt in a hot oven into clear, coloured sugar glass. The classic way is stained glass biscuits: crush the sweets, fill the windows and bake.

## Description

Boiled sweets are sugar that has been boiled until almost all the water is gone, then cooled into a hard, clear glass. They are nearly 100% sugar, with only a little colour and flavour. Heat them again and that glass softens and flows, which is what makes them fun to melt: see how are boiled sweets made?
A word on safety
Melted sugar is extremely hot, and it stays hot for a while after it comes out of the oven. An adult should handle the oven and the trays, and everyone should let the sweets cool completely before touching them.
Crush them first
Both recipes here crush the sweets first. Nottinghamshire County Council's school meals recipe separates the sweets by colour, puts each colour in its own plastic bag and bashes them with a rolling pin until they are in small pieces. Keeping the colours apart keeps each window bright.
Stained glass biscuits
This is the classic way to melt boiled sweets. The council's version makes Christmas decorations that can be hung on the tree.
Make and cut the biscuits. Roll out a biscuit dough and cut out shapes. Cut a smaller shape out of the middle of each one, to make a window.Fill the windows. Put about half a teaspoon of crushed sweets into each window, on a lined baking tray.Bake. Bake at 180°C, 160°C fan, or gas mark 4. The Great British Bake Off's recipe bakes them for 7 to 8 minutes, and the council's for 8 to 12 minutes, until the biscuits are golden and the sweets have melted.Cool. Leave them on the tray for about 10 minutes, then cool them completely before moving them, as the melted sugar needs time to set.
If you want to hang them up, make a small hole near the top of each biscuit before baking, and thread ribbon through once they are cool.
Why they set like glass
Sweets like these are non crystalline: the sugar sets as a smooth, clear mass rather than as crystals. As the melted sugar cools, it sets hard and see through again, which is why the windows look like stained glass: see what are boiled sweets?
Keeping them clear
Sugar glass takes up water from the air, so melted sweet windows can turn sticky in a damp kitchen. Keep finished biscuits in an airtight tin: see how long do sweets last?

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