Homemade Cough Drops & Cough Drop Lollipops

Skylar's has a little cough, so I decided to make some cough drop lollipops to give him in addition to the cough syrup. I found out how to make these and cough drops on The Pistachio Project blog. They are soooo easy to make! The only ingredient you need is Honey! I don't know about you but cough drop lollipop sounds a lot better to give a preschooler then the actually small cough drops that they can choke on. Plus you know exactly what your giving your child and family. For this I did buy 4" lollipop sticks, lollipop molds and candy molds from Joann's. But you don't have to. I wanted some fun mold for Skylar and wanted cough drops for my husband and myself.

Remember DO NOT give Infants under 1 year of age Honey!!!

Okay so here's how to make them:

Cough Drop Lollipops

1/2 - 1 Cups Organic Honey (Any amount would be good, Regular Honey works too)
Candy Thermometer (Optional)
Lollipop Sticks
Lollipop Molds (You don't need a mold, you can make free form lollipops by pouring the honey over the stick on a non-stick surface)

(Forgot to take a picture before I put it in the pot)

How To Cook
Pour honey into small saucepan & cook over low heat. Stir constantly & bring honey to a boil. If using candy thermometer, insert in & continue to stir the honey until it has reached a temperature of 300 degrees. Remove from heat & move to test phase. If not using the candy thermometer then continue cooking & occasionally test. Just don’t wait too late to test; testing too early is better then testing too late.

How To Test
To make sure your honey has reached the right consistency, place a drop or two of honey into a cup of ice water. If the honey turns & stays hard (like a hard candy) then you are good to go. If it is still soft then you need to keep cooking a bit longer.

Making the Lollipops

With Molds- Grease lollipop molds and insert sticks so that they are ready in the mold. Pour honey into mold & let cool at room temperature. (No cheating and putting them into the fridge. It won’t work)

Cough Drops

You can purchase cough drop molds or any small mold will work. You could also create free form cough drops just like the free form lollipops. Same instructions apply; pour honey into mold or onto a greased non-stick surface and let cool at room temperature. (No cheating and putting them into the fridge. It won’t work)

Add Ins

Now just plain honey is great but you can get really creative with these! You can add cinnamon or ginger or even use some essential oils such as lemon or menthol.