We love everything about this time of the year…sitting by the fire, drinking hot cocoa, gift giving (and receiving! hehe), cheerful music, the hustle and bustle, decorating, cookie-making, and the list could go on and on! We decided we’re going to start our healthy diet after the New Year, because no way are we passing on all the holiday treats! This year we’ll have to add these caramel reindeer candies to the list of goodies we plan to devour. They’re almost too cute to eat, but somehow we’ll manage!

These little Rudolph sweets are made of caramel, sprinkles, and Pocky sticks, and look adorable on cupcakes, but would be a darling addition to your gingerbread house as well! They even look cute standing alone as a sweet treat at your Christmas, ugly sweater, office, wrapping, or cookie-decorating party. Santa might enjoy getting some reindeer candies with his cookies and milk this year, and the kids will have a blast making them!

• 2 Caramel squares
• Chocolate Pocky sticks
• Edible black sparkle gel
• 2 White confetti sprinkles
• 1 Jumbo red ball sprinkle
• White ball sprinkles
• 2 Brown Sprinkles
• Microwave
• Knife
• Toothpick

Step 1
Place two caramel squares on a microwave-safe plate, and heat for 5-7 seconds. Roll the two caramel squares into one big ball, and then tear off about 1/3, and roll the individual pieces into two balls.

Step 2
Take the smaller ball, and use your thumbs and pointer fingers to pinch two small pieces of the caramel into ears. Shape them so they look small and triangular, and then below the ears and in the middle of the ball, pinch out another piece to look like a nose. The caramel “face” actually looks like a fox, until you add the red sprinkle nose and antlers.

Step 3
Stick two brown sprinkles into the caramel between the ears, to look like antlers. Place your jumbo red sprinkle on the tip of the nose, and place the two white confetti sprinkles where you would like to put the eyes.

Step 4
Take the larger ball (body), and roll it into more of an oval than a circle. Pull out a tiny piece of caramel in the back, to look like a tail, and randomly place your little white ball sprinkles all over the reindeer’s back and sides.

Step 5
Cut your chocolate Pocky sticks into four ¾” pieces. Use a toothpick to pre-poke 4 leg holes on the bottom of the body. Twist the toothpick around to make the holes bigger than the toothpick, but slightly smaller than the width of the Pocky sticks. Try to space the front and back legs parallel to each other.

Step 6
Stick the cut ends of the Pocky stick legs into the holes. You may have to twist them to wiggle them in without breaking the sticks. You may even have to re-mold the caramel body a bit, or even push the caramel up around the legs to secure them in place.

Step 7
Push the head onto the front end of the caramel body, and then use your black sparkle gel to add small dots (pupils) on the white confetti sprinkle eyes.

Voilà! Your little reindeer is ready for the holidays. Merry Christmas!