What a fun idea for the holidays!

Parchment paper

Heatproof bowl (I used a 6-inch metal bowl)

Vegetable oil

18 starlight mint candies

Scissors

Preheat the oven to 275°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Very generously grease the outside of the bowl with the oil.

Place one candy on the baking sheet.

Place in the oven for 2 to 2 1/5 minutes until the candy starts to look shiny and softens but doesn’t melt or sag.

Remove from the oven and place six candies around the heated candy, touching it.

Return to the oven and heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven as soon as the candies start to soften, but don’t let them melt.

Place eleven more candies around the circle on the baking sheet. (Try this step with nine or ten candies for a smaller bowl.)

Return to the oven for 7 minutes.

Remove and let cool for 1 minute. Quickly trim off some of the parchment paper.

With the candy still on the parchment paper, using a potholder, flip the candy onto the greased bowl and quickly center the middle candy on the bowl’s bottom. Shape the candy around the bowl, using the oven mitt to press the candies into one another. Remove the parchment paper and gently lift the peppermint bowl off the bowl (it should slide right off, but if it sticks, let the candies cool for another minute or two and gently pull them off).

To prevent the finished candy bowls from sticking to surfaces, place them on top of small circles of parchment paper.

Serve a scoop of ice cream topped with crushed peppermint in the tiny bowls. Or a pile of cookies in the larger ones!