Bugs with lots of legs and waving antennae can be kind of creepy, unless those legs are licorice! Candy bugs are similar to candy jewelry in that they use lots of candy string and stained glass, but the results are deliciously creepy-crawly. Make these centipedes and millipedes at your Halloween party for a delicious treat!

Candy Centipedes and Millipedes

For the Candy Bodies: 

Caramel string or licorice string (such as Twizzler’s Pull-n-Peel)

Life Savers or other round candy with a hole

Mini Dots or other small round candy

For the Royal Icing Glue:

1 egg white

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

What to Do:

1. For the Royal Icing Glue: With a hand mixer, beat the egg white and lemon juice until frothy. With the mixer at medium speed, gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the mixture is thick. Then turn the mixer to high and beat icing until the mixture is thick and glossy, about 3 minutes. Cover the surface with plastic wrap while waiting to use it.
2. Cut a length of caramel or licorice string and tie a knot gently in one end of the string, just big enough to keep the candy from falling off. Use another string (of a different color, if desired) to cut several strands about 3″ long to serve as legs.
3. Start sliding Life Savers loosely onto the main string, varying the colors to make a pattern, or stringing them on in a motley array. After every three Life Savers, tie one of the leg strings around the central string, leaving the ends hanging downward. Then push the Life Savers up against it and continue until your critter is as long as you like.
4. When you reach the end, knot the string gently again, being careful not to pull so hard that you break it.
5. Select one end for the front, and use a dab of royal icing to glue on two Mini Dot eyes. Use a toothpick to dab royal icing pupils on the eyes. Tie additional string just behind the head to serve as antennae, but turn this knot so that the strands point upward.
6. Trim the legs so that they’re even, to give a better impression of waving centipede legs.

Excerpted from Sharon Bowers’ Candy Construction (Storey Publishing).