Homemade Tootsie Rolls are Fun and Easy to Make With the Kids! (2024)

September 30, 2020 By Brandy 31 Comments

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Did you know that you can make homemade Tootsie Rolls out of basic baking ingredients! It’s true! Baking cocoa, powdered sugar, dry milk, vanilla, and corn syrup. They are a fun and easy treat to make with the kids.

If you like making your own candy you NEED to try our homemade butterfingersor homemade marshmallows!

Homemade Tootsie Rolls are Fun and Easy to Make With the Kids! (1)

Watch our step by step video!

These homemade Tootsie Rolls are always a hit with kids! Fun and easy to make, and they make a lot! I searched for a recipe that used baking cocoa (because that’s what I had on hand vs. baking chocolate) and also a recipe that needed to be warmed up. I thought it might help create a smooth dough. Couldn’t ever find one. So I used several different recipes to come up with these. The texture was just right. Slightly softer than regular Tootsie Rolls (which have a pretty hard texture), but still smooth and firm. Especially when pulled right out of the refrigerator.

These Tootsie Rolls are SO yummy. My kids say they taste like brownies—-nice and chocolatey.

What people are saying about these tootsie rolls

“Thank you for posting this. I made them last night and everyone that I have given them too, LOVED them.”

“First time making these and we liked them better than the storebought ones!”

Tootsie Roll Ingredients

baking cocoa
vanilla
powdered milk
butter
powdered sugar
corn syrup

How To Make Tootsie Rolls

The ingredients are pretty basic and the process is super simple. If your kids like playing with play-doh they will love making their own Tootsie Rolls! The dough can be formed into fun shapes and is super easy to work with!

The first thing you’ll do is heat the butter, baking cocoa, and corn syrup in a saucepan. It doesn’t need to boil or simmer, it just needs to come together. The butter will melt and combine with the cocoa and corn syrup to produce a smooth texture.
Stir in vanilla and powdered milk and remove from heat. I like using a dough whisk for this part, but a wooden spoon works too.
Then you need to thicken the mixture with powdered sugar. Start with 2 cups and stir it all together. It will be a thick and sticky dough.
Transfer the dough to the work surface (covered in powdered sugar) and add more powdered sugar (about 1/2 cup) on top of the dough. Knead until the sugar has been mixed in and you have a soft, workable dough. You might need a little more sugar to accomplish this.
Roll out Tootsie Roll dough into long ropes and cut with a knife or pizza cutter.
Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper and chill for an hour.

You can let them come to room temperature before eating, but we like ours cold. I wrap mine in parchment paper to keep them from sticking to each other.

Homemade Tootsie Rolls will keep for about 2 weeks if stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

3 More Candy Recipes To Make

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Homemade Tootsie Roll Recipe

Homemade Tootsie Rolls

Did you know that you can make homemade Tootsie Rolls out of basic baking ingredients! It’s true! Baking cocoa, powdered sugar, dry milk, vanilla and corn syrup. They are a fun and easy treat to make with the kids.

5 from 11 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute minute

chill: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 16 minutes minutes

Servings: 75 pieces

Calories: 28kcal

Ingredients

6 Tbsp. Baking cocoa
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
3/4 cup Powdered Milk
2 Tbsp. Butter
3 cups Powdered Sugar divided
1/2 cup Corn Syrup

Instructions

In a sauce pan (on med) heat butter, cocoa, and corn syrup until smooth and melted.
Stir in the powdered milk and the vanilla extract. Remove from heat.
Add a cup of the powdered sugar and stir until it is incorporated. Once that sugar is mixed in, add a second cup of powdered sugar and stir to mix. At this point the dough will start getting stiff and it might be difficult to stir more powdered sugar into the candy.
Dust your work surface with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and knead the candy until it is smooth. If it is still very soft, knead in a little more powdered sugar until it is firm but not dry or crumbly.
The dough might be a little sticky, but it dries as you work with it so I just sprayed my hands with a little cooking spray to keep the dough from sticking and I didn’t have any issues.
Once the homemade Tootsie Roll candy is smooth and a firm, break off a small piece and roll it into a long, thin rope. Using a sharp knife, cut it into small pieces and place them on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat until you have formed all of the Tootsie Roll dough into small pieces. We ended up with over 75 pieces.
Refrigerate the tray of Tootsie Rolls until they firm up, for about 1 hour. Wrap the homemade Tootsie Rolls in waxed paper to keep them from sticking to each other.

Notes

Homemade Tootsie Rolls will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. I like them cold, but you can bring them to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 28kcal

Brandy

Website | + posts

Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!

Reader Interactions

Comments

LaVonne @ Long Wait says
October 3, 2011 at 3:18 am
Thanks for sharing this one. I love it. I pinned it to my “Foods to Die For” board on Pinterest and tweeted it on Twitter.
Happy Week!
Reply
Lindy@Itsy Bitsy Paper says
October 3, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Oh my goodness these are awesome! I hope you will link up this recipe to my Wickedly Creative Halloween Ideas Party.
http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com
Reply
Stephanie says
October 3, 2011 at 3:43 pm
This is great, I can’t wait to give it a try, thanks for the idea.
Reply
Emily says
October 4, 2011 at 3:53 am
Wow! Thanks for sharing this! We will definitely be making Homemade Tootsie Rolls this year.
Reply
Analog Girl says
October 4, 2011 at 6:13 am
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I have Pinned this so that I can make these. My husband loves the fruit flavored versions of Tootsie Rolls. Do you have any ideas on how to make those?
Reply
- karie says
  February 22, 2014 at 2:51 pm
  Take dehydrated fruit and grind it to flour consistency. Replace cocoa with it. Might have to play around with the amounts for the flavor.could also add a little fruit flavorings for baking/candy making. I made apple this way
  Reply
  - Brandy says
    February 24, 2014 at 11:19 am
    That is an awesome tip and would be a great natural substitute, thanks!!
    Reply
Kathryn Michelle Jenkins says
October 4, 2011 at 6:14 pm
what a great treat and tutorial! look so fun. take care!
kathryn
http://www.thedragonsfairytail.blogspot.com
Reply
See Also
What the heck do I use cream of tartar for?
Alexa says
October 4, 2011 at 7:22 pm
This is genius! I have to send the recipe to my nephew. This is the only candy he likes! Now he can make his own!!!
I’d love it if you linked up to my blog hop Terrorific Tuesdays!
http://swelldesigner.blogspot.com/2011/10/terrorific-tuesday-blog-hop-time.html
Reply
Kristens Creations says
October 6, 2011 at 4:13 am
So glad you posted this recipe! I didn’t even know there was a recipe on how to make tootsie rolls…good to know! So glad you joined the party! Kristen
Reply
Emily says
October 6, 2011 at 8:02 pm
What a fun idea! I’m definitely going to try this soon.
Reply
The Answer Is Chocolate says
October 8, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Your site is proving very dangerous for me! These are great!!
Reply
Christa says
October 10, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Thanks for the recipe! I love Tootsie Rolls, but they’re still a little hard for my teeth. These should be perfect. 🙂
Reply
Mao Mao says
October 11, 2011 at 8:51 am
They seem yummy 🙂
maomaocrafts,blogspot.com
Reply
Abby says
October 11, 2011 at 4:58 pm
mmmmm my mouth is watering!
Reply
The Stuff of Success says
October 11, 2011 at 8:40 pm
These look great – feel free to share at the Success U – Wednesday Linkup Party at http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com. Who can resist tootsie rolls!
Reply
Emily says
October 12, 2011 at 5:47 am
oh yum!!! Looks so delicious! Would love for you to come over and link up to my Tasty Tuesday party. http://nap-timecreations.blogspot.com/
Reply
orangepflege says
October 12, 2011 at 6:48 am
WoW! that looks very good.. thanks for posting.=D
Buy WoW Accounts
Reply
Karyn - Pint Sized Baker says
October 17, 2011 at 12:16 am
Just found you through “Skip to my Lou” and I love the idea of homemade Tootsie Rolls! This is Great!
Reply
lovecrafts says
October 18, 2011 at 7:43 am
So fun! i love it, thanks for sharing.
Reply
S says
January 30, 2012 at 9:44 pm
Found you on Pinterest. Cannot believe how easy and delish these were. Regular Tootsies are loaded with hydrogenated gook and don’t even resemble what they once were. May even attempt Tootsie Pops!
A one, a two….. lol
Reply
- Nick says
  November 4, 2023 at 7:18 am
  Do you have a suggestion if I want to make the vanilla flavored Tootsie rolls? Perhaps replace cocoa powder with milk powder to keep the same amount of powder?
  Reply
  - Brandy says
    November 4, 2023 at 9:08 am
    Oh, that’s a great question. The vanilla ones are delicious. The powder would work for the consistency, but I’m wondering about the flavor. The cocoa powder gives a ton of flavor to the chocolate ones, I’m wondering what to add (besides vanilla extract) to boost the vanilla flavoring. Do you think the extract would be enough?
    Reply
MoonCat says
March 5, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Absolutely delicious – I found it easier to maneuver the candy when mixing in the second cup of powdered sugar with my hands, and next time will probably use a little less as they seem a little tiny bit ‘grainy’ this time – but I will most definitely make them again!!
Reply
Brandy says
March 5, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Mooncat: GREAT! I am so glad they turned out for you. Thanks for letting me know!
Brandy
Gluesticks
Reply
Carissa Rasmussen says
September 24, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I love tootsie rolls; never thought about making them myself! Thanks for the inspiration
Reply
Sarah says
September 24, 2012 at 8:47 pm
This could be a dangerous recipe, they wouldn’t last very long in my house but what a fantastic idea. If you get a chance I would love for you to link up at my Pin Party.
http://sarahdawndesigns.blogspot.com/2012/09/pintastic-monday-link-party-10.html#.UGC99K4-WnA
Reply
Eric and Tabitha McCoy says
September 24, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Thank you for posting this. I made them last night and everyone that I have given them too, LOVED them. My husband wants me to make some fruit flavored ones now. Not sure how to do it. So if anyone has a recipe to do them, please let me know. Thanks,
Tabitha
Reply
anon says
January 21, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Looks great! Any ideas on a sugar-free version?
Reply
Darcy says
January 27, 2014 at 3:51 am
I had success making tootsie like things by using chocolate chip and Karo- basically chocolate chips in a modeling chocolate recipe (which usually uses white chocolate).
You might be able to make modeling chocolate (candy clay) with white chocolate and fruit flavor/color it for a fruity version.
Reply