Notes
Honey is not necessary; you can use corn syrup instead, but this will result in a slightly less candy-corn flavour.
However, do not leave out both the honey and corn syrup. They are necessary for making a dough, as well as for preventing crystallization.
I have not tried substituting butter with a vegan alternative, but if you don’t want to use butter, a fat with a similar consistency, like coconut oil, should work fine, though it may affect the flavor.
The powdered sugar needs to be powdered. If it isn’t, you will have a large sticky mess.
The salt is optional, but I find a pinch helps bring out the flavor.
Do not forget the powdered milk!!! I tried leaving it out once, and the result was disastrous. It needs to be powdered, not liquid. Sweetened condensed milk will work okay in a pinch, but, although the flavour will stay constant, the candy will be extremely soft and goey. This could possibly be remedied by raising the temperature 5F or so, but buying the powdered milk is well worth the effort. The only working substitute that I’ve found is soy protein powder. If you use it, you will still have a nice dough, but it will be thicker and have a soy-ish taste to it. It will also tend to be brittle.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup white cane sugar, not powdered
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered cane sugar
- 1/16 tsp or a large pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp powdered milk
- food coloring, red and yellow for traditionnal candy corn, or any colours you like
Instructions
- Make sure there is enough water in the botton of the pot to wet it entirely. Without some water, your sugar will burn.
- Measure your cane sugar, corn syrup, honey, butter, and vanilla into the pot. When you measure the syrup and honey, don’t worry about the bit that stays on the measuring spoon. You will have enough of the syrup and honey without scraping it.
- For measuring the butter, the paper wrapping should have tablespoons marked on it, so cut it there, or just scoop it with the spoon.
- Now that all your ingredients are together, stir them together a bit. This should result in a bit of a slush. Clip on the candy thermometer.
- You’ll need a burner slightly smaller than the bottom of the pan. Turn the flame to a high-medium-ish setting. The slush will become liquid quickly, so stir frequently and check the temperature constantly. If you smell burning or see any darker colouring, turn the heat down, stir a whole lot, and hope that the sugar’s still fine.
- The mixture will bubble a lot. This is normal. The colour should be a very light caramel, like in the picture.
- It takes about 3 minutes for the sugar to reach 250F (120C), but don’t rely on the time. Watch the thermometer intently as the temperature rises. As soon as it reaches 250F (not 250C) turn the stove off. If the sugar reached 255F, don’t panic, you might be fine. If the sugar reached 275F, you’re probably going to have to start over and pay better attention.
- Now, take the sifter and add the 1tbsp powdered milk, 5/8cup powdered sugar, and pinch of salt
- The milk and sugar shouldn’t be light and fluffy in the spoon, but neither should they be packed down. Just reach the spoon into the container and leave it at that.
- Stick the sifter directly on top of the pot so any powder sifted through will land on the sugar. Pour these ingredients onto the sifter, and mash/twirl them through. Remove the sifter, and stir. You will have a pale caramel dough. Stir until you have an even consistency without clumps.
- Pour about 1/4 cup powdered sugar into whichever bowl doesn’t have the measuring cups and candy thermometer.
- With the spoon, pry the dough off the pot and into the bowl. coat the top of the dough with a thin layer of powdered sugar. If the dough isn’t burning to the touch, knead it until it is firm enough to make as many balls as colors (usually 3. I made two sets of corn, so i hade 4 small balls and one large one.)
- Divide the dough into the balls, and grab your food colours.
- Poke a hole in each ball and squeeze a couple drops food color ( 3 or 4) into the hole. Now, knead the dough until the colouring is evenly distributed ( or nicely marbled.) Your hands will probably be a nice bright orange or whatever colours you decided to use.
- Once you have your colored balls of dough, start rolling them out in your hands until they are about as long as the cookie sheet.
- Stick the rolls together in whatever order you want, and squish and stretch them until you have a long rope of candy.
- Smooth the ropes together by pressing lightly to join them together.
- Start cutting the ropes into cand-corn sized pieces with a medium, non-serrated knife.
- Every other piece will have a white tip. If you want them all to have white tips, experiment with a bull’s eye formation for cutting (small circle of white, surrounded by ropes of orange and yellow).
- Keep cutting until you have only candy corn. By the time this step is halfway done, your hands will probably be a bit stiff. Take a break and eat some candy.
Recipe and Photo: Cereleste on instructables / CC BY-SA (You can also view her page to get step by step photos of the process.)
