The night of spooks and goblins is rapidly approaching. In addition to the pumpkin carving and costume making, you’ll want to give adequate attention to the food prep side of the event, especially if you’re having a party.
Toward that end, I recently came upon a recipe for that Halloween standby, candy corn, that might make a great project for you to work on with the little ones.
The recipe comes from Ron Silver, owner and chef of the TriBeCa restaurant Bubby’s. In addition to his time behind the stove, Chef Silver also paints (he has his own art studio) and has developed Azuca, a brand of sugar that contains CBD, the main ingredient in medical marijuana. In fact, in its original form, Silver’s candy corn recipe contains Azuca as one of its ingredients, but the recipe as it appears here has been modified.
Homemade Candy Corn
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 2 Tbsp + ½ tsp non-fat powdered milk
- 11 Tbsp granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light corn syrup
- 2½ Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp butter
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 drops each of yellow and orange gel food coloring
Directions
- In a food processor, blend together powdered sugar, salt and non-fat powdered milk until fully combined. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cover and cook on medium heat for 4 minutes. Add butter and bring the mixture to 203°F on a candy thermometer. Hold the mixture at this temperature for two minutes. Then remove saucepan from heat.
- With a heat-proof rubber spatula, stir in the powdered milk/powdered sugar/salt mixture and vanilla extract to sugar mixture. Make sure ingredients are well combined.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat and pour candy corn dough on to it. Let cool 10-15 minutes (or until cool enough to handle).
- Divide dough into three equal parts. Leave ⅓ of the dough white. Add 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring gel into another third, and 2-3 drops of orange food coloring gel into the last third. Knead the yellow and orange doughs separately until color is consistent throughout.
- Roll each third of dough into an 18-inch long rope. Cut the rope in half and continue to roll each piece into ropes 22-inch long and ½ inch thick. Lay the ropes next to each other (orange, yellow, white) and press together. Using a bench scraper or ruler, cut into 4-inch sections, then press that section into a wedge shape with the widest part of the wedge being orange and the tip, white. You may then cut each wedge into individual triangular candies.
- Let candies dry out flat on a baking sheet for 1 hour before eating. Store remaining candies in an air-tight container.
Yield: Makes 90 pieces
See also…
Halloween Treats for Kids of All Ages
