Micah A. Leal
For those who enjoy making something festive, cute, and edible, let us introduce you to our Homemade Candy Corn recipe. Candy corn is simply a cooked sugar flavored with nonfat milk powder and clear vanilla extract. It’s this milky sweet vanilla flavor paired with a soft but almost grainy texture that makes this seasonal candy taste like candy corn.
To make it at home, cook a simple sugar solution to 230°F before adding the flavorings and powdered milk. This allows the candy to take on a soft, taffy texture that’s easy to cut into the characteristic triangle shape. Then, separate the candy into 3 sections and color with gel food colorings. Mold it into a rope of parallel orange, yellow, and white stripes before stretching and slicing it into simple triangles. After a full day on the counter, the outside of the candy will firm up and reach the proper texture.
Surprisingly easy to make, our Homemade Candy Corn is both simple and tasty. Give it a try, and you’ll see just how fun this fall candy is to make for yourself.
How to Make It
Step 1
In a bowl, combine powdered sugar and dry milk. In a saucepan, combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, and water. Heat until sugar has melted. Add coconut oil and cook to 230°F without stirring mixture, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla and dry ingredients; stir until fully combined. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
Step 2
Spray a smooth surface and your hands with cooking spray. Separate the dough into three equal portions. Flatten one piece of dough and add a few drops of yellow food coloring. Fold the dough over the coloring and continue kneading until color is evenly distributed. Do the same with the second disk but add a little red food coloring in addition to the yellow, and knead until the orange color is evenly distributed. Roll each piece of dough out to a 53 inch cylinder, adding more cooking spray as needed. Lay the yellow colored rope down, place the orange rope above the yellow rope, and lay the white rope above the orange rope. Press the ropes together until they’re connected.
Step 3
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Using a bench scraper, cut a 4-inch section of the tricolored rope. Stretch the section of rope out until it’s about doubled in length, and press the rope down so it’s slightly flattened with the three equal stripes of yellow, orange, and white parallel to each other. Use the bench scraper to cut 1/2-inch segments, and cut each segment in half diagonally. Transfer candy corn triangles to prepared baking sheet. If some of the triangles are misshapen, use your fingers to press each triangle into the proper shape. Repeat with remaining rope of candy, working with 4-inch sections at a time. Leave candies to sit out uncovered for 24 to 48 hours, until the outside has slightly hardened.
