Don’t hate me, but I do not like candy corn. There are just so many other sweet treats that I would rather eat than the overly sweet crumbly candy. But, that being said, I recently tried making my own candy corn and it was so good! So much better than the store bought stuff. Sweet and buttery and oh so tasty. Then I had an idea, why not transform the Halloween staple into something a little more fun, colorful, and tasty? And that is when this cotton candy corn was created! With the flavor and coloring of cotton candy, this candy corn is so much better than the original.
Now wouldn’t you rather eat cotton candy corn than that store bought stuff?! And while it may seem like a lot of work for candy, trust me that it really isn’t any more time consuming than baking a batch of cookies.
Cotton Candy Corn
(adapted from Alton Brown’s Candy Corn Recipe)
- 1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 6 1/2 teaspoons nonfat dry milk
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 2 1/2 tablespoons H20
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pink and blue food coloring about 1-2 drops of each
- 1/4 teaspoon Cotton Candy candy flavoring oil
Combine the confectioners’ sugar, dry milk and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is smooth. Set aside.
Add the granulated sugar, corn syrup, water, and butter in a small quart pot. Place over medium heat, clip on a candy thermometer and bring the sugar syrup to 230 degrees F. Remove from the heat and remove the thermometer.
Add the vanilla and cotton candy flavor oil and the dry mixture and stir continuously with a silicone spatula until well combined. Pour onto a sheet pan lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Cool for 10 minutes, until the mixture is cool enough to handle. Then divide into three pieces and add one drop of pink food color to one piece, and one drop of blue to the other. Mix thoroughly to combine.
Pull the dough into smaller pieces and roll into ropes and lay the ropes side. Flatten and press the three colors together to get a long strip of three color banded candy. Then use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the strip into individual candy corns. Let sit out for a day or two to firm up and then keep them in an airtight container until ready to eat. If you can wait that long!
So, what do you think? Will cotton candy corn become a new Halloween staple?
