Homemade Vegan Candy Corn = a Happy Halloween!

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October is right around the corner & thoughts have already turned to Halloween! While most are getting creative with costumes, many vegans are figuring out what candies they can eat! Packaged candy corn at your local store typically is packed with animal products like gelatin, egg whites, & beeswax, so members of the PPK were lamenting the lack of the sugary little confection in their lives. Well, lament no more!

The Epicurious Editor's Blog had a recipe for Homemade Candy Corn & I jumped at the chance to try a vegan version. With some easy substitutions, it worked! This recipe is not for the faint at heart, while the dough is easy to make, the production process is time consuming & tedious! I recommend having a candy corn party with friends, so you can all assemble & enjoy these goodies together! I suppose you could also eat them uncolored, but how unfestive is that?! hehe.

Candy Corn
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup (preferably organic, avoid high fructose corn syrup!)
5 tablespoons Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup powdered soy milk
a pinch of sea salt
Red & yellow food coloring

Instructions:
In a large saucepan, bring the sugar, corn syrup, Earth Balance, & vanilla to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium & boil the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 5 minutes, remove from heat.

Sift the powdered sugar, powdered soy milk, & salt into medium bowl.

Add the powdered sugar mixture to pan & stir to combine.

Let the mixture stand until slightly warm to touch, about 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces.

Consider putting on rubber gloves, so you don't stain your hands. Add several drops of yellow food coloring to one piece of dough & knead food coloring into the dough until smooth and color is even. Repeat using red & yellow food coloring (for orange) with the second piece & leave the last piece white, but knead it until smooth. This isn't an easy task & could take up to 15 minutes!

Roll each piece into ropes of equal length (don't roll too thin or the dough will break) and push the three ropes together to form a long rectangle.

Using sharp knife, cut the ropes into triangles. Some will be white tipped & some will be yellow tipped.

Shape the candy corn as desired! You can even make Mellowcreme Pumpkins!

This yielded 110 candy corn, all larger than the store bought ones you're used to! You could easily half this recipe & have a ton to share with others. I made mine somewhat large, as they're easier to work with, but you could make smaller ones & have a TON!

My Notes:
They taste great, although slightly less sugary than the pre-packaged versions. I find that's the case with most artisan versions of standard junk food, but you'll still enjoy these very much & they'll quell your candy corn craving! I wouldn't add more sugar, as the dough will get too firm to work with. In fact, the dough is pretty firm in the first place & you may find your fingers hurting from kneading. When adding the food coloring, I found it best to keep folding the dough in to itself, then flattening it with my palm. Also, I didn't have gloves, so I kept a layer of plastic wrap over my dough as I was kneading it, which worked fine with minimal staining. The ropes of dough are VERY long, they took up the length of my dining table, so you can consider working in sections. I also used a rolling pin to slightly flatten the tops of the 3 connected ropes, it makes cutting easier & slightly pushes the ropes together. Finally, please be conscious of the corn syrup you use! The widely available Karo is packed with nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup, something you DON'T need in your system. I bought an organic corn syrup, which was pricey, but I found it to be worthwhile.

PLEASE let me know if you take the time to make & enjoy these! I'd love to hear what others think of them. Oh & Happy (very early) Halloween! hehe.

READY TO MAKE THESE?
Check out my Tips & Tricks post!