It’s that sweet, soft-on-the-inside candy that shows up in stores during October. Whether you love it or hate it, you are sure to recognize it instantly and know that it’s about to be time for trick-or-treat. It just screams Halloween: candy corn!
According to Better Homes and Gardens, a Philadelphia candy-maker named George Renninger invented the candy in the 1880s. The Jelly Belly Candy Company (originally the Goelitz Confectionery Company) has made candy corn for the longest time and still makes it today using the original recipe. And it is a popular candy! The National Confectioners’ Association says that candy corn is the second most favorite Halloween candy in the US, and 52% of people claim that if they don’t have candy corn, it just doesn’t feel like Halloween.
The basic ingredients of candy corn are sugar, corn starch, and various food dyes, flavorings and waxes. If you want to be sure that you know what is in it and want a fun cooking project, you can make your own, using recipes like this one from Alton Brown.
Or if you want a completely different candy corn experience, Brach’s has created cookie-flavored candy corn this year. Find out what one reviewer had to say about each of the four flavors here.
No matter what, if you are going trick-or-treating or attending any Halloween celebrations this year, you are likely to run across this triangular, tricolored candy. And, whether you love it or hate, you are likely to have some leftovers. So we thought we’d help you out and put together a list of fun and creative things that your whole family can do with your leftover candy corn:
- If you want an excuse to use lots of sweets, combine it with other candy and cookies to make Easy Cookie Candy Corn Bark.
- If you prefer chocolate, combine it with dark chocolate and pretzels to make Candy Corn Bark.
- If you like Butterfingers, combine it with peanut butter to make Candy Corn Butter.
- Prefer popcorn? No problem! Try these Candy Corn Pumpkin Spice Popcorn Balls.
- Feeling really adventurous? Check out Candy Corn Glazed Buffalo Wings!
- Maybe now you are not so hungry? Use candy corn to make unique crafts.
- If you don’t want to eat or decorate, how about melting/freezing/dissolving them in candy corn science experiments?
- Or building Candy Corn STEM Towers? (Or not-quite-candy-corn geodesic domes?)
- Finally, if you are just looking to get rid of your leftover candy corn quickly, try building these candy corn catapults to fling it away!
Whatever you do, have fun! Be creative! And get as corny as you dare!
Happy Halloween!
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Image: © Ralph Lehman | Dreamstime.com