Simple Savory & Satisfying: Christmas Candy Corn: Peppermint and Cinnamon

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For Halloween I made homemade candy corn and it was a hit with everyone who tasted it--even those that don't like store bought candy corn. I knew right away that I was going to experiment with other flavors. So for Christmas I made a batch of Peppermint Candy Corn and a batch of Cinnamon Candy Corn.

I do have a confession to make though. Two confessions actually. Number 1: I wasn't paying close enough attention to my candy thermometer and let the peppermint candy corn go two degrees higher than it should have (230 instead of 228). This made the dough less pliable and harder than it should have been, which in turn made molding the candy difficult. So my Christmas candy corn doesn't look nearly as pretty as my Halloween candy corn. Confession Number 2: I didn't realize I was only one drop away from being out of red food coloring. Though I made sure to cook my cinnamon candy corn to the correct temperature, it's the wrong color. But at least the candy taste good, even if it doesn't look the prettiest.

Peppermint Candy Corn
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup non-fat milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract*
Green food coloring

*I'm not a huge peppermint fan, but Eric loves it. 1 teaspoon of extract is more than enough for me, but the first thing Eric told me when he tried these was that they needed more peppermint extract. So if you're a huge peppermint lover like Eric, you could add an extra 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, milk powder, and salt. (Sifting is very important). Set aside.

Over high heat bring corn syrup, granulated sugar, butter, and peppermint extract to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the mixture just begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-high. Stirring frequently, bring the mixture to 228 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from heat.

Gradually stir in the sugar mixture until it's completely incorporated. Now I'm going to be honest with you, doing this with a spatula wasn't easy. I finally got to the point to where I kneaded the rest of the sugar mixture into the dough (for lack of a better word). If you decided to do this, be very careful. The dough is still quite hot and can burn you. I only handled it for maybe 10-15 seconds at a time.

Once the sugar mixture is completely incorporated, place the dough on a piece of wax paper for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is cool enough to handle.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Add about 3 drops of green food to two of the pieces and knead the color into the dough. If you're worried about staining your hands, use gloves, but the food coloring washed right off my hands. Leave the third bowl uncolored.

Roll out a large piece of wax paper over your work area. If you want, you can roll three ridiculously long, thin ropes of dough (two green, one white) or you can do what I did and work in batches. If working in batches, make sure to cover any unused dough with plastic wrap or else it will dry out. Line the ropes up so they form a long rectangle with green on top, white in the middle, and green again on the bottom. Press the ropes together and flatten them a little. Using a knife, cut the rope into little triangles.

Store the candy corn in an airtight container, making sure to separate the layers with waxed paper. Keep container at room temperature.

Cinnamon Candy Corn
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup non-fat milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon extract OR 1 heaping tablespoon ground cinnamon*
Red food coloring

*My grocery store sells every type of extract under the sun except cinnamon extract. So I took a risk and used ground cinnamon. This didn't affect the texture of the candy corn and gave it amazing flavor. BUT it does make your candy brown, which isn't the most appetizing color. You can probably dye it red with food coloring but as I was making this I discovered I only had one drop of red food coloring left so mine turned out brown. Plus you can't make white and red stripped candy corn (or little stripped candy cane!) if you use ground cinnamon. Next time, I'm going online and ordering cinnamon extract.

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, milk powder, and salt. Set aside.

Over high heat bring corn syrup, granulated sugar, butter, and cinnamon extract (or ground cinnamon) to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the mixture just begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-high. Stirring frequently, bring the mixture to 228 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove pan from heat.

Gradually stir in the sugar mixture until it's completely incorporated. Once the sugar mixture is well combined, place the dough on a piece of wax paper for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is cool enough to handle.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Add about 3 to 5 drops of red food to two of the pieces and knead the color into the dough. If you're worried about staining your hands, use gloves, but the food coloring washed right off my hands. Leave the third bowl uncolored.

Roll out a large piece of wax paper over your work area. If you want, you can roll three ridiculously long, thin ropes of dough (two red, one white) or you can do what I did and work in batches. If working in batches, make sure to cover any unused dough with plastic wrap or else it will dry out. Line the ropes up so they form a long rectangle with green on top, white in the middle, and green again on the bottom. Press the ropes together and flatten them a little. Using a knife, cut the rope into little triangles.

Store the candy corn in an airtight container, making sure to separate the layers with waxed paper. Keep container at room temperature.

Despite my pliability and color issues, I got a little creative with the candy corn dough. There really is so much you can do with this recipe aesthetically.