Ghosts.
Goblins.
And… candy corn?
Think of candy corn as comic relief from Halloween.
It’s cute, it’s yummy, and it’s not the slightest bit scary.
That is, until you look at the ingredients. Gelatin, corn syrup, FDC Yellow 6 Lake, Red 40, Blue 1 Lake…
Are you scared yet?
I’ve always loved candy corn, more for its festiveness and adorableness than for the actual taste.
So when I made these candies I wasn’t going for an exact copycat, but more of a fun and healthier and vegan candy corn substitute.
You might like them even better than real candy corn!
Vegan Candy Corn
- 1/4 cup raw cashew butter (or peanut butter if you want pb-flavored candy corn. Who knows… it might be fun!) (58g)
- tiny dash salt
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar or Sugar-Free Powdered Sugar (28g)
- Either red and yellow food coloring (you can purchase natural food coloring at Whole Foods), or a tiny pinch turmeric and a few drops beet juice
Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl until it becomes a crumbly dough. (Note: if your nut butter is from the fridge, let it sit awhile or heat it up so it’s easier to mix.) If dough is too gooey (mine wasn’t), you can add a little extra sugar/sf sugar. Taste the dough and add a little more salt if desired. Now transfer the crumbles to a plastic bag and smush very hard into a ball. Remove from the bag and form three little balls, then add a few drops yellow food coloring or the turmeric to one ball and knead until it’s all one color. Do the same with the red. (For my un-edited “in process” photos, see the nutrition link below.) Roll balls into skinny strips—the skinnier the strips, the smaller the resulting candy corns, and press strips together. Cut into triangles or other shapes. As stated above in the post, these aren’t supposed to taste exactly like store-bought candy corn; they’re yummy in their own right. You can store in the fridge, but my roommate—the candy nut—says they taste best straight from the freezer. Or you can even bake them: 350 F for 3-5 minutes, then allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tray.
View Nutrition Facts + Step-By-Step Photos
What are you doing for Halloween this year?
Are you dressing up? Or staying home and handing out candy? Or trying to console a dog who goes berserk every time the doorbell rings? Guess I just gave away my Halloween plans…
Link Of The Day:
You forgot to mention that these are addictive!
I made them last night with my friend, and we kept eating the dough before we even formed the candy corn ;). We also got rebellious and decided to make blue and green candy corn instead. It was awesome!
Trick or treating? What trick or treating?!? All I see is a gigantic hybrid frankenstorm on the horizon! 🙁
I’ve never been a fan of candy corn but I think I’d like this way better!!!
Those are super cute! Obviously, since you are vegan, you don’t eat gelatin, but I don’t think it’s bad for you. I think it’s just kind of a filler, sort of empty nutritionally. What do you think?
I can’t get over what it’s made out of :-?.
gelatin can actually be very nutritional and it is full of vitamins if it comes from grass fed sources. Gelatin is great for your joints and skin
I might be staying in this year thanks to hurricane Sandy! These look so good!
I’ll be consoling our mini dauschund from going crazy. She goes nuts.
I like the fact that these have no corn in them seeing as though corn is the most genetically modified crop going.
And you can never go wrong with cashew butter. I can eat that stuff by the spoonful!
I totally want to try this with PB! I find candy corn + peanuts to be a completely addictive combo, so the nut factor in these is a total catching point for me.
And you said it — candy corn is completely cute and fun! I might even try to go as a piece of it for halloween at some point! Maybe I’ll had these out. hmmmm. You’ve got me thinking Katie! As usual 🙂
Genius! I love candy corn but haven’t had any in a long time (I never buy it- that would be a bad idea!). And the link for the candy corn shake at the bottom… ooooh I have to try that out!
Too cute. Love the in progress pics! These sound like energy bites, which is pretty awesome. You could even make a really big one…
Thank you for this! We don’t get candy corn here and I really want some for Halloween!