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You didn't expect to read the terms "cognitive dissonance" and "homemade candy corn" in the same sentence, but there they are.
And so apt -- as soon as we got the idea to make our own candy corn (not knowing if it was even possible or had ever been attempted) we began seeing recipes for and homemade mentions of the usually over-processed, mass produced treat.
Lucky us. All of the recipes seem to be about the same (save for a debate over salted versus unsalted butter), but we''ll stick with the one we finally got lucky with.
Actually, the salted butter thing was the source of some debate after our first failed attempt at homemade candy corn. We had used salted when the recipe called for unsalted butter but turns out the real problem was that we stirred vigorously when we should have stirred occasionally. First try, our dough was hardly doughy, but instead a hot white mess that quickly hardened to the consistency of very dried out Play-Doh.
Second time we paid attention, and the candy corn was perfect. Jumbo, yes. We'd suggest each piece makes a complete serving, otherwise you'll find yourself bouncing off the walls then crashing hard.
Our first successful batch is gone, but it was so easy we're considering making another. No need for a mixer, no candy thermometer. Just mix a few dry ingredients (we even skipped sifting the powdered sugar), set aside and boil butter and granulated sugar. Mix all ingredients, knead, add food coloring and -- voila, you are ready to roll the dough into ropes, press together and cut.
Wonder how hard it would be to shape the dough into those cute, teeny pumpkins?