Life

Would You Try Deep-Fried Candy Corn?!

by Alanna Greco

Of all the Halloween candy the world has to offer, candy corn is definitely the most polarizing. Some people seem to absolutely love it, while others (like myself) have always thought of it as sugary wax, and probably wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. But a new take on the popular seasonal candy has taken this divide to a new level, and you kind of just have to see it to believe it. There's a new Halloween treat in town, and it is none other than deep-fried candy corn.

The cooking mastermind behind the blog Oh, Bite It recently posted a recipe for deep-frying the orange and yellow striped candy into “buttery, tender, doughy pillows [that] are now filled with warm, sweet and slightly chewy colorful Nougat that has transformed into just a shadow of that seasonal, sad, tooth-buster of a treat it used to be!” She instructs readers to tuck two to three pieces of candy corn into Pillsbury dough, deep-fry it, and then sprinkle the result with powered sugar. Sounds simple enough, right?

However, not everyone is on board with this new twist on the ol' Halloween classic. Grubstreet came out as forcefully against the fried candy, proclaiming that the “world decided deep-fried candy corn is one step too far." But lest you let anyone else influence your opinion, let's first take a peek at what this controversial dessert actually looks like:

Pretty harmless, if you ask me! And hey, maybe frying up this Halloween specialty is a way to make converts out of people who have sworn off candy corn in the past. At any rate, it doesn't look like fried candy corn is going away any time soon. Earlier this month, the food blog Spicy Southern Kitchen posted its own recipe for deep-fried candy corn, and last week Southern Living shared a video tutorial on how to make a gourmet version of the deep-fried candy for their Deep Fried Fridays series.

And I mean, if we're being honest, when have we ever shied away from a little deep-fried goodness? Fried cheesecake, fried Oreos — it's all fair game in the world of heating stuff up in sizzling hot frying oil. Earlier this month, the North Carolina State Fair even went so far as to introduce us to Twinx, which are Twinkies stuffed with a Twix candy bar, wrapped in bacon, dipped in batter, and then deep fried.

I, for one, would be much more willing to try a deep-fried candy corn puff than a Twinx. But it just goes to show that everyone has different tastes. Southern Living called the dessert “a Halloween treat that you will never forget,” and who knows? For you candy corn lovers, this might become a tradition.

Image: Juushika Redgrave/Flickr