Homemade Halloween Candy

Credit: flickr / Eugenia

Halloween candy certainly is scary

Homemade confectionary is a far cry from the shopbought sweets we palm off on trick-or-treaters

Halloween has become synonymous with the phrase “trick or treat,” but more accurately, it is both. Children trick adults into giving them treats in the name of tradition. Once upon a time these treats might have been an orange or some home baking, but you’re unlikely to win friends with gifts like that these days. “Treats” are more readily available today, but today’s plastic-wrapped, sugar-loaded, commercially produced treats are ghostly replicas of the original.

Similarly, I remember the first time I smoked a good cigar and tasted a premium (500 euro a bottle) whiskey. They were moments of epiphany when I realised why people made such a big deal out of these things. They were so far removed from their throat-scratching, saliva-inducing imitators that they were a separate breed entirely.

Homemade candy recipes

These recipes for homemade marshmallows and Turkish delight won’t win you any friends from the stranger-danger set, nor with the children who can’t identify food without its packaging. However, I’m betting that you’ll be so won over by the light fluffiness of the marshmallows that you won’t want to give any away anyway (or buy marshmallows ever again).

Homemade marshmallows. (Image: Flickr /
Kirsten Skiles)

Homemade Marshmallows

2 tbsp gelatine powder

1 ½ cups of water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla or peppermint essence

¼ cup icing sugar

¼ cup corn flour

Place gelatine in ½ a cup of water and leave to swell for 10 minutes. In a saucepan, gently heat the sugar in the remaining cup of water, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Pour gelatine into the sugar and boil for 15 minutes. Allow to cool until lukewarm. Beat well until very thick and white. Add vanilla (or peppermint) essence. Pour into a large, wet baking tray. Refrigerate until set. Turn the set mixture onto a chopping board and cut into strips or squares. Combine icing sugar and cornflour and dust your marshmallows.

Homemade Turkish delight. (Image: Flickr /
Justine Sanderson)

Turkish Delight

2 tbsp gelatine powder

3/4 cup of water

2 cups sugar

1 cup of boiling water

½ tsp tartaric acid

a few drops flavouring (e.g., rose water, lemon, vanilla, peppermint)

food colouring (optional)

½ cup icing sugar

½ cup corn flour

Step 1: Place the gelatine in a saucepan in ¾ of a cup of water and leave to swell for 10 minutes. Add the sugar and boiling water, stirring constantly until the sugar and gelatine dissolve. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add tartaric acid, flavouring and colour. Pour into a large, wet baking tray. Leave to set for 24 hours. Turn the set mixture onto a chopping board and cut into squares. Combine icing sugar and cornflour and dust your delight.

Step 2: Tempt a small English boy into the frozen land in the back of your wardrobe.  

Have you got a favourite homemade candy recipe to share?