Multi-Colored Halloween Kettle Corn

Isn’t it glorious, people?  It’s simply STUPENDOUS. Kettle corn has got to be one of the best treats ever imagined.  It’s light and crispy, salty and sweet.  Seriously, kettle corn has it all, and it takes just a few minutes to make.  For me, it’s the perfect thing to feed hungry party-goers, and it just so happens that tonight I’m having a party!

Around seven o’ clock, our friends and family will be descending upon our home to share a meal, carve pumpkins, and celebrate all that is Halloweeny.  Have I ever mentioned that Halloween is my favorite holiday? Well, it is. I love the sense of mystery, the uninhibited imagination, and the wanton sugar consumption that surrounds the end of October. It’s the best.

With wanton sugar-consumption in mind, I’m sharing a slightly devilish recipe with you this afternoon – Halloween Kettle Corn! Kettle corn is already bathed with blasphemous sugar and salt. To make this treat even more wicked, I’ve saturated the sugar with food dye. Now almost everyone knows that food dye is no damn good for you, but ’tis the season for scary things. To Hell with sense. Let’s make some candy!

Halloween Kettle Corn

Makes 3-4 cups 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup cooking oil (something sturdy like grapeseed, peanut, or coconut)
• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/3 cup sugar
• food dye (I used gel colors, you could use drops too)
• salt, to taste

Directions

Again, this works very well in a Whirley-Pop, I can’t vouch for how well this will go over on the stove-top. If you try it, let me know how it goes! I made two batches of kettle corn for the bowl in the photo. The first batch was orange (made with yellow and red dye) and the second was purple (made with red and blue dye). You can make almost any color you can dream up with those magic little dyes, so use your imagination. For a slightly healthier snack, omit the dye, and just use plain sugar.

Before you get started, make sure you have all your ingredients measured out, and a baking sheet or casserole dish handy. This goes really quickly, so you won’t have time to grab anything while the corn cooks.

1. Mix the food dye with the sugar in a small bowl. Add a little at a time until you get a nice bright color. You shouldn’t need more than 1/4 teaspoon of dye all together. If you are using gel dye, it will take a lot of mashing and stirring. Just hang in there.
2. Add the cooking oil and three individual kernels of corn to the pot.
3. Turn the heat in medium, and wait for the kernels to pop.
4. Add the rest of the corn kernels and the colored sugar.
5. Start stirring immediately, and don’t stop. The corn will start popping in a minute or so.
6. Keep stirring as the corn pops. When the sound of popping dies out, immediately transfer the popcorn onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
7. Allow the corn to cool totally before packaging it, or putting it into a tight bowl. Letting it cool will help keep it crispy.