Candy corn is great as a garnish during the fall season in general, and Halloween in particular season.
 
 
EASY CANDY CORN GARNISHES

Cupcakes

Use candy corn as a cupcake topping. Create a circle of candy corn kernels around the rim of the cupcake. You can stand one kernel in the middle of the cupcake.
 
Or create your own patterns. It’s a fun party activity or after-dinner dessert activity for kids.
 
Jack-O-Lantern Cake

Make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and filling, and cover the sides with a mixture of candy corn and chopped nuts (if it’s a loaf cake, cover the top). Use the nuts to cover most of the cake and press in candy corn at intervals.
 
You can also use candy corn to make the eyes, nose and mouth of the Jack-O-Lantern, on the top of the cake.

For a regular iced cake, add candy corn as a cake topper.
 
Halloween Sundae

We love a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with hot chocolate sauce and sprinkled with candy corn. (Butterscotch or caramel sauces don’t provide enough contrast to the candy corn.)
 
Here’s a fun idea that decorates ice cream cones with candy corn.

 
 
RECIPE: CANDY CORN CONES

Ingredients

 
Preparation

Use a piping bag to pipe royal ice cream around the perimeter of the cone, an inch at a time. Quickly press in the candy corn. Start at the bottom (pointed end) of the cone.

Royal icing dries to the touch quickly, although a thin layer can take 4 to 6 hours to dry completely.

The process goes faster with a group: Enlist the family. Otherwise, do it in front of the TV and the task will go more quickly.
 
 
MORE CANDY CORN RECIPES

[2] Candy corn (photo Liz West | Wikipedia).

[2] How about some candy corn fudge? Here’s the recipe from The Pampered Chef.

Ascorbic acid prevents cut fruit from turning brown. Citric acid provides tart flavor. And dipping apple slices into honey is delicious. Photo by Tova Photography | IST.

One of our colleagues wondered, “What’s the difference between citric acid and ascorbic acid? Aren’t they both in lemon juice?”

Yes, but the two products are not interchangeable.

Citric acid and ascorbic acid are both found in citrus juice, as well as in numerous other fruits and vegetables. But they have different properties.

Now that you know the difference, put it to work.

Start by serving sliced apples with a honey dip or drizzle. Use ascorbic acid—dip the sliced fruit in a lemon juice-water mixture—to keep the flesh from turning brown.

For citric acid: make some lime juice cordial!

The same is true with lime juice cordial (also called lime cordial, and essentially lime syrup).

Rose’s is the lime juice cordial most of us are familiar with. It’s lime juice concentrate and water, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. The yellow-green color comes from Blue 1, an artificial food color. Sodium metabisulphite is added as preservative.*

In the U.K., this type of concentrated fruit syrup is called squash or cordial, and is made from fruit juice, water and a sweetener. (The more sophisticated flavors contain herbal extracts, such elderflower and ginger.)

For a soft drink, the cordial is mixed with club soda or water, in 1:5 proportion. Try it in ginger ale and cola, too.

For a gourmet touch, make your own lime cordial. Photo courtesy Rose’s.

The most popular use for the syrup in the U.S. is mixing with alcohol in a cocktail recipe. You can’t have a Gimlet or a Vodka Lime without lime juice cordial.

*When Rose’s product was patented in 1867, sugar was used as a food preservative. Rose’s enabled fresh lime juice to be preserved without the addition of alcohol. Today, the brand is owned by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. In the U.S., the sugar has long been replaced with HFCS. In the U.K. and Canada, sugar is still used: The regulators in those countries are not keen on HFCS.

RECIPE FOR LIME JUICE CORDIAL

This recipe makes about 3 cups. It has a shelf life of one to three months in the fridge. If you won’t use all of it, bottle it and give it to a cocktail- or soda-loving friend.

Ingredients

 
†Cream of tartar, a derivative of tartaric acid, isn’t acidic enough for this recipe.

Preparation

1. Heat water to boil.
2. While water is boiling, whisk together sugar, citric acid and tartaric acid in a small bowl.
3. Add to boiling water and whisk until sugar mixture completely dissolves. Add lime juice and rind, and stir.
4. Heat mixture for 2 minutes on high heat; cover and cool to room temperature, then mix in vodka.
5. Refrigerate overnight in an airtight container. Strain out rind and return mixture to fridge.
6. Extra step to extend the life of your cordial: Sterilize the bottle and lid by boiling for 10 minutes or heating in the oven at 180°F for 15 minutes.

WHEN NOT TO USE LIME JUICE CORDIAL

Sometimes you want the flavor of lime juice cordial, sometimes you don’t.

Because it’s easier and cheaper, some bars substitute lime juice cordial when fresh lime juice is called for—in a Cosmopolitan, Margarita or Mojito, for example. If you order a drink and anticipate a refreshing lilt of lime, you may be disappointed if the bar uses lime juice cordial.

Ask if fresh-squeezed lime juice is used, and if not, request that yours be made with it. Every bar has fresh limes. The fresh juice makes a big difference.

Halloween cake pops: a spooktacular treat. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

It’s tough work!

Hand-decorated to look spooky, these Halloween chocolates, cake pops, brownies and other sweets taste simply spooktacular.

Take a look at this festive Halloween assortment, which includes—among other delights—cake pop eyeballs and ghosts, caramel-filled chocolate eyeballs and great-tasting white chocolate ghosts.

Whether you’re looking for a gift or a well-deserved treat for yourself, we highly recommend each “boo-tiful” bite.

Read our review.

Go directly to the goodies.

This all-purpose kitchen knife, similar in shape to a small chef’s knife, is most often used with fruits and vegetables. It can carve, chop, core, de-stem, peel and slice easily. It also makes delicate cuts for garnishes.

It’s the go-to tool when you need control for delicate work like removing the ribs and seeds from chiles. Yet it can also be used to devein shrimp and even bone pieces of chicken.

The blades of paring knives typically range from two to four inches. They can be smooth or serrated.

And the tips of the knives, straight or curved, are each designed for a different situation:

 
If you’d like to work with the different shapes, chef Michelle Bernstein has licensed her name to a line from Fagor that includes a four-piece paring set: one of each style of paring knife. The knives have plastic handles and knife sheaths and are available in three colors: blue, lemon lime and red.

You can find them on Amazon.com.