Everyone acknowledges that homemade costumes are so much cooler than store-bought ones.  But if you really want to take your do-it-yourself Halloween cred to the next level, you’ve got to forsake the store-bought sweets, too. From the book "Field Guide to Candy" by Anita Chu, here’s a recipe for making your very own candy corn—tested and annotated by us.

Ingredients: [Never double this recipe.  We did, and we assure you—just one batch makes plenty of candy corn to go around.]

2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup dry powdered milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar [You may be able to co-opt this one from your dining hall. We'd like to thank Pfoho for its contribution to our batch!]

2/3 cup corn syrup

1/3 cup unsalted butter [You can use salted butter, also available in your dining hall, and forgo the salt in the recipe.]

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Food coloring

Directions:

1. Combine confectioners’ sugar, powdered milk, and salt in a bowl and set aside.