1-1/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Light corn syrup
2 tablespoons Butter
1-1/2 teaspoons Pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Green food color (optional)
3-1/2 quart Popped popcorn, remove any unpopped kernels
1 cup Candy corn
Licorice ropes, black
wooden picks
small black gum drops or other small black candies
red decorating icing
tiny red jaw-breakers candy
worm shape candies
In Dutch oven, bring sugar,corn syrup and butter to a boil; boil 2-1/2 minutes. Stir in pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, salt and food coloring (if desired) mix until evenly colored. Add popcorn and toss until evenly coated.
Spread popcorn mixture in a single layer on greased sheets of foil and allow to cool and harden. Break into bite-size pieces and mix with candy corn in a wide shallow bowl; set aside.
To make spiders, cut licorice into 2 inch lengths. To make legs, starting at one end, make three 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch cuts to make four legs. Repeat cuts at opposite end. Leave about 1/2 inch in center uncut. Gently pull legs apart and curl down. Push wooden pick through center of body, leaving about 1/4 inch exposed on top. Push one gumdrop onto exposed pick to make a body. Using writing tip of decorating icing, squeeze two small dots of icing into gumdrops. Press jaw-breakers into icing to make eyes. Place “spiders” and worm-shaped candies in popcorn. Remove wooden picks before eating.
Makes 4 quarts.