| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Servings |
10+
|
- 10-12 cups Popped popcorn "giant mushroom" style pictured
- 1 cup Dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1 Tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Ingredients
Set aside:
First set of ingredients:
Second set of ingredients:
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- Get all of your ingredients ready. Once the mixture is hot enough to add the vanilla and baking soda, you will need to move fast and have everything already measured out and ready to go. You also need to have your popcorn in some kind of metal bowl or cookie sheet(s) so you can pour the caramel on to it. I use a giant stainless steel bowl that is 18" round by 6" deep, and it works great! It fits in to the oven and I can stir it around without anything spilling. Keep in mind that you need to be really careful with the caramel (aka molten lava) to avoid a serious burn.
- Cut up your butter so it will melt evenly. It can be cold or room temp; it will not make any difference. Add the rest of the first group of ingredients. Just toss everything in. It doesn't need to look pretty! Note: I use a thick-bottomed saucepan, and it helps evenly distribute the heat to avoid any scorching. If you only have a cheaper thin-bottomed pan, no worries. Just stir the mixture more frequently while it is cooking.
- Stir everything up with a spoon first. If you use a whisk too soon all of your ingredients will get stuck inside the whisk and be a real pain to get out. Switch to a whisk and turn on the heat to medium-high.
- You don't need to stir the mix constantly, but give it a good stir with a whisk 1-2 times while it is cooking. As soon as it starts to boil/simmer, immediately turn the heat down to medium. Now is the time to put in your candy thermometer. Keep a close watch on the caramel and immediately remove it from the heat/burner when it reaches 250°F.
- Add the vanilla and baking soda and whisk together thoroughly. The mixture will bubble up a bit and get foamy. The color appears lighter at this point also. Note: the bubbling and foaming is why you need to use a a deeper saucepan than seems necessary when you first start cooking. Safety first!
- Immediately pour the caramel over your popcorn. Just dump in on in any fashion! Scrape everything out of the pan that you can, but don't take too much time here. Note: you are going to need to use a high temperature scraper/spatula. I have wrecked spatulas with this recipe! Lately I have been using a silicone spatula I use for pancakes and eggs and it works great. Carefully stir and press the popcorn in to the caramel.
- Once you get it mixed up, put the whole thing in to a 250°F oven for 60 minutes. Remove every 20 minutes and stir it up again. The caramel will be very soft and you will be able to coat the popcorn more thoroughly each time. I press the spatula in to the mix pretty hard and try to really coat each piece of popcorn during these intervals. If the mixture seems like it is drying out and isn't very sticky anymore, it is done.
- Remove the caramel popcorn from the oven, give it a quick stir, and carefully dump it out on to a heat-resistant surface.
- Use your spatula and flatten out the mixture. I like to get it pretty flat; 1-2 popcorn kernels deep is ideal. It will break up in to smaller chunks better this way. Let it cool for about 15 minutes and you are ready to chow down!
The story behind this recipe:
It is only fitting that caramel apple corn is the first recipe ever posted on my website. With a name like Candy Apple Kitchen, it just makes sense! I love caramel popcorn and toffee popcorn. My mom used to make toffee popcorn all of the time. I would buy store bought cheap-o caramel corn and candy corn from time to time, but nothing beat the home made stuff. There was a place in the mall that we would pass by all of the time when I was a kid, and they had all sorts of different caramel corns and candy. We never stopped in I was told because, "it is too expensive, and we can make it at home." True that.
After trying commercial brands and the garbage they sell around Christmas time in our local area, I had to perfect my recipe. It took about 5-6 tries to get this one just right. I find this one just perfect, with the right balance of molasses flavor, caramelized sugar flavor, vanilla, and buttery goodness. The crunch is just right, and if you cook it correctly it will not stick to your teeth. I hope you like it as much as my family does!
